Who is RAVEN?

...that trickster guy

The traditional Northwest Coast creation story involves the sun, moon, people and raven. In the beginning, people didn't have a sun, and had to do all of their work by starlight. This made things very difficult for everyone, including raven, who was tired of the fly by night business. .




A powerful and wealthy aristocrat, who was also a chief, owned the sun and the moon. He kept them in boxes in his house. After a nasty crash into another tree in the dark, raven was very angry. "Who does this chief think he is that he can own the sun and the moon, and keep the rest of us in the dark," he cawed with righteous indignation. Raven paid a visit to the chief with the sun and the moon. After observing the scene from a perch high in a tree, he noticed that the chief had a daughter and that the boxes with the moon and sun were kept in the house. He thought up a strategy and set about his work.

When the chief's daughter went to get water from the stream, raven turned himself into a spruce needle and floated into her basket of water. When she drank from it, he impregnated her with himself. The new baby raven was immaculate in every way. He was born a healthy baby boy, who looked like a miniature of his new grandfather, who couldn't have been more pleased. Grandfather was curious as to who the father was, but waited for his daughter to tell him on her own terms.

The chief was obliging and kind to his new grandson, and spoiled him. Nothing was denied his grandson, and raven delighted in spilling food on his grandfather, pulling his mustache hair out and screaming at him when he wasn't fast enough serving him. Baby raven also got a special pleasure from rubbing mud on his grandfathers' finest robes while sitting on his lap. Raven laughed openly at his grandfather, who was grumbling to himself while cleaning up the mess.

The only thing the chief denied his grandson was to play with the box of daylight. By this time, raven was very, very good at throwing fierce tantrums that made his grandfather shake. The chief was weary of the scenes and finally one day acquiesced to baby raven. Raven snatched the sun from the box and darted out of the smoke hole in the ceiling with it. Until this time, raven was white, and the trip through the smoke hole made him black, as he is today. As he was ferociously pumping his now black wings to the sky, the small feathers on his head were starting to smoke and his beak was hot. Raven looked down to see the chief storming out the door, his regal robes flying behind him as he shook his fist at him, mouthing some choice words. With a flick of his head, raven shot the sun high into the first morning light of the land. As he soared home the only thing he could think of was, "I'm going to miss teasing the old fart... was that a moon I saw in the other box?"
Larry McNeil - Fly By Night Mythology

If you would like to read more about Raven,
Here are a few links.
Raven and Crow's Potlatch

Raven and The Tides

Raven and The First Men

RAVEN Stories: Background

A Message

A message to all the people in my world,
to all the people of the entire world!



I wish you enough sun
to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain
to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness
to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest
joys in life appear much bigger.

I wish you enough gain
to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss
to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos
to get you through the final good-bye.

I wish you enough!!

ANON

Imagine............................1971

Imagine
John Lennon


Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one


I was raised to believe it was ok to be a dreamer.
I was told I had to dream if I wanted anything.
"Dare to dream,
for out of dreams are shaped realities"

Sky has a thought.

I was ruminating these things I have just posted and this came to mind...

How can a person stand with one foot on a platform that is pro-life,
Making a statement that all life is precious and must be protected;
While the other foot stands on a platform that allows him to send people into war,
to kill and to die.

I understand both arguments, but for the life of me
I can't understand how these two elements can coexist,
together in one mind, one heart.

Forget justifications and rationalizations for the moment.
Forget Republican and Democrat for now.
Forget us and them!

How can both truthfully exist within one human being?

BLUE MAN GROUP

I saw these guys perform live late last year, and this had to be the very best performance I have ever seen. It was also most likely the loudest! I can't speak highly enough of the talent and creativity this trio possess.


If you dig the cool stuff that is humorous, and filled to the eyeballs with intelligence and talent, go here. Check out the Videos. (Broadband recommended)
Blue Man Group <---Link

God and Balance. Thanks Joe!

Once upon a time, God was missing for six days. Eventually, Michael, the archangel, found him, resting on the seventh day. He inquired of God. "Where have you been?" God sighed a deep sigh of satisfaction, and proudly pointed downwards through the clouds, "Look, Michael. Look what I've made." Archangel Michael looked puzzled, and said, "What is it?" "It's a planet," replied God, "and I've put Life on it. I'm going to call it Earth and it's going to be a great place of balance." "Balance?" inquired Michael, still confused. God explained, pointing to different parts of earth. "For example, Northern Europe will be a place of great opportunity and wealth, while southern Europe is going to be poor. Over there I've placed a continent of white people, and over there is a continent of black people. "Balance in all things," God continued pointing to different countries. This one will be extremely hot, while this one will be very cold and covered in ice." The Archangel, impressed by God's work, then pointed to a land mass and said, "What's that one?" Ah," said God "That's Washington State, the most glorious place on earth. There are great rivers and small streams, forested hills and a barren basin. The people from Washington State are going to be handsome, modest, intelligent and humorous, and they are going to be found traveling the world. They will be extremely sociable, hardworking, high achieving, and they will be known throughout the world as diplomats, and carriers of peace." Michael gasped in wonder and admiration, but then proclaimed, "What about balance, God? You said there would be balance." God smiled, "There is another Washington......wait until you see the idiots I put there

As I have said, animations can entertain and teach

The War Dance

All One Tribe

We all gotta dig the Wombat!
Click the click and be ready to do the dance.
Foundation for Global Community - The Wombat

A letter to my brother.

How come so few people can look at a stand of trees where no human has intruded and not see incredible value as it is? Why is value always measured in marina's, homes, and restaurants? Why is the value of a view always seen FROM the place, and not looking AT it? not in the letter(example: Many would argue that watching a sunset is one of lifes basic pleasures. Well turn around sometime and watch the distance that would normally have been behind you, as the sun sets.)

I guess I'm a West Coast body who has to live in the midst of east coast thinkers. The entire south shore is in the process of being developed now. The space of trees, where we used to play, the area east of what used to be the black forest, and is south of the road, has buldozers in it. They are currently in the process of putting a road from just West of Dead Lake up the hill to the top of Prune hill. (no small task) When this is finished, all of Prune hill will have been house planted. The day I took that pic that is on my blog of Lacamas Lake I walked around up on those trails. I wanted to look around again before it was all someone's lawn. I came across a man, maybe a decade or and a half younger than me, out walking his dog and he asked me, Do you suppose they will save any of this? I said I doubt it! Not even the spaces too steep to plant a house will be spared! We both agreed that it's a damn shame that a place so wonderful had to be owned by just a few, a few that manage to be economically well off. As if having money makes a person more deserving of the special places. Now granted this is just one small area of the world. But it's a part of MY world and no one asked me what I thought we should do with it.

I wish I were god for a day. I would remove the concept of land ownership. Or as Chief Seattle said in his letter to President Pierce in 1855.....

The Chief

Chief Seealth, AKA Chief Seattle.

The Message

We call him Chief Seattle because his true name "Seealth" is nearly unpronouncable in english.
Would I but dare to say Chief Seattle was a great man?
Of this I have no doubt. The words of his that have been preserved are both eloquent and most likely altered. The Speech of 1854 during the end of treaty negotiations has several forms. This version, CHIEF SEATTLE - THE SPEECH" */ Comes from the Seattle Sunday Star, published Oct 29, 1887. Suquamish Tribe This is the version kept on file by the Suquamish Tribe in Suquamish Washington, which is said to be from the same Seattle newspaper article.
What I consider important here, and what I am leading up to, is that to me the exact words are not as important as what was actually said. The intention. One can squabble over who actually said what and miss the whole message! A message that is still valid today!

Scroll to the bottom of this blog to the very first posted image. Lacamas lake. The last naturally wooded section of what is called "Prune Hill" (In Camas Washington) which drops down to the shores of this lake is currently under attack by buldozers and developers who do not understand concepts such as something this once great Native Chief would have said. I guess we all know every town that is situated across state lines from a big city in a state with a much higher property tax rate, that the growth of neighborhoods filled with half million dollar homes, and privately owned views, is inevitable. And I must be please when some small piece is developed and saved for us not so fortunate to enjoy, such as the Heritage trail.

This is part of a letter Chief Seattle wrote to President Franklin Pierce in 1855:

The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. . . . But we will consider your offer, for we know if we do not . . . the white man may come with guns and take our lands. . . . How can you buy or sell the sky— the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. Yet we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water. . . . Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. . . . When the buffaloes are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the views of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires, where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone.
And so it goes. Today we fight when we can, and learn to cope with the inevitable.