THE SECOND WELL TRUST presents

The Great She Bear Stories of Nature

Discovering the Gifts

SOUL'S JOURNEY SEVEN

Songee begins by saying, Take inside of you the deep Breath of Life and close your eye and breathe deeply. Let us ponder for a moment on the last part of the journey of the Great She-Bear and her young ones and Windrunner, the wolf. When we left them before time and they had just discovered the creature that left the bad smell behind it, had they not? So now we have to journey on and see what comes to pass with them from here.

Breathe deeply, listening to the soundings. Get ready to step on the spiral of the Great She-Bear and to begin the journey towards the centre of the spiral leaving behind you all the cares of your day and of your life for a little while as you travel onwards towards the place of no time. Into a place that is beyond. And when you come to the centre of the spiral wait for a moment and pause and then with one great step you step across and find yourself in the land of the Great She-Bear.

Breathe deeply, listening to the soundings. Get ready to step on the spiral of the Great She-Bear and to begin the journey towards the centre of the spiral leaving behind you all the cares of your day and of your life for a little while as you travel onwards towards the place of no time. Into a place that is beyond. And when you come to the centre of the spiral wait for a moment and pause and then with one great step you step across and find yourself in the land of the Great She-Bear.

And as the mists clear everything is there in front of you. You see the Great She-Bear and Windrunner and the Little She-Bear and the Little-Boy Bear, all together lying around now on the cool green grass in the clearing. They came to this clearing you remember perhaps, and they found the droppings of the other creature so they might roll in it and get rid of the smells of the black and white creature. And now they are all lying around looking at each other, wrinkling up their noses in distaste. Every now and again one of them will sniff themselves and show great distaste on their face.

"Well," says the Great She-Bear, "You have certainly put us into a beautiful pickle this time, have you not little ones?" The little bear cubs have the good grace to look ashamed of themselves.

And Windrunner sits up and he frowns and he says, "One day little ones you will do something without consideration and it will be far more dangerous than getting a nasty smell all over you. While you are small and learning you must also learn not to travel too far ahead of us as we journey along. Do you understand?"

And the two little cubs look around and say, "Yes Windrunner, we will stay close to you." Because they are very upset because they don't smell very nice anymore and they are aware that they don't want to really be near each other very much anymore. And they are sitting there very quietly, quite sad and they are contemplating all that has happened and all the things and the results of their actions.

And then the Little-Bear cub he says, "Muma when will this smell go away from us?"

"Oh," says the Great She-Bear, "It will wear off in a few days and you won't remember having had the smell on you ever except in your mind you will remember not to ever do that thing again, to frighten such a creature.

"Oh very good," they say.

"Now," says the Great She-Bear, "Come we have to go on our journey. We need to find foodings. We need to find somewhere we can be, to settle for our sleepings and we also need to have something to drink, do we not?"

"Oh drink," says the Little-Bear cub. "Am I allowed some milk, Muma?"

"Certainly not," says the Great She-Bear. "We have to journey on some more first."

"Phhff," says Windrunner, "I'll be so glad when this smell goes away." And up they get to all their feets and they begin their journeyings once more through the great forest on the side of the mountain.

The Great She-Bear is walking in front and the two little bear cubs are walking behind her and Windrunner follows behind them, watching them to make certain they do not hang behind and get lost and into more mischief, you know. And they begin to walk along now through the forest, down the trail, down, and down, and down through the forest. It is very thick the trees and the branches cut out a lot of the light from the sun in the sky and there are just little patches of light shining on the ground making pictures as the wind in the tree tops moves the branches backwards and forwards. The patterns on the ground shift and change and move. And as they are walking along this shifting and changing of the movement on the ground, it begins to make them all very sleepy. And they go into a place where they are walking along and yet their spirit selves are lifting out their bodies a little bit and they are beginning to follow the dream spirals as they walk through this piece of forest.

And the Little-Bear cub finds himself looking at all the moving patterns and drifting slowly upwards until he doesn't feel his feets upon the floor any more. And there comes to him, the voice of the Eagle and the Eagle says to him,

"Ah there you are Little-Bear cub, I have been watching for you. Where are you?"

"I am deep in the forest with Muma Bear," says the Little-Bear cub.

"Oh that is how it is that I cannot see you from where I am in the skies," says Brother Eagle. "I will see you soon because you will be coming out of the great forest very soon and I will fly above you and speak with you because there is much that you need to learn."

"Oh that will be so exciting," says the Little-Bear cub. "Will I be allowed to come and fly on your back again?"

"I am certain that this will be able to happen," says Brother Eagle. "I would love to take you flying again."

And with this he departs and the Little-Bear cub finds himself drifting even further into this place that he has not known about before. And as he is drifting he finds that he seems to be outside of the great forest and seems to be some other place of being. And in this place of being there are those that walk on two legs and they have this place in the middle of their caves where there is this smoke rising up from this thing. And as he looks at it and whiffles his little nose he feels that he can smell all manner of good things to eat. He walks towards this funny shape caves of this two legs. And as he walks towards them one of them, a very tall, a very big strong looking two leg, walks towards him.

"Ah," say the two legs, "It is the Little-Bear cub and how you this day?"

And the Little-Bear cub sits down on his bottom self in this place and he says,

"And how do you know about I?"

And the tall two legs says, "Of course I know about you. I know about all the creatures in the forest."

"Who are you?" says the Little-Bear cub.

"I am the Shaman for these people," says the great two legs.

"People!" says the Little-Bear cub, "People. People, is that what you are?"

"Certainly," says the two legs. "We are people. You are bear and we are people."

"Oh wait till I tell Muma," says the Little-Bear cub. "That I have speak with people and wait till I tell the Little She-Bear, she will be so jealous because I have speak with people and she have not."

"Oh come now," says the Shaman. "Come with I and we will talk some more."

So the Little-Bear cub goes with the Shaman through the funny shaped caves of the people. And the Shaman explains to the Little-Bear cub and he says what funny shaped caves you have.

He says, "They are not called caves, little bear, they are called tee-pees. They are our homes and where we put our heads to rest at night and to have our babies and to have our foodings and to be by ourselves sometimes. And when we come together around the great fire we share our stories of the day with each other."

"What is fire?" said the Little-Bear cub.

"That is fire," said the Shaman, pointing to where the smoke is going up into the skies. And the Little-Bear cub walks across to where is the fire and he looks at it and he is just about to poke his nose into it.

And the Shaman says, "NO! Stop Little-Bear cub, you will burn yourself."

And the Little-Bear cub looks and says, "What is burn?"

And the Great Shaman says, "This is what will happen to you if you stick your nose into the fire." And he picks up a piece of the standing people that is by the side of the fire and he puts it into the red part that the Little-Bear cub can see the bottom of the fire. And as this piece of standing people goes in there, into the red part of the fire, then, creatures suddenly leap up all around the end of it and the Little-Bear cub jumps back because the creatures make sharp, cracking sounds and spit and they frighten him.

And he says, "That creature is spitting at I and shouting."

And the Shaman laughs and says, "That is not a creature, Little-Bear cub, that is called flame. Flame is what comes when something that will burn goes into the fire and your nose would burn and those flames would jump onto your nose and they would make your nose every sore and hurting so you must never put your nose into the fire."

And the Little-Bear cub sits and looks at the fire and contemplates all this and says looking up at the Great Shaman,

"No I do not want those creatures to leap onto I nose. I much rather have the butterfly tickle my nose."

"Certainly," says the Great Shaman. "You do need to have butterflies and not flames on your nose. So now you know to always stay away from fire, do you not?"

"Oh indeed I do," said the Little-Bear cub. And then he walks around the other side of it, sniffing and patting the ground around the outside.

And he says, "You know this is quite, quite warm around here. It is feels like the sun is shining on it."

"That is right," said the Great Shaman. "It does feel like the sun has come from the skies and in the past the peoples of the earth use to believe that the sun had come from the skies down, especially for the peoples of the earth and that was how they found fire you know." And the Little-Bear cub looks at him in great wonderment and looks back at the fire in great wonderment and says,

"Is this truly the sun down to the earth?"

The Great Shaman laughs and says, "No, no not that little one. That is not so, it is just how things are on the earth. You can have fire from things and I tell you how. It is by rubbing things together and making a spark and that will light another thing and that will then bring the flames and the flames can then light other things and so on and so forth. One day I will show you how, next time you come travelling the dream spirals as you are now."

"Do you have name?" says the Little-Bear cub. "I am Little-Bear cub, what is your name?"

"Ah," says the Great Shaman, "My name for you is White Eagle, and I am brother to the Great Eagle who comes to speak with you. And whenever you want to come and speak with I all you have to do is to travel the dream spirals and come an seek I, I will always see you and speak with you."

"Oh that is most wondrous," says the Little-Bear cub. And he looks at the Great Shaman standing there, so tall, wearing skins on the lower half of his body like an animal skin, and the top half body is smooth with no fur on it except for a little shadow of something across the front of the chest. And looking at this great people the bear cub sees all the strong muscles of the body and the broad shoulders and the strong features of the face and the long black hair and the big dark eyes that are so soft and gentle with kindness and love. And this shaman wears somethings in the hair that looks so light and beautiful and he studies them and says,

"You have got feathers in your hair. Can you fly like the Great Eagle?"

"Oh no little one," says the Great Shaman White Eagle. "I do not fly with these feathers. These feathers are only a symbol of my ability to fly through spirit and through the dream spirals. They are showing others of my gift of life in this way."

"Oh," said the Little-Bear cub, "That is very interesting. So do you fly?"

"I can take you flying," says Great Shaman. "Would you like I to show you a little of flying from where you are now?"

"Oh certainly I would," said the Little-Bear cub, "But I'm feeling very tired just now. May I lie down next to this fire. It is so warm and so comfortable I would like to go to sleep."

"Certainly you may. We will do this at another time when you visit I," said the Great Shaman. And he steps forward and picks up the Little-Bear cub in his arms that are so strong and lays him down gently. Not too close to the fire, so the flames won’t jump onto him. Just close enough to feel the warmth on the ground and from the fire itself. And he sits down on the earth next to the Little-Bear cub and strokes his head and helps him to go to sleep.

And the Little-Bear cub drifts away back along the dream spiral, back to where his body is just stepping out of the great forest on the side of the hill that is now at the bottom of the mountain side.

And he lands, BOOMP back into his body and sits down on his bottom self. And he looks around him and his head is spinning and he says,

"Muma, Muma I have been to a most exciting place!"

"What have you been doing now child?" says the Great She-Bear.

"Oh bother!" says the Little She-Bear, "He has been doing something without I again."

And Windrunner comes along side of the Little-Bear cub and sits down next to him and puts a paw across his shoulder and licks his face for him all over and says,

"Oh how did you know, how did you know?"

"Because I to have been to see the Great Shaman."

"I didn't see you there," said the Little-Bear cub.

"No you didn't," said Windrunner, "Because I hid from you. I have been watching you to make sure that you did not come to any great harm." And the Great She-Bear walks across to her son and sits down and she washes his face also and she says to the Little She-Bear,

"Come little one lets us sit down for a moment." And she looks at them and she say, "So you have met the Great Shaman?"

And the Little-Bear cub says, "Yes it is a people, Muma. The two legs are a people."

"That is so and I tell you now as I tell you before that you must not go near the people. It is all right to visit the Great Shaman on the dream spirals. The Great Shaman will never hurt you or harm you and will never hurt or harm you in your fiscal life however do, while you are little please, remember to keep away from the peoples while you are small. Do you understand?"

And they say, "Yes Muma. We will keep away from the peoples."

And the Little-Bear cub says, "Muma can I tell you I story?"

And the Great She-Bear says, "Certainly let us go now for there is the stream. We can go and catch some foodings and we can all sit around and listen to your story while we eat our foodings and have our drink from the beautiful clear waters of the stream."

And so they all move off across this hill at the bottom of the mountain and go to where the stream is and catch their foodings and sit down together and listen.

And that is where we leave them as they are sitting contentedly in the warm sunshine towards the end of a day, listening to the story that the Little-Bear cub has to tell them of the Great Shaman.

And now it is time for us to come back, to step back now out of this place of no time onto the dream spiral and to follow it back, going outwards now. Back outwards and back to your own life and your own way of being. Bringing with you the memories of your experience of your journey of the Great She-Bear.

And I am going to leave you now with the memories of this journey for you to discover the lessons that are locked within it for your enlightenment.

SO BE IT