From: ksm@abb-sc.abb-sc.com (Ashley)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Ways to connect to Gaia (Re: Ritualistic questions)
Summary: A gift from a messenger.
Date: 12 Jan 93 01:51:44 GMT


In article <1ij0mgINNgn1@leela.CS.ORST.EDU>, casspa@atlantis.CS.ORST.EDU (Paul Cass) writes...

(...clip...)

>What is needed is a new creation myth.  One that speaks to the issue 
>of the Earth as a biological entity.  One that addresses the degradation 
>of society and the biosphere.  In short, a creation myth that incorporates
>humanity into the patterns of life on Earth rather than appointing
>dominion over all else.
> 


	I believe that one can easily adapt some of the Native American 
mythos to work with this theme. If one considers all creatures one's 
brothers and does not fall into the trap of thinking of ourselves as the 
ultimate creature that all the world exists to serve, one can start to 
see the places where the earth and her creatures comes out to speak to 
us. 


	Here is somthing that is not so much a creation myth as a 
reminder of our place from one of the others who share the world with us. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

	Imagine ourselves upon a high hill, looking out over the 
twinkling lights and life of a city beneath us, behind us the wilderness 
full of other lives, other lights, but not ours. The sun is setting in 
the west and we are bathed in rosey twilight. 

	A cry is heard overhead and a hawk wheels above us, circling 
slowly, then alighting on the ground before us. His piercing eyes look 
into us and we are aware that this is not just a hawk, but is Hawk in his 
spirit form. A Spirit Animal. He glows and vibrates with power. Without 
speaking, you hear his thoughts in your mind, showing you this vision......

	Become aware of the little universes within you, the machinery of 
your body and the bodies of other beings around you. Incredible, the 
lives and dramas lived by the very bloodcells of the animals, the 
chlorofill of the plants coverting sunshine and water and minerals, the 
universes within your body, the power of your mind, the pulse of your heart 
a comforting rythm, the reflection of the rythm of your mother and hers, 
going back over the centuries.

	Feel your own pulse in tune with the rythm of all the living 
things here on this small planet, see the the trails that one life makes 
across it, see them end where another life takes the first, that trail 
ending where another finds it. Life and death, life and death, over and 
over, every second within and without you. A story with a begining and an 
end, a turning wheel, a steady beat going back through the centuries.

	Now see the earth as she truly is, a living being, a biosphere 
with a soul that includes all of us, man, plant, mineral and animal. See 
us in our place, a species amongst many on this living planet, the planet 
one amongst several orbiting this sun, this sun one of an infinite many 
in the living galaxy, the galaxy one amongst millions in the living universe, 
the universe one amongst many in this incarnation of reality. Big bang after 
big bang as the heartbeat of the cosmos, the pulse of the divine. Within 
and without you.


	Now we are here on this hill, with Hawk before us, the lights of 
the city are behind us now as we face the darkness of the trees and 
fields where our species does not live. Hawk pumps out his chest and 
shakes the comfort out of his feathers. He steps from foot to foot and 
then spreads his wings and flaps twice, seeming to pull himself into the 
air with no effort. He turns and cries and sails away into the night, and 
we know that his message and it's gift are given. What we do with it is 
up to us.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I encourage others to post their stories, myths and rituals for 
touching and connecting with Gaia here too.


					- Ashley
Xref: sparky alt.pagan:15086 talk.religion.misc:25499