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The Song of the Wood Thrush
"And where the shadows deepest fell, the Wood Thrush rang his silver bell..." |
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(click to hear his song) |
The Wood Thrush is said to have one of the loveliest songs of all the birds in North America. Henry David Thoreau noted this of the Wood Thrush's song: "Whenever a man hears it, he is young and Nature is in her spring; Whenever he hears it, it is a new world and a free country, and the gates of heaven are not shut against him." I don't know what the song of the Wood Thrush actually says. I don't know his language and cannot imitate his tune. Yet even without knowing the meaning of his song, I can feel its message. It is clear, beautiful, and brings me joy. The voice of the Wood Thrush echoes in a way that few other birdsongs do. There is a freshness inherent in his intonations and his voice carries through the trees undiminished. In June of 2002, a Wood Thrush sang to me every day for a week or more and not only at dawn and dusk, as they are reported to do. I could not ignore him, but then, I didn't want to. It took me several days to learn it was a Wood Thrush. I only knew it was an overwhelmingly beautiful song and I enjoyed every repeated verse of it. I had a few guesses as to who sang to me but then I finally saw the feathered vocalist sitting in a dogwood tree in my front yard and I was able to look him up. My thought concerning the serenade was this... The joyous song of the Wood Thrush surely makes him a harbinger of good tidings, of a brighter future, perhaps of healing by way of joy and hope, if for no other reason than his clear and joyful voice reaches out to fill the hearts of those who listen. |
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Obviously, I was inspired. In fact, I began to sing more myself. I occasionally sing around the house or in the car for my own enjoyment, but in between the time that the Wood Thrush began to visit and I actually found out who he was, I sang outside too. Oh, it wasn't just on my porch or in my back yard. I sometimes visit a local park, and take in the day by walking about there or sitting under a picnic shelter. Well, on my next visit, I really felt like singing and so I did. Now on that afternoon, in a moment of happenstance, I chose a rather odd song to sing from joy, but it had been on my mind all day. There in the park, beneath the picnic shelter, I began to sing "Poor Wayfaring Stranger." I only know one verse by heart and then the chorus, which is a bit brighter than the first stanza. I also learned it long ago, with all the inflection of a spiritual song of the South. Thus, I sang...
I am a poor wayfarin' stranger a'travelin' through this world of woe
~~~ I should also explain that, parallel to the visit of the Wood Thrush, I was trying to learn a new language. I love languages and have studied several, at least enough to know the sound of them and recognize the gist of what is being said. My latest excursion in language was spurred by a close friend who wanted to learn Cherokee (Tsalagi or Aniyunwiya). I really had little personal interest in learning that particular language but I had the time and ability to work on it with him. So, I was studying Cherokee. In the process, I learned about the people as well as the sad history of the Removal to the West in which Andrew Jackson was on a campaign to extricate all Native Americans from the southeastern US; where there was fertile land and gold to be had for white settlers.I had previously known of the Removal, but it was glossed over in high school and college history classes. Now I was reading the details and the impact on the Native people. An estimated four thousand, nearly one quarter of those being removed, perished on the long trail westward and across the Mississippi River to the plains of the new 'Indian Territory' designated by the US government. This was not a voluntary trek, it was a forced march across hundreds of miles with very little in the way of provisions or even humane treatment. Native people of this land were being herded away from the only homeland they had ever known so they could be thrown into a completely foreign and ecologically hostile environment. Today we'd call such a thing 'ethnic cleansing' and we are appalled at such acts when others commit them. I am a poor wayfarin' stranger a'travelin' through this world of woe... All that I had studied came back to me while I was in that park on that afternoon. Emotion welled up in me as I heard what I was singing, as if truly understanding the words for the first time. Even in the melody, in the tones and phrasing, I could hear the echo of many native voices which sang their sorrow over one hundred sixty years ago. I heard the tearful song of the generations who have been burdened since, the descendants of the People who had been forced from their homeland, the descendants who have struggled with their own sense of Home and identity, and have pointed to that historic travesty as the root of their struggles.I sang from my own heart. I sang with them. I wept because I could feel the ache of loss and betrayal as if I had lived through it myself. Yet, I also felt the joy of singing, in and of itself, as well as filling with the essence of the remainder of the song which speaks of returning Home, to peace and rest.
But there's no sickness, toil or danger, in that bright world to which I go.
When I stopped singing and tried to recover my composure, I looked out through the surrounding green landscape of the park which is beautifully manicured and graced with many trees. But, the grass and trees were not all I could see. I saw people. I saw dozens, maybe even hundreds of people. They were not 'real' people, in that they were not as solidly physical as you and I, but they were there. They were all turned to look at me. I don't know what they saw, but what I saw were 'thin' images of various persons. By this I mean that it was more like a projection than actual people standing there, albeit a living projection and fully dimensional, yet without the tangible substance of our usual reality. I guess it could be likened to an extremely well-done holograph, yet I knew they were spirits or ghosts. Most were dressed in very old-fashioned, simple clothes. Some wore tanned leather, definitely Indian attire, such as what I've seen in old photos and movies, although nothing very decorative. This was all basic clothing. Some women wore long full skirts and blouses, of which a few were quite colorful. Others dressed in very traditional outfits with knee-skirts over leggings and moccassins or boots. Some of the men were in white shirts, dark jackets, trousers and wore hats of various styles. Many wore thin strips of leather, feathers, or beads here and there, or wrapped in a blanket or shawl. There were so many people, I couldn't really focus on individuals. I just scanned across the crowd in amazement. I was quite surprised. I was still overwhelmed with emotion. Without words, I understood what had happened. Somewhere in my singing, I apparently tapped into an emotional pocket linking me to what I now know are the spirits of those who once traveled through this area on the Trail of Tears. In fact, this location is near a state park memorializing that horrible history. The reason it is here is because this is the crossing place where the majority of those removed to the West were brought across the Mississippi River. On this afternoon, I was not in the memorial park but another in the vicinity. I came to realize that these people must have traveled throughout the area and many of them who died upon the woeful trail were right here with me. I am a poor wayfarin' stranger a'travelin' through this world of woe... As I looked across the mass of people, I could feel their tragedy. They had been uprooted from their ancestral home and driven hard across half of this country. I later learned that they had been allowed to bring very few of their belongings. The provisions on the trail were hardly more than what might prevent starvation. Also, most of this occurred in the dead of winter (1838-1839), when the arduous journey, the weather, subsequent illness, frozen rivers, and shortage of grains or game, took a heavy toll in lives. I didn't know all the details as I cried for them, with them, but I felt the weight of their journey and their loss.So as we stood together, I realized that many souls were still there and sad and held to that ground by the resentment from the Removal. In fact, I know now that this sort of event in human experience also pains our Earth Mother. This is a deep intuitive knowing. Our pain is like an illness she cannot shake. Like any good mother, she aches with us, her children. We, people, living human spirits, and those no longer in body who are stranded here... we must release our sadness, our anger, our regrets, our selfishness. All spirits impact this planet, who is herself a living spirit. Our joy and compassion bring healing to us and the Earth. Our sorrow and pain wounds all of us as well as this planet. I know this as surely as I breathe. ~~~ When it is said that "We are all connected", this really does refer to all. From the most minute particle to the largest bodies in the universe, throughout is the energy of spirit, of life. We All impact each other, whether we're aware of it or not, whether we believe it or not, whether we're 'sentient' or not... We are all connected.~~~ One of the confirmations I received for my connection on this afternoon, June 18, 2002, was the tremor of an earthquake. This is not a frequent occurrence in the immediate vicinity. Although the New Madrid fault zone runs beneath this ground, and is very active, it's unusual for us to feel any of the shaking here in this area. But, while I sang, I'd felt the reverberation of a shakeup along that fault line. I found it funny that I'd thought it was my singing vibrating beneath me, after I'd returned home and heard about the quake then verified the seismic event and its timing online. The epicenter of a 5.0 magnitude quake was in Darmstadt, Indiana (near Evansville), considerably northeast of here, toward the upper end of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, but it was felt here too and on this particular day, just a moment before I saw the spirits in the park, I felt the Earth shiver.Obviously, I didn't recognize it as an earthquake tremor at the time and shortly thereafter all the spirits in my sight drew all of my attention. I have since wondered how such an event works. It seemed as if Mother Earth helped bring the spirits into view with that movement. It is as though she literally shook them up out of the ground. Were they drawn to me because of the singing, or the shakeup, or both? I sense that it was all a matter of serendipitous timing. But, I have come to know that serendipity is not so haphazard as we think. At these times, I know with certainty that there is no such thing as coincidence. It is as though all of creation is written by one hand. I am grateful to knowingly be a part of that. I am grateful for the song of the Wood Thrush, which in some circles is said to aid communication and language. Perhaps it did. Perhaps my own voice was boosted from hearing the Wood Thrush's song. Perhaps I had help in learning the language and history of the Cherokee people. I know that it was no coincidence that my friend's interest became an integral part of what happened to me in the park and what has transpired since. I am grateful to be allowed to see what many cannot see, including a small sliver of the grand design. ~~~ As I stood in the park with my tears, the vision of all those people began to fade. I started to wonder about what I'd just experienced. My questions began with Why me? Why now? What am I do to with this? It took a few more days for everything to become clearer, but I felt I had been called to some action and I was determined to find out what it was and to do it to the best of my ability."Why me?" can be a tough question. I hope I am explaining that here but truly I don't know how to convey all the synchronicities that coalesced within the span of a few days. Imagine the heavens opening up and a big arrow flashing toward a task. There was no question that I was elected to be useful for a pretty specific undertaking. It seemed for a moment that every part of my life up until that afternoon had shaped me to fulfill a particular purpose. I am not boasting any special powers or prowess, I merely recognized that there is a job to be done and I am ready, willing and able to do it. I'm sure I'm not the only one in this work, not even in this location, but it would be unusual to run into the others because this is not something likely to end up in the newspapers. And just what is the 'work'? We all have work to do. We must get in touch with our truest selves, share who we are with each other, and open up the path to healing, to our individual wholeness and our togetherness as a whole, on this planet. Then we shall all rise up. Then the Earth Mother can heal too. Some have been working at this for a very long time. Many are awakening to it now. We're experiencing a fast-paced shift in consciousness and moving toward a more fulfilling and creative existence. More details than that, I do not know as yet, but I am joyful to be a part of it and thrilled to experience our growth. ~~~ Much further in the background of my synchronicities, is my near obsession with Ancient Egypt and particularly the god Anubis. He is not at the center of my belief system, but I feel an affinity for the way in which he worked between the worlds of the living and the dead. Now, I think I can too. Anubis was the Opener of the Way. He led souls to the Underworld, which in Ancient Egyptian lore was not an evil place as we think of it now. It was merely the realm of the dead.I think I can help sing, speak, and write pathways so spirits may lift from their dark places, out of the wounds of the Earth Mother, and specifically here at the Trail of Tears crossing of the Mississippi. It was the major focal point and a location of great loss and despair. Crossing the Mississippi must surely have felt like the point of no return, no hope of going back. I can cry tears for them, with them, and hopefully together we can finish this business or at least soothe it enough to move onward and upward. By our progress, the Earth will be free to make adjustments and repairs too. She might be able to do this without our help but perhaps that's where the truly catastrophic natural events come into play. With a more cooperative effort on our part, perhaps we can all pass through this shift more easily. I am not a lone stranger on this path. I have since read that the book "The Last Ghost Dance" described the sort of thing I'm thinking of... the healing and lightening of self and help in lifting others, All Our Relations, in order to proceed on our bright new path. It sounds like a similar concept to building the Rainbow Bridge discussed especially with the asteroid Chiron in Astrology. Brooke Medicine Eagle (author of "Last Ghost Dance") also ties in becoming an Earth Mage by practicing Earth Magic and working toward spiritual ascension. As I learn to bridge between the worlds for the wandering spirits, I also discover how to walk between the worlds myself, learning to balance the physical and the spiritual. I have help. Of course I am supported by the great power of spirit which runs the universe, but I mean I also have specific help here in the form of a few special friends. One is particularly involved in this project concerning the Native American sorrows pooled here and affecting the New Madrid Seismic Zone. I call him Ghost, but he's a very real, live person. I have also called him Firekeeper, for in a way it was his interest in learning the language of the Cherokee which seemed to fuel the sequence of events that showed us the job to be done. In Native traditions, the firekeeper is often left out of rituals and ceremonies. His job is to keep the fires burning outside those gatherings, to provide for whatever the gatherers may need in the way of fire, light, warmth, to quite literally help stoke the spiritual fervor of things with this vital element of action. Ghost has done this many times, not with commands or even conscious plotting, but almost inadvertantly firing up my curiosity or some action I chose to undertake as a result of his queries. Sometimes I feel a little guilty that I'm the one who seems to get to experience all the amazing stuff. However, Ghost assures me that he is content to help from the sidelines, if that is to be his role. As we've discovered, we share the duties of this post, but each serves from his or her own abilities and opportunties. I am the one with more time and head space available for certain activities. He has less freedom but more reason to be out and about within the area of our watch. So, we're definitely working together, I dare say, even in an orchestrated manner. Although, I will admit that we frequently only see the orchestration after the fact. It all feels very natural, an unfoldment as though it was meant to be... and surely it is. I knew when I met Ghost that he was to be a significant person for me. We were in a public place and I had come to meet with a group of people I only knew through email. When I first set eyes on Ghost, something in the Universe clicked. As I got closer to the group, I was drawn to Ghost as if by a magnet AND I was blinded by him. In fact, I couldn't have told anyone what he looked like because for me he was enveloped in a two-foot sparkling silver-white aura. We have since grown very close, although it's more like memory. Both of us feel as though we have known each other for a very long time, perhaps for many lifetimes, perhaps all the way back to the beginning of time. In the efforts we undertake for the Native American spirits here and for the Earth Mother, Ghost has called me "Asai" (ah-sah-ee) which is a "crossing place" for that is what I do, what I am, in this work. I serve as a bridge or crosswalk, if you will, a place between the physical and spirit worlds. I serve as a pipeline or point of opportunity where spirits may cross out of this place or glimpse the truth, that both realms are always available, if we only remember it. I perform this function by connecting with the spirits emotionally. When I feel their sadness or joy, I am in touch with them, and yet I am also in the physical world. So, I am an available channel, I am a pass-thru point. I can stand in both forms, in body and in spirit, and show the disembodied spirits where they are as well as remind them they can choose how to proceed from there. Just as many ghost stories have expressed, some spirits do not know they are disembodied. They are confused as to their condition and this hinders their progress. They are unnaturally tethered to the physical plane only because they themselves do not know it and are unaware of how to change it. They only know they're disturbed by it. They need assistance to understand, compassion to help release, and guidance to move on to whatever is next for them. Another sort of tether is something we do to spirits, that is we, as in living persons. Our individual power and will is so strong, particularly when backed with strong emotion, that we can hold spirits here after their bodies are gone. These spirits could choose to leave anyway, but they still love those who ache for them and do not want to leave them with their sorrows. Healing must take place in the physical persons in order for them to allow the spirits to go freely on their continued paths. This is of benefit to all parties involved. Similarly, as with this Trail of Tears location, the living can often burden a place with their sentiments and cause spirits to get stuck there because of their connection or affinity to the nature of that burden. I feel that the generations since the Removal have established this location as a focal point for their angst and frustration over the travesty which took place more than 160 years ago. Anytime someone names the Trail of Tears as the reason for a hardship, I believe that dark energy is shipped to this physical location. How many times this must have happened since the Removal and it has collected here, in fact, it has been sinking into the Earth here and flowing down the Mississippi River into a very special loop which is at the core of the New Madrid Seizmic Zone. Furthermore, this burden is not the only one to find its way to New Madrid. Just below the site of the Trail of Tears crossing, the Ohio River feeds into the Mississippi River. The Ohio cuts across a great portion of the Eastern US and is fed by rivers further north and east. It is my considered opinion and whole-hearted belief that all the battles for freedom prior to and during the American Revolution embued the water and the silt in the Ohio with that bloodshed and hatred. But it's not all negative, I think water is capable of carrying all our emotions. So our triumphs and eventual establishment of freedom also contributed joy to the stream, yet perhaps not enough to compensate for the wages of war. There was a significant weight added to the waters again during the Civil War which was fought directly across the Ohio itself and flowed on into the Mississippi. Yes, I am saying that all human events and particularly the broad-based ones, allow our emotional responses to drain into the streams then into the rivers and ultimately into the oceans. We surely affect the ground too but it is more solid, so more resistant. It's also generally stable and so whatever we may deposit in an earthen location is likely to stay there. We surely affect the air too, but it may be unable to carry more than the lightest hints AND the air currents are so swift and changing that it would be difficult to trace these effects. But, water can carry quite a bit, whether the current is slow or swift. It travels far, seeks its own level, passes through but often leaves what it carries behind, bit by bit. And of course, most of the surface of the Earth is water, so there's a lot of storage space there. Fortunately with the volume of water overall, a lot of our emotional contributions spread out to relatively harmless levels or perhaps dissipate altogether eventually. There is a natural process of purifying water, usually by circulation and through obstacles, but if the silt is heavy or the current slow, deposits are made, and they build up over time. It is also possible to add so much to the flow that it cannot be reasonably purified. In smaller events, our emotions don't travel very far before they are dissipated in the natural filtering process. In large and harrowing events, while the sediment falls out along the water's pathway, a goodly portion gets carried farther and farther from the point of origin. In fact, some of our greatest angst over things like the Civil War, may have been carried deep into the ocean and circulated over to Europe. Naturally, Europe, Asia and all continents have experienced their own monumental difficulties during human history and so they have contributed too. It is my considered opinion and indeed my belief that the San Andreas fault zone and all the hot seismic activity along the length of California may partially be a result of centuries of human emotional history coming across the Pacific. The sediment from these events has been carried to America's west coast by the ocean currents. In fact, a map of the currents shows how it splits, going south along California to turn at Mexico, and north to curl back along Alaska's southern coast line. Isn't it interesting and entirely too coincidental that the highest incidence of quakes on this continent occur in southern California and up in Alaska? Naturally the force of the ocean currents could be said to upset the tectonic plates along that line too. Indeed that is part of it, however, I also believe that the currents aren't just pushing or pulling at the plates but also aggravating those wounds by pouring the sediment of centuries of human conflict into them. The greatest deposit in recent history would have to be that resulting from the US decimating Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In a way, we're getting back what we sent out, but it's coming to us through the water, not the air, and it's shaking up that side of the continent. Someone will still insist that it's just the water pushing at the land. I debate this point because the Pacific Ocean current's strongest impact is actually centered on the west coast of Canada and that is not a very active seismic zone. It's not a gaping irritated wound like in southern California and Alaska. There is more going on here than water meeting a land mass. The turn of the water is significant because the slower and curving current then has opportunity to silt out some of its lode. These deposits fall out to become grit in the grinding plates along the northeastern rim of the Ring of Fire. So why is there so much seismic activity along the western rim of the Ring of Fire? And what about all the shaking that goes on in virtually landlocked western Asia? I believe this high activity in these locations actually supports my theory and detracts from the notion that it's just water hitting land. While a forceful, broad, and unimpeded current impacts the North American coastline, this is not the case with the flow impacting the Asian continent, and yet they have a higher incidence of seismic activity. I believe there are two main reasons for this. Firstly, there's the age of Asia, that is, the span of human history in that region and in fact the war-like history. Although no longer given to barbarian cultures, this is a fairly recent change. There was plenty of hatred and despair to sink into the water and the land in this region, far too much for far too long for it to be cleaned up quickly by natural filtration means. The Middle East and western Asia, being primarily desert, have very little water to carry the results away. Their strife may be embedded in the sand and rock, for it has never been as freely circulated as watery areas. So, for good or ill, what happens there generally sits and stews there. That area has no real facility for filtration or dissipation. The second reason for very high seismicity along eastern Asia is that circulation there is very tangled. If you wanted to build a natural water filtration system in a small area, it would serve well to give the stream as many twists and turns as possible, thus magnifying the number of opportunities for sediment and substances to be cleansed from the water so it would run clear and clean when the current proceeded onward. But that sediment does not vanish, it accumulates in the winding trenches. This is exactly what happens to the ocean currents which flow around the numerous small land masses in southeastern Asia, below China and almost to Australia. The water is purified in this profusion of obstacles by leaving its lode behind, depositing sediment throughout the region. Even if one section of the current has the power to carry some slurry away, it can't go far before it gets dropped elsewhere in the snaking circuit. Fortunately this region does not pass much along to the rest of the world, precisely because of the purifying capability in this configuration of land masses. But, neither can the area rid itself of much. The currents which loop out westward from the Americas and across the Pacific then sweep the more northern section of Asia, flowing directly past Japan and carrying back to the North American continent, as previously noted. Elsewhere in the world, I note that Europe has marginal difficulties with geologic hazards. There are indeed a few depositing loops yet generally the current sweeps by. The Mediterranean is relatively low key but what may be generated there would likely be deposited along the eastern banks of the Mediterranean Sea and thus contribute further to western Asia's problems. Note that Australia is virtually free of seismic activity and other geo hazards. The oceans flow very freely around it and the currents come such a distance from any other land masses (and human habitations) that they carry next to nothing. Also in the southern hemisphere, is the heavy activity along the western coastline of Central and South America. This is further distribution of the same current irritating southern California plus anything that did actually free itself from southeastern Asia. Africa does not suffer the same fate. In fact, the currents along this continent's western coast are well-suited to carry away efficiently. Fortunately the cross currents in that section of the south Atlantic Ocean allow a broad and scattered distribution rather than shipping westward to the Americas with any concentration. Thus the eastern side of Central America is not the repository for any significant sediment. I will also add that the effects on remote islands or small groups of islands depend very precisely on where they are located and how the currents flow around them. It's not just the ability of water to flow around a land mass, like in the case of Australia. One must consider how the flow travels and from whence it comes. Hawaii is a very active place as geo hazards go, even though these islands are quite remote. However, they are the recipients of leftovers from a current branching away from the heavily bombarded southern California coast. Hawaii is also in the 'still' part of the current pool. The currents flow around it, yes, but that puts Hawaii inside a tidal pool where water may pass repeatedly, each time with an opportunity to funnel its deposits upon this chain of islands. ~~~ So now I've meandered around the world and back, but it's all connected. I believe I am part of a local reclamation project, the healing of the wound that is the New Madrid Seismic Zone. I've spent many hours with the spirits trapped here. I sing for them, with them. I explain to those who do not understand that they are no longer bound by their hardships in physical life. I show them that as souls they may fly away to whatever comes next. I explain that they can choose to stay or go. In meditation, I dance around council fires with those who now know they are free, but choose to stay and help with the healing.I don't know how long I will be involved in this work, but I am honored to do it. I find that I still pause with joy at the Song of the Wood Thrush when it echoes through the trees, because the Wood Thrush knows our freedom and is content to remind us with every note. Updated June 2003 DHP © 2003 |
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~ © DHP aka Griffen Quicksilver 2003 ~ Email your comments. ~
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