the council of creatures is calling
the council of creatures is calling
Crow hid in the pitch black night sky. They kept safe the wisdom of how to forgive and be forgiven. They kept safe the truth that it is okay to be sad and angry. They kept safe the knowledge of how to admit when you’re wrong, and to not make assumptions about people or ideas you don’t understand. They are the keepers of forgiveness and understanding.
CROW
R
HAIRSTREAK BUTTERFLY
Butterfly hid by becoming the colorful and wandering nectar of forgotten flowers. They are the keepers of the dreams of Monarchs who travel on far migrations over daring and dangerous distances to make new lives in strange lands, and how to be kind to those you meet along your journey. They are the keepers of the bright stories of lives planted together like flowers in a field. They are the keepers of migrants, wanderers, travelers and drifters. They are the keepers of welcome and invitation.
F
w
Aspen hid by becoming the vision of flames blown by the autumn Wind. In their leaves, they are the keepers of the quivering and shaking secrets of the wind. THEY ARE THE story of The Great Fire, which they retell every fall on the sides of mountains through their colorful leaves as a reminder that we are all connected and rooted together. They are the keepers of togetherness.
ASPEN
A
silver-haired bat
A
Silver-Haired Bat hid in the pitch black darkness of deep subterranean caves. They are the keepers of how to be brave in scary places and the wisdom of how to see even when your eyes are closed. They are the keepers of how to not be scared of something that is new and unknown to you, but instead to see it as a chance to adapt. They are the keepers of the names, faces and stories of every creature that has ever lived or died. They are the keepers of bones and bravery.
I
Big Horn Sheep hid by becoming a rocky mountain. They are the keepers of the slow and patient wisdom of a stone, and the stories of cliffs and peaks. They are the keepers of the wide life of a mountain, and the safety of the valley below. They are the keepers of the how to play the chime for others. They are the keepers of resonant echoes. They are the keepers of mountains.
BIGHORN SHEEP
Z
Bison hid by becoming the booming sound of summer thunder storms, rumbling across the ranges and the prairies. They are the keepers of wisdom on how to face life’s storms head on and being large and strong, while still being soft and kind. They are the keepers of strength.
BISON
B
HAWK
Hawk made sure everyone was in their hiding places before she finally went to hers. For hers, she flew higher than she had ever flown before and with a diving swoop as agile as an arrow and faster than time itself, she flew into the Sun at the center of the solar system. She is the keeper of the heat, energy, light and life of the sun itself. She used her ancient wisdom and The Breathing Moon glow to learn to live peacefully with the solar flames. She is the keeper of all the love the Universe has ever created.
H
BLUE SPRUCE
B
S
Blue Spruce hid by becoming the bright blue Sky. They are the keepers of Today, and how to be fully present, right where you are. They are the keepers of deep breathing and rest. They are the keepers of close observation, sharp attentioN and mindfulness. They are the keepers of awareness.
BristleCone Pine hid by becoming twisted wind-blown sculptures at the top of the world on mountain peaks. They are the keepers of the wisdom, stories and beauty that can only come from old age, As well as the beauty that all things eventually die, and that death acts as a seed for something new to grow. They are the keepers of the beauty of old age.
B
BRISTLECONE PINE
p
Chickadee hid by becoming the subtle singing voice of the Earth. They are the keepers of the ancient language sung and spoken in bird song and passed down from one generation to the next. They are the keepers of the knowledge that if you look close enough, you can find the entire Universe hidden in a single seed. They are the keepers of language.
CHICKADEE
C
Columbine hid by becoming the fuzzy edge of the real and the fictional. They are the keepers of metaphors and poetry. They are the keepers of how to listen closely and to ask colorful questions with an open mind. They are the keepers of fact and fiction, and how to blend them together. They are the keepers of imagination.
COLUMBINE
q
Elk hid by becoming the summer sunshine in the golden mountain grass. They are the keepers of the wisdom, beauty and stories of your antler-like family tree and your herd, traveling together through high mountain meadows and evergreen forests, and all THE lives of other landscapes. They are the keepers of family.
ELK
K
FERN
Fern hid in the coiled up potential of all that is around us. They are the keepers of the wisdom that it’s important to be vulnerable, and unfurl your fronds and reach out to the world with your story – even if it takes patience. They are the keepers of this truth: You have all the time you need. They are the keepers of the cool of summer mornings. They are the keepers of potential.
F
OAK
Oak Tree hid in the unimportant looking sticks and twigs we see scattered on the ground. They are the keepers of the wisdom of ordinary things, and the beauty and poetry that comes from paying close attention to the world that is directly in front of you when you are rooted in one place. They are the keepers of groundedness.
F
o
Wild Goose hid by becoming the distant clouds on the edge of the horizon. They are the keepers of how to always find your way back home through endless open skies or deserts. They are the keepers of the joyful stories of far off places, of how to stick together through hard times, and hard work. They are the keepers of direction and our true north. They are the keepers of intuition. They are the keepers of openness.
F
v
GOOSE
GREAT BLUE HERON
Great Blue Heron hid by perching on the tip of the crescent Moon and flYING silently amongst the Moonlight cast on the river at night. They are the keepers of the wisdom of where all of the stars belong with their infinite stories. They are the keepers of the knowledge of how to patiently pluck those stories out of the night like a minnow, as they flow across the Sky and down the mysterious river-like milky way, surrounded by shimmering cosmic fog. They are the keepers of the ancient wisdom of space.
G
HUMMINGBIRD
Hummingbird hid by becoming a shooting star. They are the keepers of the wisdom of how to wish and hope for something you cannot see, as well as, how to make quick decisions when you need to. They are the keepers of the messages written in the Sky by the flight paths of hummingbirds. They are the keepers of secret vision.
H
Y
SNAKE
Snake hid by becoming the tracks, trails and topography that trace and twist across the terrain. They are the keepers of the wisdom of the best ways for Creatures and Water to travel from here to there, as well as how to tenaciously wiggle out of a hard spot when you feel pinned down in life. They are the keepers of grit.
D
Moss hid by filling in the shattered cracks of the Earth. They are the keepers of the wisdom of how to piece the world back together like glue when it breaks. They are the keepers of the stories and beauty in broken, overlooked and damaged people and places. They are the keepers of the wisdom of how to always offer more than you take. They are the keepers of the ancient unseen.
MOSS
B
E
Pine Marten hid by becoming the flat skipping stones you find in creek beds and along the lakeshore. They are the keepers of the wisdom of how to live curiously in the world, and how to always joyfully bounce back and adapt to change. They are the keepers of the rippling rings of life revealed by skipping stones in the Water. They are the keepers of questions. They are the keepers of curiosity.
PINE MARTEN
K
J
LYNX
K
Lynx hid by becoming the mysterious places and ideas that are just out of sight or out of reach. They kept safe the wisdom that it’s okay to be shy, and that Being by yourself, doesn’t make you any less of yourself. They are the keepers of the wisdom of how to be a good friend to those who are feeling alone. They are the keepers of the lonely.
L
Magpie
Magpie hid by becoming joyful acts of creativity. They are the keepers of the memories, stories and wonder of childhood. With their long tail like a paintbrush or a pen they wrote down and painted all of our childhood stories, so that we don’t forget them once we grow up, and to remember that all of us were all children once. They are the keepers of the wisdom that even the meanest adults were once curious and open children; needing, deserving and offering love. They are the keepers of childhood.
H
m
M
squirrel
Squirrel hid by becoming the soft place between sleeping and waking. Like keeping track of an acorn, they are the keepers of the knowledge of where every creature was hidden after The Great Fire and remembered what they kept safe. They are the keepers of every name of every leaf on every branch. They are the keepers of memory.
H
n
THISTLE
Wild Thistle hid by becoming the wandering wind itself. They are the keepers of how to grow lush stories from the hard dry ground where nothing usually grows. They are the keepers of the Adventure Forest story in its fullness. They are the keepers of how to turn parched Earth into royal purple flowers from a single seed, wandering freely from place to place on the invisible story-soaked wind. They are the keepers of story.
H
T
RAINBOW TROUT
Rainbow Trout hid by becoming the colorful rainbow that appears after a summer rain and is reflected in a mountain stream. They are the keepers of the bright excitement these colors bring as they sliiiiiiide into the world when they’re allowed to be themselves. They are the keepers of the wisdom that every living thing is unique and different. They are the keepers of the permission to shift and slide into new versions of ourselves, for our whole lives, and to fluidly move from one self to another without judgement. They are the keepers of color.
H
U
Funnel Weaver Spider hid by becoming the invisible threads that weave us all together. They are the keepers of how we all depend on each other AND how we belong to one another. They wove together the stories and beauty of bringing new life to forgotten and discarded objects and collections. They are the keepers of the ability to face your fears, and to let go of false and negative expectations that tie you down. They are the keepers of connections.
SPIDER
Z
X
