It is early September. We had just arrived in the furthest Northern fly-in community that I had lived in. Fond du Lac Dene Nation is a Dene First Nation located in the boreal forest area of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The main settlement is Fond-du-Lac, situated on the east side of Lake Athabasca. It is a remote fly-in community of Dene and Métis descent.
At our daily staff meeting, we were told we were going on an adventure that night. We were told to wear jackets with metal zippers. We were going up towards Mackenzie Lake.
Night fell quickly and we piled into the school van and headed into a crisping night. When dark fell there, it was a deep navy dark. Because we were so far away from any city lights, stars shone bright as pinpricks.
As we drove to the lake, we began to see the Northern Lights dancing more and more. The night was thick and dark but they danced like the fringes on my regalia shawl. I had seen them lots before, even in South Western Alberta, where I grew up. Where I grew up, we saw shards of light, high up in the North. I had lived in Waterhen Lake (Wawakisik Band) in Northern Saskatchewan, there were times we saw swirling lights down on to the lake. This was different. The Northern Lights (Aurora) was swirling and close by. By the time we got to the lake, they were swirling all around us. It was above around and below us at the top of the hill. Close enough to reach out a grab a rainbow bouquet.
I had been taught never to whistle at the Northern Lights, as a child, by the Kainai, who I grew up with. We could look but never try to touch and here I was standing right in the electrical surge of beautiful neon lights being pulled by the gravity. It was awed and a little concerned.
I heard zipping behind me and when they did it, the lights danced more. I tried it. It worked. Do not ask me how, exactly but they danced all around us. All I could think was how choice to be able to experience this once in my life. And, I wondered what the ancestors thought of them when the sky was so ablaze.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd18NxiH_BQ
I am sure, all the ancestors who live in the Northern hemisphere had original stories that included some who believed them to be spirits or gods or warriors in the celestial realm.
The Romans had the goddess Aurora, word for Dawn or Sunrise. She represented the potential for a new day, a new beginning. She has a counterpart goddess with the Greek who called her Eos. Even Shakespeare mentions Aurora in Romeo and |Juliet. She was shown adoration by the use of saffron to die robes yellow. Aurora was known as a goddess of youth and wanted her lovers to live forever but she tired of them easily and when she was bored with them, she turned them into grasshoppers. If a male rejected her, it was the only way her heart could be opened. She was an enchanter and seductress who manipulated men for sex, status or money. Perhaps she was the first Golddigger or she was the first Cougar, if you get the analogies.
It is not a new thing that we learn to manipulate. It begins when we are born and we are great manipulators to get what we need from our first cry.
We need to really look at how we manipulate in order to control, even in the most innocuous of ways. I had a mother who cried and, bless her loving heart, she manipulated through guilt. I, too, learned not to drop the natal manipulation, and had my manipulative ways to control life and situations. I have long given that up as a poor choice/choices. You can look at this to see if you might recognize manipulation in your own life and check to see if you need to curb some bit of it.
https://www.businessinsider.com/9-signs-youre-dealing-with-an-emotional-manipulator-2016-12
©Carol Desjarlais 7.20.21
No comments:
Post a Comment