My magnum opus, Odyssey of the 8th Fire is a freely available epic, nonfiction, contemporary saga of The Americas (Turtle Island).
Within the true, unfolding physical and spiritual adventures of Odyssey of the 8th Fire, many of the learned elders of the Americas make a great and generous giveaway of their teachings. I cordially invite you to join the walkers and the elders via an online literary pilgrimage – S.M.
Harken – pay heed to the wisdom ways of agroecology and to our native roots. That’s my advice as climate and geopolitical whirlwinds intensify. Those wisdom ways mark the path to a sane and healthy future for us all.
Last year the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) published a kick-in-the-gut report about the surging wave of extinction upon our local life-support system, Planet Earth.
Their report—based on the work of 450 researchers from around the world and 15,000 scientific and government reports—warned of immediate, grave danger. “The overwhelming evidence…from a wide range of different fields of knowledge, presents an ominous picture.”
The health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating rapidly. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.”
…The late Algonquin elder Grandfather William Commanda was among the many native elders offering explicit, and enduring guidance on how to reckon with this…
The rest of this blog post is available via this link at Mother Earth News.
Image by FlashAlexander, Pixabay.
…and never stop at all.
Odyssey of the 8th Fire is my giveaway — an epic, nonfiction saga of the Americas. – S.M.
I acknowledge All, and for all I offer thanks, respect, love. All includes you, of course, so don’t think twice. Beyond that, I’m moved in particular this year to remember Manitonquat, and to Send a Voice thanking him for sharing many eloquent teachings about gratitude.
Manitonquat (1929-2018)
For over 20 years in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire, I lived near Manitonquat and his radiant-heart partner Ellika Linden. As neighbors we also found it altogether natural to become friends. More widely, Manitonquat and Ellika created a network of friends that circled the globe.
In earlier days Manitonquat had a chance to collaborate with the brilliant minds of the people researching, writing, and publishing Akwesasne Notes, a powerful native voice arising from the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Six Nations). That newspaper brought dynamic, noble thought and expression to the historic re-emergence of native spirit taking place all over North and South America. Through his relationships in those times and through his opportunities to learn, Manitonquat’s understanding deepened. He combined the knowings he was gathering, along with his classical education, and his natural gift as an orator, to travel the world as a master storyteller and council leader.
When I interviewed him formally one time back in the late 1980s, Manitonquat spoke of natural law. His words are already woven into the manuscript of my forthcoming book: Deep Agroecology: Farms and Food at a Cultural Crossroads (2019). Here’s a fragment of what he said that day:
“Native people refer to the Original Instructions often in speech and prayer, but rarely attempt to say exactly what they are. They are not like the Ten Commandments carved in stone. They are not ideas. They are reality. They are natural law. They are the way thing are–the operational manual for a working creation–and they cannot be totally understood in words. They must be experienced. The Original Instructions are not imposed by human minds on the world. They are of the living spirit. Other creatures follow them instinctively, and they are communicated to humankind through the heart, through feelings of beauty and love.”
“The Original Instructions urge us to find our place in the cosmos, to know our true nature and our goal in existence. There must be a response–not an intellectual answer–but a felt understanding of the nature of this existence, of its purpose and of our part in that purpose. That is the reason for the spiritual quests, the religions, the rituals, the searches, pilgrimages, meditations, and all the mystic disciplines of humankind. Something in our consciousness is just not satisfied with only eating, sleeping, creating, and reproducing. Something in us wants to know what it’s all about and how we fit into it.”
N.B. Here is a link to the author page on Amazon.com for Manitonquat (Medicine Story), who was a gifted and prolific author of books for adults and also books for children
This just in: a rave review of Tales of the Whirling Rainbow from Small Press Bookwatch:
“Absorbing, engaging, thoughtful, thought-provoking, exceptionally well written, and thoroughly ‘reader friendly’ in organization and presentation, Tales of the Whirling Rainbow: Myths & Mysteries for Our Times is unreservedly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library collections.”
The other day while looking online at a model of our human DNA genetic code I had an insight that I felt was worth noting. As a consequence I added some new sentences to my nonfiction book, Tales of the Whirling Rainbow: Myths & Mysteries for Our Times.
I wrote, “The natural and the mythic image of the whirling rainbow conveys growing awareness of the reality that now in world history with sophisticated communications and transportation systems, different cultures (colors of the rainbow) are whirling (interacting).
“Likewise, as many millions of people have their DNA tested out of genealogical curiosity, we are discovering the fundamental reality of how complex and multifaceted are the whirling double-helix strands of genes that give evidence of each person’s multicultural lineage. These DNA molecules embody the inherited instructions that an organism – such as a human being – needs to develop, live and reproduce. These instructions are found inside every cell, and are passed down from parents to their children.
In virtually all realms of nature, abundant interaction and diversity are characteristic of health and vitality.
While I was adding that passage to the manuscript, I also had the pages of this small treasure formatted professionally, for a better look in both print and eBook editions.
When I have a few moments I like to create memes like the one below, and then set them free on the internet. It’s a way to let people know about the epic, nonfiction saga of the Americas that I had the opportunity to live, write, and publish. The freely-available online saga is Odyssey of the 8th Fire. The true pilgrimage tale proceeds for over 225 deepening days from Atlantic to Pacific across the landscape and soulscape of both ancient and modern Turtle Island (North America).
I’m pleased to announce that Tales of the Whirling Rainbow is now available in a print edition, as well as in a revised eBook edition.
Tales of the Whirling Rainbow is my account of some of the key myths and mysteries of the Americas, and an exploration of how those myths are resounding in real time. Drawn from sources both ancient and modern, this slender volume is a small treasure, conveying insights into key facets of North America’s unfolding saga. Read all about it.
For your consideration, here’s a meme I created, based upon the true tales at the heart of my epic, nonfiction saga of North America, Odyssey of the 8th Fire,
Your actual, real-time Odyssey parallels this Summer’s ‘blockbuster’ film
New and improved: Classical Considerations
Behold the Light: Farms, Photons, Futures
Our Collective Odyssey: Song and Story for the Generations Arising
