Awahai
(In the beginning there were two: the woman,
and the man who became jealous of Her power.
In a rage, he ripped the tree of life from the ground,
and pushed Her into the hole,
and all of life tumbled in after Her.)
(In the beginning there were three, two men and a woman.
One man was jealous of the two lovers, and in a fit of rage....)
(I was a young wife; my angry husband uprooted the tree of life!
Was I pushed into that hole? I dived!)
(Star Maiden lived in the clouds with Her people.
She was the young one who was always curious.
She found a little hole in the clouds and peeked through.
The more She peeked the bigger the hole got.
Despite their warnings She wanted to see more. Silly girl!
One day She toppled right down through the hole!)
As She fell through space, Awahai did not despair.
She reached out with Her many shining arms
and caught all the forms of life She loved so much.
The birds slowed Her fall with their wings.
At last Turtle steadied under Her feet in the void.
Handfuls of precious earth She had caught
She packed onto Turtle’s strong shell.
Rooting Her feet into it, She became again the Tree of Life,
sheltering and nourishing all the creatures of Turtle Island.
She created First Woman (fertilized by star-seed!)
who bravely gave birth to both male and female.
I peeked down through a hole in the clouds;
I dived down through renewal's hole!
and I tumbled headlong, down through the sky!
Turtle met me half way; gave me a steady place to stand,
to begin anew. I rooted Myself;
I became again the many-armed, star-radiant Tree of Life.
Turtle Island, this good continent, is My generous body.
Respect, conserve, restore and share My gifts.
This shall be the way you give Me thanks.
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When Star-Woman dived down from on high,
Turtle-Woman caught Her on Her strong back.
Turtle was the ground where star-seed rooted
to grow again the Tree of Life, reaching upwards,
and down into Earth,
opening to the Deepest, Mystery of Becoming!
Turtle Island is our home.
We can never be homeless.
She shares our heart of star.
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Under this shell of sky, theater of grace,
tumbling in mysteries,
where sacred spirits fly, guiding our histories,
we treasure flatness, place, earth-path,
this beauty-walk.
set stage of here and now,
extemporaneous script of freedom,
spacious breath, curtained so soon by death.
Within my sheltering home,
I walk on Turtle Mother,
Her patched shell strong beneath my feet.
Rainbow bubble curves,
cloud-patched, above my world.
Within my dome of bone,
my thoughts, emotions soar,
criss-crossing, electron orbits,
weaving a fearless shell
around a questing core.
__________________________________________
Turtle-womban is never homeless,
carrying her house on her back,
a comforting quilt,
honoring Earth beneath her feet,
sole to soul,
step by step, breath by breath,
in balance, harmony.
Tight as a drum
she can shut out distraction,
shut out destruction,
world unto herself.
She is strong and sturdy,
well-defended,
yet she is tender within her armor.
She breathes
like a universe expanding,
a womb contracting.
____________________________________________
Turtle-round, Moon-Mother
lives Her pieces in a peaceful cycle.
Turtle is mosaic of many pieces,
continents of earth, united,
always whole, always full.
She swims in water,
walks and digs on land,
laying her moon-like eggs.
Like the moon,
she basks in the light of the sun,
dreaming dark within.
________________________________
I was born turtle without shell,
sensitive, slow and deep, afraid.
I have found the Earth my Mother,
Turtle Island, grounding
and sustaining me. Star Womban,
I have fallen into the embrace of earth.
I need each one of you
as patchwork scales,
the missing Justess shell,
community, my peers.
I carry the spiral hope of you
ever-growing
shell of well-being,
on my tender back.
_________________________
Gathered in peace we walk,
with courage, love and grace.
Beneath this over-arching,
weathering dome,
this mottled turtle-shell of sky,
patchwork of memory and hope
sheltering today,
this woven, nested All,
where Star Womban
bravely chose to fall
and chose to stand up tall,
choosing to make Her home,
choosing to make our home.
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You can’t expect Turtle to do things turtles can’t or won’t. They don’t.
I’m quicker than the stone, the lump, the block I seem to be, but don’t expect
hop, skip or jump from Me. Steady, I stay the glacial course of the race.
In the end, I win. I Am at home in Myself. Knock. I Am always in.
I have the world and all of time to teach Being here and now..
I’ll show you how, sweet sensitive, to mother yourself.
Dear inner child, stay wild, stay true. Engender gender new and grow tough skin.
(My shell has served Me well.)
Your days are winks of My celestial eye. My sun and moon roll their eternal track of change,
tracing a balanced rune upon My puzzling, measured back.
The path you walk seems flat and dead to you. You crawl your surface, fearing depth,
looking for love,, for hope, for food to eat, Om. I Am home. I Am curved earth, the ball of All
spinning beneath your feet. Wake up! Touch sole to soul, and know: I Am the Whole,
embracing under, over, inside you,before birth and beyond the grave. I crave the things you crave.
Be brave! There is nowhere to fall.
© Tamara Rasmussen 2018