THE SECOND WELL TRUST presents

The Great She Bear Stories of Nature

Meeting with the Great Shaman

SOUL'S JOURNEY EIGHT
Part One

Songee begins by saying, Are you comfortable Children? Very well then close your eyes and take inside of you the deep breath of life and listen now to the soundings of the peoples of the earth, of the great Shamans as they play their musics to the Earth Mother, deep in the womb of the Mother.

And as you breathe deeply and listen to the soundings allow yourself now to step onto the dream spiral, the spiral of the Great She-Bear. And as you travel on the spiral, towards the center, remember all the adventures that have taken place since the beginnings, so long ago in the Womb of the Mother. Now as you come to the end of the spiral, right at the center, prepare yourself to step off into that other world.

And as you step into the other world, you step into a place and in front of you are sitting the Great She-Bear, the two little bear cubs and Windrunner, the mighty wolf.

The sun is shining and they are talking about the Little-Bear cubs' journey to see the great Shaman of the two legs. And Windrunner says to the Little-Bear cub that he had been travelling also in the spiral with the Little Bear cub, so he knows where the Little-Bear cub has been and what he has seen.

Now it is time for them to get up once more onto their feets and to begin their journey along once more down the mountainside through the trees, going ever lower down the mountain and so they travel for some time this way always moving downwards. Sometimes they cross the stream and they catch the silver fish for their foodings. Sometimes they find the fruits for themselves. Sometimes they have to lift up the rocks and look underneath and find little wriggling things for themselves to eat.

Always moving downwards, down further on the mountainside.

And then the Great She-Bear says, "It is time for a moment to stop. And you must be very quiet." She says to the little bear cubs.

"Why is that Muma?" said the Little-Bear cub.

"SHHHHH!" says Muma Bear, "Don’t shout. You must be very silent otherwise the two legs will find us."

"Oh are we going to see the two-legs?" says the Little-Bear cub.

"I don't want to see the two legs," said the Little She-Bear. "I'm a-frightened of the little two legs and I don't want to see them. You said they will hurt us Muma."

"Well as your brother has been to visit the Great Shaman, then I'm going to take you now, and I'm going to introduce you to him properly."

"How are you going to do that," said the Little-Bear cub. "I saw the Great Shaman on the dream spirals, how is he going to know that you are here, that we are here?"

"Oh," said the Great She-Bear, "The mighty Shaman is very wise in the ways of spirit and in the ways of the Earth. And the Great Shaman honours the ways of the Earth and the ways of the people of the forests, both large and small. This one honours the standing people and all that is beneath the feets and all that is above in the great Heavens where the fire is living that warms the earth and when the star people dwell. This one honours them all including us for we are parts of the peoples of the forest."

"That is so," says Windrunner. "He and I have been friends for many moons, since I was just a small cub, just like you." He says to the little bear cubs. And they are sitting looking at him with their eyes wide open and their mouths wide open in astonishment.

"OHH," says the Little She-Bear. "He sounds like a most wondrous person to meet."

"He certainly is," says the Great She-Bear. "Now come along childrens, come along and we will go to the special meeting place."

So off they go with the Little-Bear cub and the Little She-Bear all chattering away like little magpies wanting to know about this and about that and how does this happen and why does that happen and how – and so on and so forth. And the Great She-Bear just grumbles along and says, "You talk too much. You are making too much soundings."

And Windrunner just goes, "Pfff." Down his nose as they walk along. And as they come to the edge of the forest that is down near the bottom of the mountainside to where the great river winds itself down to the great oceans that the Little-Bear cub only can guess at.

The Great She-Bear and Windrunner say, "Halt." And they stop and in a clearing at the base of the mountainside, there is a group of rocks and boulders and it is surrounded by bushes and standing peoples. And some of the rocks have got beautiful shining things on the surface and some have got shinning things on the bottoms of them as though they have fallen out of the rocks and just landed on the Earth. It is a beautiful magical place and it is very quiet and very still with just the softest of breezes to keep from getting too hot, and beautiful sun shining down.

"OHH," said the Little She-Bear. "This is so beautiful Muma. Are we allowed to go inside?"

"Yes child," says the Great She-Bear. "We are going to step inside in one moment. However first of all, Windrunner would you please do what needs to be done?"

"Certainly Mother," says Windrunner. And with this he steps forwards, remembering to walk on air. And he steps very sedately and very carefully around in a circle in the clearing. He walks around slowly and every now and again he stops and he touches his nose to the ground and then lifts it up to the Heavens and sounds the sound of his people,

"OAOOOOO, OHOOOOO." All the way around the circle he treads till he comes back to the Great She Bear. And he faces her and placing his behind self up in the air with his beautiful tail curling up and his front hands down on the ground he bows his head towards her and says, "Mother welcome to the sacred place of the Earth Mother. Welcome and thrice welcome." And with this he stands and turns round and walks into the very center of the circle and sits down.

"Come now," says the Great She-Bear to the little bear cubs and you must be polite and sedate and walk on air. You must not leave behind any footsteps for others to find."

And with this the Great She-Bear walks forwards into the circle, into the light and joins Windrunner in the center. And the two little bear cubs, focusing very diligently on what they are doing and a little bit peculiar around their eyes and their little tongues just poking out between their teeth in their concentration, they come to the center, also walking on air. All the way to join Windrunner and Muma.

And they all sit down. "Well," said the Little-Bear cub, "What happens now?"

"SHHH," says the Great She-Bear. "Close your eyes and breathe deeply."

And so they do this and then before three heart beats have passed, a shadow passes between them and the sun and the Little-Bear cub opens his eyes and looks up there before him stands the Great Shaman, the two legs in the flesh.

"Oh," he says. "There you are, I didn't hear you coming."

And the Great Shaman lifts his hand in greeting and says, "Welcome people of the forest, welcome, thrice welcome to this holy place." And with this he then sits down upon the ground with his legs crossed and faces them and holds his hands out to the Little-Bear cub. "Come little one," he says, "And sit with I."

And the Little-Bear cub is so delighted he wriggles his way, delighted, over to the Great Shaman and rubs his face into the Great Shaman's hands and wriggles his whole body all the way down to the tip of his little short tail.

"Oh," he says, "That feels wonderful, all tingly all down I back."

"Can I have some too?" says the Little She-Bear.

"Certainly," says the Great Shaman. "Come, come closer." And the Little She-Bear very, very shyly steps forward and lets the Great Shaman touch her beautiful head and she looks up at him with the most adoring eyes and says to him, "I didn't know that two legs could be so beautiful."

And he smiles at her and says, "Thank you little one. That is the most beautiful thing that any one has ever say-ed to I. And it is very precious coming from you, one of the people of the forest."

"Will you tell us a story?" says the Little-Bear cub.

"Certainly I will," says the Great Shaman. "However I need to know whether your Muma and Windrunner would like to hear a story also."

"Oh most certainly," they both reply to him.

"Very well," he says. "This is something that we will do. Only for the moment I want you to close you eyes and take a deep Breath of Life and relax your body as though you are going to sleep."

And as they do this the Great Shaman makes a magical pass with the hands to bring sleep to their eyes and peace to their Souls. And they begin their journey on the great spiral.

And this is where we are going to leave them you know and we are going to come back to them to where the Great Shaman is taking them on their journey of discovery another time.

So as you see them sitting in the center of the magic circle and all around them are the beautiful shining stones that have fallen out of the rocks and the beautiful standing peoples guarding them, watching over them keeping them safe in their slumbers. And the Great Shaman sitting with them also guarding and protecting them.

This is how we leave them now and we will return to them another time. So as you recede slowly from this scene, step back once more onto the spiral of the Great She-Bear. Begin your journey back to your own life, remembering all the little things that have happened, all the feelings of discovery from this magic Circle of Life at the bottom of the mountainside. This place of sanctuary and as you come back now into your own earth life bring the memories of the peace of that sanctuary with you.

Slowly back now, breathing deeply until you come back into your own earth life.

Take a deep breath when you come back into your bodies. Bring yourself back down and put your feets back down into your socks. I am going to tell the rest of the adventure another time. I can't tell you all of the adventure or otherwise there will not be something to surprise you. Little bits. Each journey has a story, each journey has a message for you. Each journey gives you something for your life now. This you will discover for yourself. This was the journey of the Sanctuary.

I am going to go now and I am going to leave you with the Power and the Peace of the Sanctuary to hold in your hearts for the days to comes, for you are going to need it.

SO BE IT