The Gift of Fire

The next day was Sunday.. There was this point where I was sitting in my rocking chair and a man and his dog walked up to the creek.  He had a handkerchief over his head and a staff in his hand.

Right after that I felt hungry, and as I was walking to me car, a spirit from within told me to ask this young man if he was hungry...  So I did and he said he was, but he was more concerned about his dog.  I ran out and got them some food as I got me some.

Later my children were coming to barbeque, so I asked him if he would like to come join us for dinner.. and he did.

When they left, he asked me if he could start a fire..  I don't know but there was something in the way he picked up the leaves, put them in the grill, put some little sticks on top of that and then some more of the leaves on top of that... and it made such a beautiful fire.. Then he excused himself, and when he came back he brought a beautiful huge log which he laid on top of the grill.. and as it burned he told me it was weeping... so I tried to take a picture..

and I gave honor to sacred fire by offering it gifts of sage and tobacco.

Later, it came time for me to go stare at the stars, as Tonya had said that Geolft and all the animals had come to the Gorge with me, where they would be staying until Tuesday for Ceremony, and I was to stare through Orion's belt.  But, moving down here I had lost my place in the stars, so I ran back up and asked this man if he could help me find my place in the stars again...

It was so beautiful the way he extinguished the fire, running down to the creek to get some water, and then gently pouring it upon the logs.  The big log had made such a sweet smelling smoke.  He laid it upon the ground and gently poured water upon it until it stopped smoking.  Then we went and he showed me my place in the stars.

It was then that the spirits told me to invite him into my tent to sleep there, so I did, and we talked deep into the night.. and in the light of dawn I was awakened to go look at the stars... and there I saw Orion's belt..

On Monday, Tonya was to be coming over so I could watch the kids, so I jumped up and left him at my tent...  that was strange because I had to stop and pay the rent, stop at the house, then stop at the bank to get some more camping money, and then stop for coffee..

Then Tonya came with the kids, and while they were with me my cell phone ran out of power.. I was very concerned that they wouldn't be able to contact me, so as soon as she got back I ran to the house to pick up the charger.. and this was when I received the instructions that I was not to leave the Gorge again until after the ceremony was finished.. and they said they took the phone away from me.. hehe.. Well, I surrendered.. because I knew there was something about the 5 stops that I made earlier that had been hard on the animals that were keeping me company.. and the next day, I again received the gift of a feather..

This is how the picture came out.  It was taken at 9:47 AM.. I laid the feather on my leg, on my shorts, and the camera caught its glow.. Not only was it glowing, but I too was glowing.

I could see there was a strange light to the picture, so I ran inside my tent, laid the feather gift on my blanket and took another picture..

When the evening came, I was trying to figure out just when Geolft and the animals would be doing their ceremony.  Tonya had said they were leaving on Tuesday but by my figuring, with Orion's belt being in the sky somewhere around 5 AM, I was thinking I needed to hold Ceremony for them on Monday evening.

At this time I still had no knowledge of the fire, so I figured the first thing I had best do was to cook the pork steaks the kids had left for me.. (seeing how I was not allowed to leave the Gorge any more and I figured I had better cook it before it went bad and try to make it last or I'd be 2 days without food and water..  Got the fire going by the skin on my chinny chinny chin, and threw the meat on only to discover that this had the effect of making it very smoky..

It was cool.  After that, as I was preparing for Ceremony I was instructed to leave one pop can on the table.  I thought it was odd, but I washed it out and left it there.  anyone who knows me knows I practically take an ashtray with me everywhere I go, and I had one in the Gorge I had been carrying around.

As I washed my pop can I began looking around and asking who would like to come to my sacred fire on this evening.  there was this mushroom that really wanted to come to my fire, but I was worried it would make me hallucinate.. (it wasn't the one I have pictured here, but I think this one is from the same family.. the one that wanted to come to my fire had already fallen off its stem and was drying up.)  And then there was that deal where the roots were somehow breaking off the trees at the ground and asking to come to my fire, so I took one of those instead of the mushroom.

I also took some of the charcoal that was left from the guys fire the night before, from the sweet smelling wood.  He had showed me how to break the sticks too.. there was just something about the way he touched the wood that felt right, so I just imitated his moves and got some more wood that way.  I don't remember his name.  Tonya said she thought he said it was Jacob.. I thought he said Jared..... He was a homeless guy who had spent the last 2 years walking across the United States.  He told me a lot about that life, and about his life before.  I thought, in his spirit, he was so beautiful, so unwilling to conform to the norms of society.  My tent was so large that he was telling me he was certain he could sleep 8 homeless people in it comfortably.  It was a hard life he chose to live.. and he called it, when he stood outside the stores asking for money, he called it, "When I run up my flag."  He said he could make it for 3 days on $20.00 and said, "This is how I make my living."  Just walk from town to town, hard journey, hard life.. searching for a safe place to lay his head at night.   I felt like I had met Christ in a man.

I also put some reed into the fire.  It was beautiful, the way it whistled as it burned.

For the Ceremony I was told to put 7 pieces of sage in the fire, each one was put in individually, and had to ignite, burn up and fall into the fire before I could burn the next one.  As I did this, I thought I would smoke a cigarette.. and when it came time to use the ashtray, it was in my tent, and I heard, "Use the can you cleaned earlier."  I laughed as I saw the progression of the way the path was prepared in advance.

It was a beautiful night, beautiful Ceremony.. and somewhere in there I kissed the Earth.

and in the dawn of the next morning

someone came to wake me up

but I was just too sleepy

and warm

to get myself out of my bed.

The first time..

and the second time they woke me up

I saw something I can't even explain.

like a belt with symbols on it..

one of them being scorpion..

When Tuesday came, I had to figure out how to eat without leaving the Gorge.  They told me I was not to leave for nothing..  They said maybe the animals want to feed you.. but I didn't really get that.. so I just had a very mellow day.. In the evening the bee flew up and said, "Just Be" so I recharged my cell phone for a little bit and called Tonya.  I was feeling pretty comphy cozy in my bed, ready to go to sleep when we were talking and she said I needed to get up and do ceremony... at least light a little fire and put in 7 red leaves..  so I walked the Gorge asking who would like to come be in my fire, and it was really beautiful the ones that wanted to come be in my fire...   I also was able to get some more of the sweet smoke the homeless man had left for me..  After I got the fire going, I ran and got the mushroom and put it into my fire..

When it came time to put the 7 red leaves in, well they only lasted for a second, so I then put in 7 pieces of sage, and made 7 offerings of tobacco to the fire... and a strange thing happened.  There was this noise, then just like that, the fire just went out... then I heard, "run to the opening." (It's where the amphitheater and fire circle are.)

So I went down there, and even more strangeness.. well this happens to me frequently on the mountain.. I'll be walking and suddenly there will be an Indian standing in front of me on my path.  I always consider this my signal to stop and shift my mind.. like, get sacred in this place.. so I always stop, shift my mind and proceed as though I am walking on holy ground.. but when I was hurrying to follow the animals to the opening and I suddenly found an Indian standing in front of me, pushing me down into one of the amphitheater seats, it rather startled me, so I laid back on the bench and watched the stars for a while.

The first time someone tried to awaken me the next (pre dawn) morning, I was too comphy in my bed to comply... The next time they sent in a bird and it was coming down the mountain, screeching "Maureeeen Get UP!" ... but I was oh so very comphy laying there under my blanket... so the bird comes closer and screams again, "Maureeeeeen, GET UP" so I say, "okay, well I will at least crawl out of my tent and squat there for a bit.. 

By now the bird is right next to my tent (even though I can't see it) and this time it screams, "Maureen, LOOK UP!"

So I look up and there is Orion passing over my head.

I don't even know why that was important.  Alls I knew was that it was important to give honor to the path I had been asked to walk.