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    Painted Earth Temple
    Painted Earth Temple
    Painted Earth Temple
    Ebook143 pages2 hours

    Painted Earth Temple

    By Heyoka Merrifield

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    About this ebook

    In this second volume of the White Buffalo Woman Trilogy, Heyoka Merrifield transports us back to ancient Europe as a mythical tribe of hunter-gatherers is forced on an odyssey away from Gaia's land and into the New World. Painted Earth Temple reveals the rites and rituals of a culture of antiquity showing us that their traditions have never been more pertinent than in today's modern age. The Native American saga continues in Lying Down Mountain, the volume in the trilogy.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtria Books/Beyond Words
    Release dateJul 1, 2007
    ISBN9781416562382
    Painted Earth Temple
    Author

    Heyoka Merrifield

    Heyoka Merrifield is a storyteller, artist, and medicine man. Heyoka has embraced the shamanic traditions of his Native American ancestry. His sculpture and jewelry evoke the ancient mythologies of the Celts, Egyptians, Indians, and Native Americans. Since 1980, he has been an adopted member of the Crow tribe. He lives in Stevensville, Montana. Visit his website at www.heyoka-art.com.

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      Book preview

      Painted Earth Temple - Heyoka Merrifield

      Chapter 1

      The Web of Life

      The People of the Painted Earth Temple lay sleeping in the early morning. Spotted Cat awakened before twilight and rolled up his sleeping skins, tying them together with a thong. He stuffed a bundle of dried meat into his bedding and slipped quietly out of the circle of thatched lodges.

      Cat was not doing anything wrong, but he had not shared with anyone his plan to climb to the top of the Sacred Mountain. The young men of the tribe climbed the mountain as part of their initiation. Also known as White Mountain, it stood like a guardian over the valley that the People called the Nest. Snow covered the mountain’s pointed peak all year and three creeks flowed down from it. The center of these flowed over a high waterfall that connected the mountain and the valley.

      Although no one had forbidden Cat to climb White Mountain, several cycles of seasons would pass before his initiation ceremony, and the tribal elders might not approve of a boy of seven winters spending a night alone there. But something was stirring in him, and he felt a need for adventure.

      The summer heat made climbing more difficult than Cat had foreseen, and the bundle on his back made his shoulders throb. He stopped often to drink from a nearby rushing stream, a gift from the snow lingering on the mountaintop. As he rose from the bank of the stream, wiping his face, something in a tree on the opposite bank caught his attention.

      A large antelope carcass lay draped over the fork of the tree. He had never seen such a thing before and wondered how the animal had come to die in a tree. As Cat tried to understand this puzzle, he realized that another pair of eyes followed him, behind them a presence trying to understand the sight of this young two-legged creature by the stream. Chills crept up Cat’s back to his head, making the small hairs on his neck rise. In the shadows among the leaves, a huge shape came into focus. A large snow leopard relaxed there, her legs dangling on either side of a limb, her eyelids drooping halfway down her yellow eyes. The great feline sleepily shut them to continue her full-bellied nap in the summer heat.

      Spotted Cat rose slowly and quietly took a few steps backward. The leopard’s eyes snapped open. As he and the leopard locked in eye-to-eye contact, Spotted Cat realized that this was the first time he had seen his guiding animal spirit and namesake. He had never heard of a snow leopard attacking any of the People, so his fear receded a bit.

      It seemed to Cat that the animal was trying to communicate something to him. Her eyes broke contact with his and looked down at Spotted Cat’s feet. As he looked too, he could see that he stood where the antelope had been killed. Among the bloodstained rocks at his feet, an ivory-colored object drew his attention. One of the leopard’s claws had been broken off in the struggle with the great antelope. He realized at once that the leopard had made a give-away to him. Cat had always wanted a token from his medicine animal, like many of the People wore. He thanked the snow leopard for the power gift and left a piece of dried meat as an offering where he had found the claw.

      Spotted Cat started walking very slowly away from the stream. He took a few steps and wondered if the snow leopard was following him. Turning around, Cat saw that she was still in the tree gazing at him. A wave of warmth seemed to flow into Cat’s heart from his medicine animal’s power. He continued walking, although after a few more steps he had to turn and look at her one last time. The leopard had disappeared, and for the remainder of Cat’s walk up the mountain, he felt her presence near him.

      The last part of the long hike in the smoldering summer day was the steepest and most difficult. Cat arrived exhausted at a lake that reflected White Mountain on its surface. He dove into the cool water and felt the healing water spirits take the fatigue from his muscles. After emerging from the water, Cat realized that he could go no farther this day and he gathered a bundle of sticks for a campfire.

      As he sat by his fire, Cat fashioned a new thong by braiding four strips of hide together as Grandmother Spider Woman had taught him. He attached the leopard claw to the thong and put it around his neck. A power surrounded his body that felt similar to the radiance that seemed to encircle the snow leopard. He felt no fear as he lay wrapped in his sleeping skins and stared in wonder at the stars.

      Spotted Cat awoke at first light and gazed dreamily at the morning sky. An intricate spider web stretched between two trees near where he lay. It was covered with dewdrops and the sun shining on the web created a rainbow that glowed upon it. Shivers ran over his skin as he thought about sleeping so close to a spider. Cat always felt squeamish whenever he found himself near a creepy crawler.

      Spotted Cat picked up his bundle of sleeping skins and started down the animal trail that ran beside the stream. He was anxious to show Grandmother the gift talisman from his animal power. Cat noticed that he was the first creature to walk along the trail that day, for there were no prints on the dew-covered path. With his head bent over looking for a sign, he walked right into a huge spider web.

      Thinking of how large the spider that made this web must be sent a jolt through his body. He quickly brushed the tickling, sticky fibers from his face and combed his fingers through his hair to make sure the spider was not on his head. Cat felt ashamed to fear this small creature that was also the power animal of his Grandmother.

      To confront his fear and find his way through it, Cat resolved to walk the untrodden trail and pay no attention to any webs. Every few steps, another web stretched across the trail. Since he was walking naked in the mild summer morning, his entire body soon tingled with an array of spider webs. He became aware of every sensation on the surface of his skin. Cat also began to sense how the strands of spider web connected him to the trees, shrubs, flowers, and rocks that he passed. The feeling of connection with his surroundings increased until he seemed to become a part of everything along the trail.

      Cat saw deer tracks enter the trail and the spider webs across the path ended. His joining with his environment now expanded to include the deer and all the creatures of the forest. He remained in this altered awareness, feeling the totality of his surroundings and his oneness with it, for the rest of his walk back to the village.

      Spotted Cat arrived at the village and found Grandmother Spider Woman weaving a basket decorated with butterfly designs. These small baskets were the type that the women liked to wear as hats. Grandmother’s huge size always amazed Cat. Although she was a short woman, she weighed twice as much as any other woman in the tribe. She was the tribe’s High Priestess and represented Gaia, the Goddess of the Land.

      Grandmother held the power of the Earth Mother for the People of the Painted Earth Temple. When hunters returned from a hunt they always gave an offering of the best part of the animal to Spider Woman. The High Priestess ate the offering, symbolizing the completion of the ceremonial circle of the animal’s give-away. The life of the animal went back to the Mother Earth. The spirit of the animal then felt appreciated and honored, and encouraged to return. The reborn animal could then give-away to the People again.

      A similar token was given to Grandmother when the People gathered roots, seeds, fruit, and herbs. Over the many winters that Spider Woman had been High Priestess, she had grown to an enormous size. Her voluminous breasts and her round pregnant-like belly symbolized the abundance of the Earth and the prosperity of the tribe.

      When the hunters and gatherers were away from the village for days at a time, a small carving of the Gaia Goddess traveled with them. They placed this small ivory statue on the ground by the hearth fire and fed to the fire spirits the offerings to Mother Earth. Like Spider Woman, the Gaia carvings had large, round breasts and bellies.

      While Spider Woman sat weaving the beautiful design with her nimble fingers, Cat told her of his White Mountain adventure. She sat quiet for a while as several layers of grasses danced around the small basket, then said:

      "What happened to you on this journey is big medicine. It has brought you closer to your initiation time and has affirmed my intuition concerning the identity of your power animal, the snow leopard.

      The teaching that the spider medicine gave to you is a wonderful gift. The rainbow that you awoke to is a reflection of the

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