Dreaming with Shadow - Story, Happy Night of the Long Tooth to All

[Prairyearth]

I, also, have been "Dreaming" a "Dream" with a "Shadow" that is almost identical to this story below.
I wanted to share a story round the Fire on this longest night, the Night of the Long Tooth.
Blessings of Hope Prevail,
Prairyearth


Excerpts from "Lightningbolt" by Storm

"I was rejected by the military," Lightningbolt finally said. "I can't see well with my left eye. I should be in training. I'd have made a damned good officer." Lightningbolt's voice was suddenly full of rage. "All my life I wanted to be in the military. Now, what's left for me? I'm a nobody stuck on the Reservation. Sure I'm ignorant. Sure I need educating. But how?"

"So you want to kill, do you?" Keeper grinned. "I've seen your face on a hundred parade grounds. You blunder forward and stumble around hoping to find the Big Thing, the Medicine. Well, you wouldn't know what to do with it if it hit you in the nuts. Here you are in a cave instead of running around some shit hole in Asia. What the hell are you doing here?

"Looking for information, that's what." Lightningbolt grinned. "Looks like you've got lots of it. Maybe I struck gold after all."

"I want to demonstrate what I do best." Keeper's voice grew quiet. "I will help you become part of this cavern one more time, all right?"

"You Dreamed with the Kiva," Keeper reported. "She Dreams with all who come here. But now you will Dream with me. Are you ready for that?"

"Am I going to sleep by the fire?" Lightningbolt asked.

"No." Keeper answered. "You are going to sit up and keep high attention at all times. Look into the fire, or look into the quiet of this kiva.

"We experience our greatest fears and our and our deepest pain, our sorrow, when we must leave our beautiful Earth, Mother Life. So, wanderer, why is it that humans will throw away their lives to prove the ridiculous? Why do people prefer their pretense instead of the joy of Life's challenges? Who is family when we never know them? Does language make a race, or does belief make a race? Possibly, you should ask these questions, Lightningbolt.

"Appreciation of life is the most honorable of all tools of the mind. Do you know this tool? The powerful know this tool intimately. Appreciation and knowledge are the most powerful tools given to humans in any lifetime. Appreciation of Life is the tool of attainment."

"I was born April Horse. But those who know me, know that I am Shadow. My world is in these mountains. Morning Sun Mother, She touches me deeply. I would probably die if She did not love me.

"I have my sheep. They have their grasses. They have their never-knowing. Their never-knowing comforts them. They know me as their comforting Shadow.

"I'm more terrible than the Mountain Spirit, the big cat. Yet, do the sheep know that the Shadow is a greater threat? The sheep do not fear that which takes care of them. They do not see that the Shadow that feeds them also eats them."

"This is the way it is with many things. Estcheemah, she became my teacher, my Medicine Horse. She carries me and shares with all. Yet, I am not her, and she is not me.

" "It is the seeking that has brought you here to my world. I can break your every weapon All you really have is your Self. No protection, no weapons, can give you security.

"You must see into my mind, young Wolf. Here in these mountains you are Wolf, Moheegun. This you are called because you are that. You are the Wolf.

"Now you face the Shadow. You must fight the shadow. I will show you my every fear. Are you strong? Are you courageous? You will walk upon my roads of pain. You will see me hunger and thirst. We will watch the cannons roar and shout hate at the sky. You will smell the fresh blood of those torn to pieces. You will die slowly with me.

"You will watch men die when my rifle bullets put them to sleep. So the Japs died. How desperately sad. Will I cry forever? I killed so many of my brothers.

"Their deaths opened my eyes. I, the Shadow, was born and I herd my sheep. So you dare look into the world of the Shadow? You desire to see into my mind and fate? Your teeth will grate together as have mine. You will suffer my suffering.

"Everything is here for us on Earth. Life has given us all that we desire to learn, and all we need for us to grow while we are here on Earth. Yes, She has even provided us with stinging ants, the spiders, and disease. But these are nothing, no kind of threat equal to what we did to our brothers. We did not sting them; we blew them to pieces with our cannons and our grenades.

"She gives us our chance for Life. We use our lives to kill. That was what I did. I used Her gifts to kill.

"I have tasted fire and I have known awful war. I have killed men,my brothers. They say that I, the Shadow, speak only in symbols. Do symbols speak more than humans? Do symbols taste the stink of Death? I see them. I see their whitened skulls.

"Our madness was organized. It seemed so normal. It was an everyday thing to be mad. We were trained in our madness. We enjoyed our weapons. At the time we had reasons to kill. It was all normal, clear and understandable. They were the enemy.

"When the war broke out I was one of the guys called Pappy or Grandpappy. The army was made up of kids, most of them little more than eighteen years old. I was an older guy, nearly forty-two years old. That is an old man in the army! I was also as Indian. I had nothing to look forward to. I wanted to be part of the big them, the army, but I did not know how.

"We knew nothing more than our illusions. We learned to despise the enemy. We became perfect shadows. I would creep into the jungle and kill silently. Killing became my mind, my heart, my everything. I would breathe my silence and Death. We were trained to be efficient. I was very efficient. I counted coup with my knife.

"When the officers passed out our ribbons of Death, our kill squad would laugh inside. We had a strange pride in not telling all. That was who we were at the time. I was the Shadow, a perfect machine, born to terrorize the enemy.

"We were the best of the kill squads. We were trained to kill at a distance and up close. We knew every weapon. I wanted to be powerful. I think I must have killed two hundred men. I was accepted. I was slapped on the back. My officers loved me.

"We were going slowly mad, but we did not know it. Our madness disallowed even our Dreaming.

"We would always kill in the shadows; that was my specialty. We had our different specialties and our special madnesses. Not one of the men I killed ever saw me.

"No, not one man ever saw me until one day, a boy looked into my eyes. I saw that he was crying. He was so very young, it amazed me! I had cut his throat to make sure he was dead. I was afraid he would scream, you know? I was afraid he would make a noise. We were all in a tight position at the time. I died with him. After I looked into his young eyes, I was no more. My madness was taken from me and I could see. When I could see, I died.

"My pain dissolved and I held my madness in my hands. My madness was the bloody head of a Japanese boy. My challenges in this Life have taught me to see the pain and the madness.

"You can find your Life, but only when you see the truth of your circumstances and the challenges that exist in your time. Search for the person you are, not the person you wish you were.

"The crying, bloody head told me to be myself and not the madman.

"Confront your own world of mind. What is it that exists in your world? Who are you in your own world - the slave or the commander?

"Do you know what arrogant men fear? They fear they can never possess the powerful or the beautiful. What they do is substitute their fear for their arrogance and try to buy their lives. Life will never be a prostitute; they cannot buy Her."

As the magic of Shadow's voice faded into the Cavern of the Earth Womb, a feeling of extraordinary sadness collided with Lightningbolt's facade of discipline.

The soft elusive light from the glowing coals illuminated his tears, reflecting the amber, red, and gold of the fire. He wept quietly, holding his desperate anguish.

Why Lightningbolt was weeping he did not fully understand. The Kiva's vast darkness was awesome, and Lightningbolt began to recognize feelings he never knew he possessed.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Whe I retire to sleep tonight, I will dream a dream of Life and Peace. Will you Dream a Dream of Life and Peace with Me?
Prairy

[tojil]

in lak'ech ala k'in >-@^^^^^^^^^^^^^^####Blessings Of This Day To All,A Day To Realize Who We Really Are,To Ask For The Force To Overcome The Challenges That Our Destiny Holds.
This Longest Night May We Dream The Courageous Dream All Together.This Day Is The 29th Aniversery Of My Wedding Day,This Union Has Had Days Of Bliss,Days Of Sorrow,But Two Souls Dreaming The Same Dream,Can Go Beyond What Is Seen.
This New World That We Must Dream Into Being,Can Not Be Flavored Or Shaped By The Shadows Of The Past,We Must Bring Good Wood To Our Heartfire So Its Light Can Show Us The Trail To The Peaceful Kingdom,That Is Our Destiny.
My Wife,Daughter, A Friend,And I Are Traveling To Guatemala Next Month.I Will Do Ceremony For Our Community.I Love The Tropics, The Last Time There I Met My Protector Who Gives Me Strength.
Earth Is My Body'
Water My Blood,
Wind My Breath,
Fire My Spirit,regarde'Birmo

[Prairyearth]

Hi tojil,

It's so good to hear from you and A Happy belated anniversary to you and your wife.

I was wondering if some by the fire would understand the purpose for my
sharing of the story.

There are some who stop by the fire to read who have grand ideas that they
can solve the peoples problems through militarist type aggression. As you
already know, the Peace Warrior's trail and destination to a Peaceful
Kingdom can not be reached via the war road.

The story I shared helps those who's "dream" it is, to be a powerful gun
toting WAR hero in capitalistic Feudal Lords War, to look in the mirror and
visualize the three dimensional levels of truth.....the past, the now and
should they continue down the war road, their future. The war road leads to
madness and sadness beyond comprehension. It strips away ones humanness.
Though the story is gruesome carnage, it is the truth that many men have to
live with each and every day. They are hurting in their heart.

As a medicine mom, I hear the same type of story often. Only the names
change, as tale after tale of war horror caused by feudal land grabbing
lords, unfold. It would be easy to just be able to kiss some external
ouchies and boo boos and make it all better. But the wounds these men carry
are buried deep inside and have altered their lives forever. They carry
unimaginable amounts of pain. I can not put rose colored glasses on and
pretend that war and it's victims do not exist. My job is to listen and when
possible, advise those contemplating the War way, that the war road leads to
a dead end of inescapable destruction.

Because I am compassionate, I dream with the "Shadow's" of our time, so that
they also, can dream a dream of healing and peace along the Peace Warrior
trail to the future.

I forgot to add in my previous post, an invitation to those sitting round the fire, to please share a story with us. So if anyone has a story to share, please feel free to share it. The longest night has passed, but we still have many long nights ahead of us.

May your trip to Guatemala be Blessed please let s know how it went when you return,
Prairy

[tojil]

greetings prairy,My Wife Is A Behavior Health Nurse A t The Local VA Hospital,I Respect Her Effort In Aiding These Shattered Souls,Veterans From All The Wars From WWII.Some Were Damaged Before They Signed Up,Products Of Abuse And Disfunction.
There Is A New Wave Appearing From Operation Iraqi Freedom.Young Men And Women Who Wanted to Serve Their Country But Did Not Realize The Cost.Their Loss Of choul The Gastly Visions That No Substance Can Erase.I Know My Wife Has The Tools To Aid Them And Cool The Pain.
She Knows The Words That Can Lead To Healing,She Sees The Ambivilance Of The System,That Just Showing Human Understanding Not Judging.Can Go A Long Way In Their Effort Of Soul Retrival.I Always Tell Her They Need "A Shamen In Residence"For Spiritual Healing.
Blessings And Prayers Of Protection,Guidance,And Healing For All
She Dosn't Want To Hear Their Personal"war story",She Can Not carry It for them,And She Feels It a Burden.In The viet era The Wounded Would Tell Eachother Their Story and have Collective Healing.The Government Spends A Lot Of Time Creating These Freedom Warriors,But Very Little On Assimulating Them Back Into Family And Community

[tallulah]

Praireyearth & Tojil,

I spent the longest night with my ClanMothers and Aunts in the Dreaming Lodge! Sweating and purifiying for thoses Sacred Dreams of Peace and Healing! Telling stories of our Original Clan Mothers and their Dreams for humanity.

tojil, 29 years! You are blessed! And to share the same dream, this is truley a blessing. I am not married and perhaps, may never be? As, I am quite paticulare...according to my family Many blessings to you and your family!

[tojil]

In lak'ech Ala K'in>-@^^^^^^^^^^^^^####Blessings Of This Day To All.A Day Of The One Earth Monster That Holds The World Upon Its Back.
"From The Abyss Matter Was Born And The Power Carved The Great Stone Of Grace,There Was No Sky.And The Seven Sacred Stones Were Born,Seven Warriors Suspended In The Spirit...Seven Chosen Flames...And They Moved.And Seven Were Their Graces Also And Seven Were Their Qualities.And It Happened In The Immensity Of The Nights,There Where There was No GOD Because They Have Not Recieved Their Own GOD Who Was Within the Grace,Within The Darkness...There Where There Was No Space Or Matter..Tzacol Is The Red Sun Born From The Darkness In The Eastern Horizon During The Winter Solstice."Cilam Balam
Tula,Is Good To Be Paticulare My Daughter Tells My Wife She Should Have Investigated Me More!My Wife Says"There Is A Lid For Every Pot"
"Of A Generation Without Polarity In the Sexual Creation?It Is Necessary That The Capacity Of Giving Exists To Have The Capacity Of Receiving,It Is Precise To Have The Container To Hold The Content"
Blessings To The Clan Mothers And Blessings To Their Lineage And These Nights For Our Long Stories birmo

[tallulah]

Thank You, tojil! I will send your Blessings on to them. And yes, I think it is good to be paticulare.
I hope you can see this? It is one of my South American mandalas.

[Prairyearth]

greenhummingburd,

I agree, a shaman proper or "medicine-person" would be a great help to many of these spiritually and sometimes physically wounded battle warriors. Yes, often these people are wounded before entering the war theatre, and in fact a used and abused by the powers that be, who transform them into the killing machine, with no conscience what so ever as to the value of human life and well being.

These wounded warriors are forever changed and for many of them, they are incapable of going back to living in the society who sent them to witness such horrors and human tragedy, brought about by the dogs of war and the Great Killing machines.

I feel that listening to their story, with out judgement, not once, but as many times as they want to tell their tale of their life story, starts to help unburden them and lighten their load enough to feel half human again. The medicine-person or shaman, knows how to take those words or stories and release them afterward. Many, also, with proper guide have found healing in the sweat lodges.

As I read today's headlines of the numerous battles that rage globally, I shake my head in sorrow and know that it will take cosmic intervention to finally put an end to war once and for all. For this, I am thankful, for No peace has ever been brought about by any war.

Are we ready?
Prairy

[Prairyearth]

tula,
So good to hear you got to listen to the clan mother's stories. As for being particuler about finding a mate, I agree. I feel though, that if one finds a mate exactly identical to themselves, it might be a bit boring. To find someone different, yet caring and giving, means you can both learn something from each other as you learn to work together as one. I don't know if that made sense or not...

My mate and husband have been together for 31 years. All I can tell peoples about relationships is, there are NO perfect relationships. Should you choose a mate, know this, it requires lots of work by both people involved to solve problems that occur and to create laughter together. There must be give and take by both parties, never one sided. These kinds of relationships are a beautiful challenge worth every ounce of effort put in to them.

Many Blessings to You for Health, Happiness and Hope in the New Year to come,
Prairy

[tojil]

In Lak'ech Ala K'in>-@^^^^^^^^^^^^^%%%#Blessings Of This Day To All,A Day To Mobilize The Highest Female Authority And To Enlighten The Shadows Of Past Life Karma With Light Of The Spiritual Fire.
Many Of The Vets My Wife Treats Are Being Stalked By Dark Entities,Sometimes They Are Only Glimpsed Out Of The Corner Of The Eye,But Often They Are Followed By The Shadow Spirit.You Can Not Heal The Body Or Mind Without Treating The Spirit.Energy Is The Language Of Spirit,Smoke A Purification Tool,The Plant People Powerful Cleansing Allies.Our Western Approch Is Through The Mind,This Needed Healing Is From The Heart.
In This Ongoing War There Was A Lot Of House To House Combat Where A Lot Of Innocent People Were Murdered In Their Own Homes.Perhaps These Shadows Are the Hungry Ghosts Of These Victims,I Feel They Are The Spirit Of The Person They Follow Driven From The Body By Guilt And Fear.
I Pray All People Will Become Whole.