Written by Martha Boose after her 1st Sun-Moon Dance
HOLLOW BONE
Black Elk came to me in meditation and said: We are the hollow bone, through which Great Spirit comes and resides, and through which we share All That Is.
I am a Hollow Bone. I had heard this before. At the Dance. I am a Hollow Bone and that is why I had the whistle, to remember that I was a Hollow Bone. Then we were reminded of the Tiwa chant – Waa Maa Chi – Breath. Matter. Movement. It also means God or Great Spirit. It also is the Divine Feminine, the Divine Masculine, and All That Is – Energy. For that is what we are. Divine Energy.
So Joseph Rael, Beautiful Painted Arrow, speaks about sound as energy. We chant with the Tiwa sounds, but as we do, we are making sounds – producing vibration — within all the spoken languages. Thus, nothing is foreign. Nothing is different. We are One in the sounds. We are One in the energy.
Oh, if only all could hear and could believe. If all could feel and could believe. Then, in truth, would we stand, seeing only the beauty and love that exists in each and every being. I do not only speak only of two-leggeds here. Too much time and energy is focused on what two-leggeds want and what they think they need. It is never ending — until the point of ending all other beings.
I speak of mineral beings, as they are as sentient as any other beings. They are so willing to support all other life, but not to their own detriment and extinction. For they know at a much more core level than the two-leggeds, extinction of any mineral that was born of Mother Earth’s creation is harmful for the balance.
I speak of plant beings – the smallest to the tallest, evergreen and not, breathing and sinking into Mother Earth, reaching for Father Sky, and sustaining with Sister Sea. Both Grandfather Sun and Grandmother Moon blesses these with radiance of Divine Light, which could sustain all beings, if only two-leggeds would accept Nature’s reality.
I speak of animal beings – four-legged, no-legged, winged, walking on Mother Earth, flying in Father Sky, and swimming in Sister Sea. All are basking in Grandfather Sun and Grandmother Moon. Two-leggeds could learn a great deal by observing the discipline with which these beings live, taking no more than necessary, designing efficient and effective communities, nurturing and supporting their young, and then letting them go to move in the world, on their journey, assimilated new lessons, and building individual strengths. The balance is revealed in some living more fully and longer, than others. This is how the system works, when the two-leggeds stand back and allow Nature’s course.
Allowance is an imperative that the two-leggeds have appeared to either forgotten or have never assimilated. It goes beyond acceptance, although this is indeed on the path to allowance.
As many two-leggeds have developed linear constructs and concrete thinking, to reckon with and amass in the physical world, consider this example of physical allowance. With the image of allowance, one may remember a time in the home, when one received allowance, based on the amount of time and effort, one had put into the weekly functioning of the household community.
It seems that this fair exchange has gotten lost along the way, and one would be hard pressed to find even minimal examples within most homes in America. This, perhaps, is in part a loss leading to the loss of Oneness, a sense of true belonging. Without this natural and necessary sense of belonging, one may be untethered to Earth’s energy, the vibratory force of all.
Acceptance may be simply a pre-cursor to allowance. Allowance is much more than tolerance, as it is a recognition of worth and belonging – Oneness. With this clarity, one evokes the image of the Creator, and that is Divine Love.
I feel a nudge. I hear a drum. I am distracted from my vision. I know I can no longer fall easily back into a less awake existence, for I continue to feel moved and know the Pulse of the Dance lies within me. So I go to the altar, where my rattle, medicine basket, feather fan, and whistle lie, creating a circle of power into which I can stand. I pick up the whistle, place it to my lips and fill my hollow bone and All That Is.