The evening was clear and cold. Every star seemed especially bright tonight. The wind was drifting through the trees as if expecting someone to arrive. Wolfs cried in the evening air as Matoaca sat with her father inside their cave. Tonight was the night Matoaca's father was going to unveil the ceremonial banners announcing to the spirits of the sky the coming of the great unfolding of the secrets of the stars. "A long time ago Matoaca, great spirits came to our land, and gave to us something very special. We remember the great wind full of star dust, and sparkling energies that lit the fires, and told us of a world where all the people were reflections of all the stars. Tonight in the Northern sky there is an unusual brilliance, Matoaca, and I want you to look into the sky, and listen to the stars". Her father was serious about what he told her tonight. Matoaca never heard her father speak of the stars in this way. She felt unusual, as if she was going to meet someone. She did what her father said, and left the cave, and looked into the clear night sky. Matoaca's mind was filled with curiosity and wonder. She felt especially warm, and also as if she was falling into the endless night itself.
The sky turned brilliant, and for a moment Matoaca thought she actually saw a face in the sky. Then it appeared. Matoaca was transfixed. The "Bright One", filled the evening sky with her radiance, and the voice was the sound of a thousand cardinals, a thousand robins, a thousand bees. Her head was filled with a sound that made Matoaca feel as if she was touching all the stars. She heard a voice tell her:
In an instant Matoaca became the mind of the "Bright One". Matoaca was transformed from a princess of her tribe, to a messenger of the Central Civilization. She knew who she was, and where she had to go. She understood her father, and the mission that was given to her. Now it was Matoaca's turn to communicate this to the hidden chambers beneath an island in the ocean. It felt as if she was flung into the stars, and all of the Earth beneath her was moving by ever so quickly. Matoaca could remember all the other times she was on the Earth. Matoaca felt like she had many names. She was Inanna, Isis, and Ishtar. She felt as if she was the Lady of Heaven. She remembered all her families, and then she remembered her father sitting in a cave. She ran with the wind and stood before her father looking at him in astonishment. "I know that was a lot for you to experience, Matoaca." Her father comforted her throughout the evening. The fire was dancing, and the cave became the most wonderful place Matoaca had ever known. What she had just experienced would take an evening full of dreams to fully understand, only to awaken in the morning to the unfurling of the ceremonial star banner announcing to the wind, and all the animals, and birds, that a magic flight was about to take place. Matoaca's world was different somehow. Everything seemed to be transparent, and she could walk over trees, and fly though clouds. Matoaca became the spirit once again, as in ancient times, of the "Bright One".
There in the morning sun was the blazing banner that her father had hung from a tree. Matoaca had never seen such a banner. It was unlike anything her tribe had used in ceremonies. It was full of strange markings, and gave off the most unusual feeling. It was as if the banner itself was about to fly into the wind. The closer Matoaca looked at the banner she became aware that it was talking to her. The markings gave her insights into the secrets of the stars, and the messsage she must give to the keeper of the star charts in the caves in the Northern ocean region. She finally could understand all that she had seen the night before. Matoaca was now the sole keeper of the knowledge that had to be passed on to the ancient star out post in the secret island called Nahant. New sounds came inside Matoaca's head, and she knew then it was a song of the Earth. The Earth itself was a vast sound that held all the secrets of the stars. The very stones lying on the ground were full of sounds, and knowledge of other worlds, and other people. This was what she had to deliver to Nahant. The stones had to sing so that one time in the future there would be another receiver of the sounds that could then deliver the message to these people in a far away distant Central Civilization. The knowledge would not be lost. Matoaca was about to take flight over the snow-capped mountains to find a place that was only known by one other person. That person was the star chart protector and keeper. The spirit of the "Bright One" was about to be put into the stones. The singing stones would always be there, naturally, awaiting the right time for the message to once again be sent back to the Central Civilization, announcing the coming of age of the star children on Earth.
Art work: Iva Vodrazkova - Torah Curtain
Click on banner for 48K jpg image
Saga seven: | The Singing Stones of Nahant |
| 