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February, 2007
In May of 2005, during a meditation in the woods of Wyoming, the Tree
People came to me and asked me to tell their story. I finished what
follows a few months later. It is intended as a children's story with
a Grandmother holding the child in her arms as she recounts the tale.
In thinking about this month's writing I was reminded to share this
story. And so I do. I hope you enjoy it.
Meditation at Cache Creek, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
"Tell me again please, tell me what the tree people told you."
"Come closer dear and I will tell you how the Tree People
came to be."
They came to me marching and singing. They came to me in a long line,
the ancient ones first, so wide, so thick, so tall they eclipsed the
light of the sun. They came to me and asked me to tell their story.
"It is time for the Human people to remember." They said.
"It is time for the Human people to understand, the way of all things."
The tree people came and placed their story into the wind that
whispered in my ear on the banks of Cache Creek. The Tree People
asked me to tell their story and I promised them I would.
In the beginning there was a dream.
Before the dream, the earth was a lonely place
Before the water came
Before the plants came
Before the animals came
Before we came
The Earth was a lonely place who dreamed of life.
In her loneliness, the Earth cried out to the Sun, "Who
are my people?"
Hearing the loneliness in the heart of his far away companion, the
sun grieved. His sorrow filled the empty space between them with
great thunderous clouds. Finally, when the clouds could bear no more,
they burst open, raining salty tears upon the Earth.
Day turned to night and to day again and the rain fell covering the
entire Earth.
The salty tears of the sun became the great seas and the Earth was no
longer alone.
By day, the Sun warmed the sea. By night the Moon pulled the
sea to and fro as the tides rocked the Earth to sleep. Embraced in
the watery arms of the sea, the Earth was content for a while, but
still, it was not enough, still she was lonely.
One night when the Moon held the Sun's place in the sky, the Earth
cried out from her heart.
"Who are my people?"
The Earths' loneliness echoed into the night sky. Far away in the
heavens, the stars twinkled releasing a silvery shower of night love
that fell from the heavens into the sea. Wherever the gift of
stardust touched the water, a creature of the Sea was born.
They became the Sea People.
The Earth's heart beat joyously beneath sea for she was not
alone. The creatures of the sea were her people. The Sea People were
as many and varied as the stars. They swam in the salty ocean and
became abundant. The Earths' heart held the dream of the Sea People
and was content. For a long, long time this was so.
One day the largest of the Sea People, the whale, spoke to the Earth.
"Dear Earth, The sea is changing, the currents shift and beneath
us mountain peaks are rising, great tremors move the ocean floor.
Nothing is as it was before. Tell us dear Earth, tell us, what is to come?"
The Earth laughed, "In the beginning, I dreamed of life and
first the ocean came and then the Sea People came. The currents move,
the tides rise and fall, the day turns into night, everything
changes, only my love for you remains constant. Last night I
dreamed of a new people to share in our abundance. What is dreamed is
created, that is the way of the universe."
As soon as the words were spoken, a deep rift spread across the ocean
floor. The Earth shook and shuddered as mountains rose up from the
sea and one by one, the continents were born.
The Whales sounded, welcoming the dream into being and their songs
flew into the air to fall as seeds onto the newly formed land.
"So how did the tree people come to be?"
"Come closer dear and I will tell you."
The newly exposed land had long forgotten the light of the sun and
the caress of the moon. In this baby state, the skin of the Earth was
fragile and vulnerable, not strong enough to hold the tender seed
songs of the whales. It needed protection for the new dream to manifest.
The Earth knew this. The Sun knew this. The Stars knew this and
together they cried out from their hearts:
Oh Spirit who knows the dreams of all hearts
We are grateful for our place in universe
We are grateful for our abundance
Please help us share our blessings
Please help us bring a new dream to life.
And Spirit, who knows the dreams of all hearts, drew an enormous
breath into its being and exhaled, breathing the dream alive.
Across the heavens the dream flew where it broke with the dawns'
shimmering light over the newly formed continents. Into each crevice
and crack of soil, the dreams' light nestled.
Warmed by Spirits' intention, the tender seed songs of the whales
awoke. In thanksgiving they pushed deep into the nourishing earth and
in gratitude they reached upward to Spirit.
And there, cradled against the Earth's heart, the Tree people were born.
The Earth loved the Tree people and from her abundance, they flourished.
The Tree People loved the Earth, holding her in a tender embrace of
root and leaf and limb.
In time, their skin became one.
their breath became one,
their dream became one.
As with all her people, their love became seamless, giving and
receiving with each breath, with each action, with each beat of heart.
In time, their hearts became one.
In the beginning there was a dream.
Before the dream, the Earth was a lonely place
Before the water came
Before the plants came
Before the animals came
Before we came
The Earth was a lonely place who dreamed of life.
And so it came to be.
Kate DeChard
October 2005
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