a lesson from a spirit
When I was a young child at the orphanage I had a lot of invisible friends. One friend, That I had known since I was 3, was the spirit of an old Indian woman. This was one of the lessons she taught me...
The embodiment of Mother to me.
When I was a young child about 6 years of age I broke a grapevine in the back yard one afternoon and she said to me..'child! What have you done? Why have you hurt that living thing?' I said "it is not alive like you or I" [funny, looking back cause I was talking to a spirit...} It's just an old stick. Look all the leaves are dying on it anyway" It was October and fall had well set in. She said" no child, it was not dying, it was resting. Gathering it's strength for the coming spring and protecting itself from the harshness of winter. It's branch is it's house, it's walls, it's roof, so in the winter it goes inside like you would for it's too cold. Look at it again child.." And when I looked, I could see the veins within the stem and a clear liquid ooze from the end and I knew immediately, it was blood. I could see it desperately trying to stop from loosing all the fluid. I could see how it generated all through the entire plant like a maze of roads like cobwebs delivering this vital fluid throughout the whole branch and remaining leaves.
O girlfriend I just broke down and started bawling. I didn't mean to hurt anyone ...she knew that. "There there" she told me "come with me" and she led me down by the waters' edge of the Sacramento River. Bury it all but the very top so it ill not suffocate. It needs to breath the same as you or I. Crying I did as she requested. I told that grapevine I was so sorry for hurting it. That I didn't realize. I knew anything that would try so hard to repair itself, save it's fluids like that..that it was fighting for survival...that ment to me it had a will to live, that ment it was a living thing, just like I was and I should not think it wasn't just because it didn't talk like I did.
I had forgotten all about it later until the following summer just before my 7th birthday in July and I was down by the water visiting with Mother and the salmon that ran the river. She showed me the grapevine. It not only lived it was longer than I was tall!
Three years later it produced grapes and became entwined with the other original vine I had torn it from. If I had not been so empathetic I would not have clearly seen or understood. Gentle and wise always is my Great Mother and sure have all her lessons about life to me been...