Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 09:42:45 -0400
From: Sequoyah <sequoyah@charter.net>
Subject: Mountain Magic Chapter Thirty-six (36)

Mountain Magic

Chapter Thirty-six

Warning!

The usual warning applies: This story contains erotic events involving
alternative sexualities. Do not read the contents if such will offend
you. If accessing this site causes you to break local laws (village, town,
city, county, province, state, or country, etc.), please leave now or
accept the consequences, should there be any.

By reading or downloading this file you implicitly declare that you accept
total responsibility for your actions in regard to material intended for
mature, responsible members of society capable of making decisions about
the content of documents they wish to read. You are accessing this site of
your own free volition. You have been warned!

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either
are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and
any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments,
events or locales is entirely coincidental and/or used fictionally.

Copyright Notice Reminder

This story is copyright by the author and the author retains all rights.
Expressly prohibited is the posting of the story to any sites not approved
by the author or charging for the story in any manner. Single copies may be
downloaded and printed for personal use provided the story remains
unchanged.

Comments to sequoyah@charter.net


Comments

As noted in Chapter thirty-five, Matt, Luke and Wes must explain much to
the young men and woman from Coldsprings in order to make their sweat
experience meaningful. In telling the story of White Buffalo Calf Woman, I
have again borrowed principally from Mother Earth Spirituality by Ed MaGaa,
Eagle Man, but have consulted other works.

Chapter Thirty-six.

"Now I don't know if it happened this way or not," Matt said again, "but I
know the story is true. Many, many years ago two young men were out hunting
when they saw a figure in the distance. As the figure drew closer, they saw
it was a very beautiful maiden dressed all in white buckskin. In her arms
she was carrying a bundle wrapped in a buffalo hide. As she approached, she
sang a sacred song over and over again. Slowly, solemnly, she walked toward
the two young men. When the hunters saw how beautiful she was, one of them
had wicked and evil thoughts and started toward the woman. The other hunter
tried to restrain him, but could not. The hunter with evil thoughts pushed
the good warrior away and reached out to grab the woman."

"Suddenly a cloud covered the evil hunter, concealing him from view. When
the cloud lifted, he was no more. His body was being devoured by worms and
only his skeleton remained. The good hunter knew then that those who live
in ignorance and has evil in their hearts will be destroyed by their own
action. It's not Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, who destroys evil
ones. Their own actions destroy them."

"The good hunter knelt in fear before the beautiful woman as she
approached. She spoke and her voice was as beautiful and clear as bird song
at dawn. She told the hunter to return to his camp and prepare the people
for her coming to them."

"When the hunter told the people what had happened and what the woman had
said, the people prepared themselves. And when they had, the beautiful
woman appeared in the midst of their camp and told them of the pipe she
carried in the bundle in her arms. She said of the pipe, 'This is a sacred
gift and must always be treated in a holy way.' She then told them how the
sacred pipe was to be used. 'When you smoke the pipe you send your prayers,
to Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit. When you use this pipe to pray, you will
pray for and with everything. The sacred pipe binds you to all your
relatives; your two legged brothers and sisters, your four legged brothers
and sisters, your winged brothers and sisters, your finned brothers and
sisters. Your Grandfather and Father, your Grandmother and Mother.'

"When White Buffalo Calf Woman had told the People about the sacred pipe,
she instructed the elders to call strong, young warriors and from them she
send runners to all the many bands of the Lakota telling their medicine men
and the holy men and women to gather."

Matt paused and Luke said, "You can imagine all the spirit power which was
gathered together as the holy men and women from all the bands of the
Lakota gathered in one place, around one fire. When they had, White Buffalo
Calf Woman taught them the Seven Sacred Rites of the Lakota, one of which
is the sweat lodge--in fact, it and the pipe ceremony are usually part of
the other ceremonies. When she had instructed them by visions, she prepared
to leave and as she did, she sang,:

Remember how sacred the pipe is And treat it in a sacred manner, For it
will be with you always.  Remember also that in me are four ages.  I shall
leave you now, But shall look upon you in every age And will return in the
end.'"

"Ever so often a white buffalo calf is born and when it is, the Lakota hope
and pray it is the return of the White Buffalo Calf Woman bringing peace
and healing to the world."

"As you can imagine, when she prepared to leave, the Lakota begged White
Buffalo Calf Woman to stay with them, but of course, she did not. They
promised they would build her a fine lodge and she could have the finest of
the young warriors to provide for her, but she, of course, told them she
had to rejoin the spirit world. She responded to their plea with these
words:

Know, the Creator above, The Great Spirit, Is happy with you, You, the
grandchildren.  You have listened well to my teachings.  Now I must return
to the spirit world."

"Having said that, she walked, in the sacred way, out of the camp and once
outside the camp, she sat down. When she stood,she stood on four legs, she
had become a white buffalo calf. She bowed to the four directions and as
she made her last bow, she disappeared."

"To this day, the Sacred Medicine Bundle with the Sacred Pipe is in the
hands of the Lakota family entrusted with it. It is, I have been told, on a
Lakota reservation, but even I, who have been chosen by White Buffalo Calf
Woman to be a medicine man, have never seen it, nor has Matthew. Both Matt
and I feel--and I mean have a deep sense--that Patanka St. Michael
Greywolf, Matt's father has seen and touched the sacred bundle holding the
pipe, but he had never said one way or the other."

"The sweat lodge is one of six other rites--you did say rites, right?" Cody
asked.

"Yeah, and it's spelled r-i-t-e," Luke smiled. "The others, just for your
information, are the Keeping of the Soul, the Vision Quest, the Sun Dance,
the Making of Relatives, Preparing a Girl for Womanhood, and Throwing the
Ball."

"Before we get too much more into this stuff, I need a break," Hank
said. "I need to pee. Man, I have drunk so much water some thing's gotta
give." As if his words gave permission, we all got up and headed for the
bushes.

When I got back, Tom was standing by the fire, talking with Matt and Luke
as the three of them added wood to it. Some of the stones already looked
pretty hot to me.

"Matt, you dad's name. It's quite a mouthful," Tom laughed.

"They go in for mouthfuls in that family," Luke laughed. "Old Matt here was
baptized Matthew Sarang Hanun Pomul Greywolf, Sarang Hanun Pomul was a
Korean name his dad gave him. It means, we think, priceless treasure. His
Lakota name, Silver Wolf was added after his vision quest, so he's Matthew
Sarang Hanun Pomul Silver Wolf Greywolf. Try saying all that in the heat of
passion!!"

"Well, Lover Boy, you haven't done so badly," Matt laughed then added,
"Luke was just plain vanilla Luke Hans Larsen, but he had to have a pet
name and I thought he needed a Korean one so I gave him Yonghon Tongmu,
soulmate. Then after his vision quest, he got his Lakota name, Fire
Thunderbird. No more plain vanilla now! He's Luke Hans Yonghon Tongmu Fire
Thunderbird Larsen. 'Course what started this was my dad's name. Patanka is
a Lakota word which can mean just buffalo, but it also means all that the
buffalo do for the People and to bear that name is to take responsibility
for the People."

"Well, it looks as if we are all back," Luke said. "Maybe we need a break
from this heavy stuff. How about Tapa Wanka Ya, throwing the ball?"

Wes laughed and said, "Now the Lakota are a pretty tough bunch, but if it's
one time they look pretty wimpy, it's when they start playing ball."

"Yeah, well, we don't believe in blood sacrifices," Matt said.

I had heard Granddad talk about the Cherokee ball game. It's still played
today and Granddad says it makes football look tame. I've read about it on
the Internet and the one thing I learned is the winner is the team with the
last man standing--literally.

"Throwing the ball is pretty tame," Luke said. "Originally, a small child
stood in a circle, symbolizing the eternal youth and purity of Wakan Tanka,
the Great Spirit. She threw the ball in the four directions, tossing it
high so that it becomes a symbol of Wakan Tanka's power descending on all
and of the Great Spirit being everywhere. It has become a game these days
and looks a lot like a group of people playing Frisbee."

"Sounds good," Wes said, "and we'll begin with a pipe ceremony." He walked
over to a bundle he had hung in a tree, took it down and took a pipe--a
real peace pipe--from it. He was handling it in a way while left no doubt
it was special. He walked back to where we were now standing and said, "I
know you want look at the pipe, so I'll pass it around. Just remember to
handle it as you would any sacred object.

When the pipe reached me, I held it and when I did, had a sense it was
sacred. It had power. The pipe bowl was, as the one White Buffalo Calf
Woman had given the Lakota, of a red stone, beautifully polished. On one
side of the bowl was a carving of a deer and on the other three feathers. I
remembered the High Chief of the Cherokee would a turban-like head covering
with three egret feathers. The stem was a hallowed out piece of river
cane. Hanging from the pipe were three feathers--I was sure they were eagle
feathers--and the cord holding the feathers was decorated with beads.

When the pipe had made the rounds, Wes gave it to Matt and as he did, said,
"The pipe ceremony is based on the Four--as you have been told, the four is
of great significance to Indians. The Lakota have no lock on that!" he
chuckled as he looked at Matt. "In the pipe ceremony as I do it--and Matt
and Luke think I have it right--there are several sets of four to be
acknowledged and respected. All in all the pipe ceremony reminds us of the
four great respects: respect for the Great Mystery, respect for Mother
Earth, respect for our fellow men and women--for the two legged--respect
for individual freedom."

"As the pipe is filled, the directions are acknowledged and respected. I
face the east and sprinkle a pinch of tobacco on the earth, returning to
Mother Earth some of what she has given us. It also shows the spirit world
we are acknowledging the powers of the east. Red is the color of the east,
of the rising sun, the beginning of a new day. With the sprinkling of the
tobacco, we prayer for knowledge and wisdom, the gifts of the east and for
new beginnings."

Matt held the pipe, the stem pointing to the east, and began chanting. As
he did, Wes translated the prayer us. When Matt finished, he put a pinch of
tobacco in the pipe,then turned to face south. Wes told the color of the
south was yellow, the sign of growth. The prayer was for strength, growth
and physical healing. A pinch of tobacco was put in the pipe and Matt
turned to face west whose color is black. The west is where the spirit
beings live and from which our spiritual knowledge and wisdom come. A third
pinch of tobacco was placed in the pipe and Matt turned to face north and,
as we had done before, we all turned with him. Matt's prayer this time was
in English and he prayed for strength, endurance, purity, truth and courage
for himself and for us.

When Matt finished, he touched a long splinter to one of the hot rocks, lit
the pipe and took one puff before passing it Stone who stood to his
left. The pipe was passed from person to person, clockwise, around the
circle until it reached Luke who leaned it against a holder I had not
noticed before.

I guess I thought Wes would toss a softball or basket ball out for us to
play with. No such luck. While it was about the size of a basket ball, it
was made from leather of some kind and stuffed with something. It was
pretty heavy and after tossing it around for awhile, we had all, Beth
included, worked up a pretty good sweat. Wes finally caught the ball, put
it on the ground and in one smooth motion, stripped off his pants and shirt
and stood in his breech cloth. He took a running leap into the basin below
the small falls.

Not to be outdone, he was soon joined by nine breech cloth clad men. Right
after I had dived in, I was surprised when I heard a splash and looked up
just in time to see Beth surfacing beside Hank. She was wearing her bra and
panties and was as nonchalant as any of us males.

After we swam bit, we got out and headed for the fire pit. The day was
pleasantly warm, but the river was cold and by now, the fire pit was a bed
of red hot coals and rocks.

While we were warming ourselves, Matt and Luke asked about our families,
school, hobbies, etc. Matt told me he knew Mastero Alexas and he would not
steer me wrong or take advantage of me, but that I needed to get an agent
soon. "I'll give you a couple of names," he said, "people I know you can
trust. I suspect you play because you enjoy it and because music is
important to you, but it's also a business and there are some rotten apples
in the music barrel as in any other."

Wes told us he had exercised his rights as an enrolled member of the
Eastern Band of the Cherokee and placed a bid on the property formerly
owned by the Circle of God's Chosen. He said he had several ideas for its
use, but he wasn't ready to talk about them. "Counting chickens and all
that," he laughed.

We had all gotten warmed a bit and dried off when Matt said, "I think a
little nap might be good about now," and looked at Luke with an evil leer.

"Keep it down, Silver Wolf," Luke said. "Purity, remember purity," and
laughed.

None of us had to be begged as we got our sleeping bags and crawled into
them.

I soon drifted in to a very deep sleep.

When I woke up, Granddad had arrived and he and Tim were adding wood to the
fire. When I walked over to the fire pit, I saw the rocks, glowing red,
resting on a bed of red hot embers. Tim and Granddad had to shield their
faces when they approached the pit to place the new logs around the rocks
in the middle of the pit, allowing them, later, to removed the stones while
maintaining a very hot fire.

Shortly after Granddad arrived, Wes called us together and said, "Strip to
your breech clothes. We are ready to get started."

I wondered where Matt and Luke were--and Beth. I folded my wind suit and
put it with my sleeping bag and joined the others around the campfire which
was now just a few glowing embers. I heard something behind me and when I
turned around, I gasped in surprise. Beth was dressed in a white buckskin
dress In one hand she was carrying a bowl from which smoke was rising and
in the other she held a smoldering bundle of what I guessed was sage. She
was breath-taking! Behind her walked Matt and Luke, faces painted, each
carrying a large bird's wing in their right hand.

When the three reached us, Luke took a tobacco pouch from Matt and filled
the pipe once more and placed it on its stand. When he had finished, he
took the bowl from Beth and handed her the pouch.

Matt stood in front of Jonathan, took his bird's wing and, bending over,
fanned smoke from the smoldering sage bundle over him from his feet to his
head. He then indicated that Jonathan should turn around and he repeated
the smudging. Moving clockwise, Matt continued smudging us as he chanted a
prayer--in English--asking for our purification and for a successful sweat.

Luke followed Matt, fanning the smoke from the burning cedar in the bowl
over us as Matt had from the sage.

When the two had smudged all of us--including Granddad and Tim--Beth took
the sage from Matt and smudged the lodge and then did the same with the
cedar. When she finished, she walked to the fire pit and threw the burning
sage and cedar into it. That finished, she came back to stand between Matt
and Luke.

We were all standing in silence--awed silence, I'm sure--when Luke said, "I
have talked with Beth and after she has opened the lodge, she will be
joining us in the sweat. I know it was not as we planned, but my spirit
guide tells me Beth is very important to this sweat. Beth."

Beth took the pouch from her belt, opened it and as she chanted in a
whisper, she sprinkled a trail of tobacco from the fire pit into the
lodge. She was just a shadowy figure, but I could tell she was circling the
stone pit, clockwise. When she came out of the lodge she was very quiet as
she handed the pouch to Granddad and removed her buckskin dress. She was
wearing the shorts and halter she had worn earlier.

We continued standing quietly then Luke, holding Beth's hand,led the rest
of us into the lodge. Matt brought up the rear.