old woman called thunder

s.grace

there was an old woman. she banged rocks together to call to the spirits. sounding just like thunder the old womans spirit voice echoed around the canyon. the very sound of that voice is what the people called her. one day while sitting next to the need fire warming her bones singing her medicine song old woman thunder saw a flash outside the cave mouth. before she could draw another breath she heard a sound much bigger than her own name. driven by famine breaking rain and famished wind a storm came charging down the canyon. the peaks moaned and howled. bits and pieces of sky came crashing to earth.

wound

afraid

suddenly, all was silence. Then, the sky split open. everyone heard the cackling. Everyone heard the cawing, croaking and beating of wings. from out of the eye of the storm raven swooped down and stole the peoples need fire. the cave stood mouth agape. the people huddled within shivering and growing colder with each passing moment. the wind and rain finally died down. where there had been a dancing, chattering fire there was nothing but a darker darkness. unable to stand the peoples suffering any longer old woman thunder got up off her haunches. she straightened her spine. she stretched her senses. she collected her questions.

desperate

old woman thunder took a deep breath and a stones throw of steps. She paused on the threshold. she sniffed the air. she stared at nothing. she considered everything. she concluded that there was no reason in waiting. hesitation cast aside, old woman thunder stepped out into the unknown night alone. having only hands for eyes, thunder felt around on the ground until she found the two stones she was looking for, the ones which were looking for her. she hugged the stones to herself one in each palm. the contours of the rock fit the contours of thunders need perfectly. just as a feather fits the wind.

finding medicine

old woman thunder buried her face in the long neck of night. she hummed her medicine song. she whispered her secret concerns to the damp breeze and dewy birch trees. thunder banged the stones together. she listened... she banged again. as she banged the stones together for a third time, thunder opened her two eyes. she saw sparks leaping from the stones! sudden and straight as starling out of the mist old woman thunders inner eye flew open. far away, yet right where she stood thunder saw lightening hit a tree. She saw the tree burst into flames. thunder ran back into the cave.

healing

out of a crevice in the cave wall old woman thunder drew a piece f the chaga the people used to carry the seeds of the need fire from place to place. along with the stones she carried the chaga to the fire pit. she squatted and put some chaga on the ground between her feet. one stone in each palm old woman thunder put her hands close down into the tinder. she struck the stones against each other just so. in their own time, the stones gave birth to sparks. old woman thunder kept striking until she saw a thin serpent of smoke rising from the tinder. she picked the embers up and cradled them in the palms of her hands.

celebration
old woman thunder blew her own breath into the embers and they leapt to life. she nursed the flames along until they grew into a roaring fire. thunder had made lightening! old woman thunder taught everybody how to make lightening. never again would any of the people perish for want of warmth. everybody started to dance....

circle grows

hear

Chaga
1. chaga, a certain species of fungus (inonotus obliquus) whose help is is sought in tea making and tinder. 2. CHAGA, an artscience zine in Flipboard.

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Medicine
that which restores and maintains balance

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