Thanks Mark, for your commentary of affirmation. I have no problem with
Science or Spirit of any sort or flavor, only with dogma and fanaticism
that leads to closed minds, fear, exclusiveness, hatred, bigotry, etc.
There are more equally fascinating details to the story of Tecumseh
which points to an awesome spiritual presence which was involved in the
taking of the Ohio Valley from native Americans.
For example, a principal Shawnee chief was Blue Jacket, who actually was
a white man adopted by the Shawnees at an early age. When he was first
captured by the Shawnees, Blue Jacket had made a deal with his captors
that he would go peacefully with them if they would let his younger
brother go free and live. Many years later, in one of the pivotal
battles for the Ohio Valley, Blue Jacket killed his own brother. There
were many other similar tales in this frontier chapter of early
America.
Based on past experiences, I'll make my own prediction that most people
will not comment on Panther-across-the-sky. First of all, because it
deals with native America. Second, because it deals with an event which
defies the precepts of hard science. Third, because this phenomenon
crosses disciplinary as well as cultural boundaries, and therefore
pushes people to stick their heads out of their padded pigeonholes. And
fourth, because it deals with catastrophe.
My experience indicates people simply ignore whatever doesn't match
their model or concept of reality. Hence, geology refers to the New
Madrid earthquake as THE quake of North American history, but makes no
reference to Tecumseh. History tells us about Tecumseh, but glosses
over his visionary and spiritual dimensions, and certainly makes no
mention of his prophecies, including the New Madrid quake. And religion
simple refuses to discuss native spirituality at all, especially one
which involves predicting disaster and war against the whites. ("Since
Indians don't have souls, the only good Indian is a dead Indian.")
In a devilish ploy, I also posted this to sci.environment tonight. I'll
be fascinated to see how the readers of that hard science conference
react to this odd bit of history. There's some real flamers there who
pounce on anyone who stretches their dogmatic version of science. This
tale of Tecumseh doesn't merely stretch such so-called science -- it
bends it to the breaking point.
[ The "sci.environment" to which David refers is a Usenet newsgroup. --Gary ]
The green meteor from which Tecumseh took his name evokes an image which
keeps cropping up in my own explorations of culture, history and spirit.
In my own images, it's "The Green Dragon." For what it's worth, green
is the color that atomic oxygen luminesces (sp?) at when it is ionized
-- such as in the aurora, or northern lights. The same spectra is
emitted by plants as they manufacture sugar and oxygen from water and
carbon dioxide (chlorophyll).
One fascinating reference to The Green Dragon is straight out of
American History at the very birth of the American Revolution. On
December 16, 1773 Samuel Adams, Founding Father of the American
Revolution, adjourned a town meeting in Boston by announcing: "There is
nothing further this meeting can do to save the country." Later that
night colonists disguised as Indians left *The Green Dragon Inn* in
Boston -- a tavern where Masons quaffed ales and traded tales, and the
Sons of Liberty held their clandestine meetings. The Masons keep alive
the spiritual/mystical traditions of the temple builders of the ancient
Mediterranean world. As these radical revolutionaries dumped tea in
Boston Harbor, they sang a song: "Rally Mohawks! Bring your axes!
Tell King George we'll pay no taxes on his foreign tea!" (The Boston
Tea Party is considered the event which signaled the birth of the
American Revolution.)
In my own studies of the sacred landscape of North America, I refer to
the passageway into the interior which travels from Boston to Albany to
Syracuse to Niagara Falls to Detroit as "the path of the Green Dragon."
For the moment, simply consider that it is a straight line which links
the Mother Atlantic at Cape Cod with the heart of the Great Lakes, the
water center of North America.
Lastly, in L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz" (he lived just 13 miles
from here), the Wizard lived in the Emerald City. This is no
coincidence, since a few hundred years before Jesus Christ tried to
bring peace on Earth, goodwill toward men (and women) in the Middle
East, a man remembered as Hermes Trismegistus (or Thoth) received
enlightenment from the great and terrible Dragon named "Pymander", the
Creative Intelligence of the Universe, and then founded the Egyptian
Mystery Schools. The legend of Hermes has it that he wrote the secret
of the Universe in an emerald tablet.
-- for a green and peaceful planet, the turtle
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| David Yarrow (turtle) Econet:<jdmann> 315-675-8498 |
| Earthwise Education Center, P.O. Box 91, Camden, NY 13316 |
| "be earthwise, not clockwise" |
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