I have always believed that the stories of the various cultures all over the world are for the teaching of morals, for spiritual application, how we should live day-to-day life, how we are created, and where we go after we die. These stories, for all intents and purposes, are very similar, but names of the those in the stories are changed, the locations are varied, but the end "teaching" is inevitably the same. Look at the stories of the Great Flood. The Bible has one, the Masai have one, the Altaic people, the Fijian people, the Kathlamets to name a few stories were that the flood waters came and the people either built a boat/ark or got into a boat and were saved from the flood waters . (http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Masai.) Those who did not, perished and everything else was destroyed. Many of these a bird symbolized that the people could come back onto land. They would then begin to live and populate the lands once more.
For this lesson, I chose the Hopi myth of "Son of Light Kills the Monster" from the book "American Indian Myths and Legends" selected by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz. In this story, the monster Man-Eagle, an ugly, frightful monsters seizes women, girls, wives, and maidens and takes them to his home above the clouds to torture them for four days before he eats them. One of the victims was the wife of Son of Light. He decides he is to go and rescue her. Along his journey to rescue his wife, he meets up with the Pinon maidens, Spider Woman, and Mole. They asked him where he was going and he told them he was going to rescue his wife. Spider Woman told him that she would help him, but he must do what she tells him. Mole nests in his hair and Spider Woman becomes a small spider and rides on his ear and tells him in his ear what to do. They use the aid of three different birds of prey: a spotted Eagle, a hawk, and a red hawk to carry them to Man-Eagle's home.
Son of Light sneeks into the house while Man-Eagle is sleeping; but Man-Eagle wakes as Son of Light is going to rescue his wife. Man-Eagle challenges Son of Light and says that if he, Man-Eagle wins he gets to kill Son of Light and makes Son of Light's wife his. If Son of Light wins he may take his wife and go. Man-Eagle challenges Son of Light to four challenges; all of which Spider Woman and Mole assist Son of Light so that he can win. The last challenge involved Man-Eagle putting on a fireproof magic flint-arrowhead shirt of which actually was switched by Spider Woman. The shirt that Man-Eagle put on was made of a resin. Son of Light's wife was to ignite them. Son of Light's shirt was coated with ice that melted and extinguished the fire; Man-Eagles ignited and burnt him to ash.
Now Spider Woman told Son of Light to take her medicine into his mouth and then spurt it all over Man-Eagle's ashes. Man-Eagle then arose from the ashes into a handsome man. Spider Woman asked him if he had learned his lesson and if he would stop killing and eating people. If he would stop stealing women and abusing them. He promised he would never do such a thing again. Spider Woman also brought back to life all the people that Man-Eagle had killed. Everyone was taken back to their homes on the backs of the birds of prey that had brought Son of Light to Man-Eagle's home.
The hero in this story is Son of Light who goes to rescue his stolen wife from Man-Eagle. He goes through all of the challenges imposed upon him to win her back from the grasp of the evil Man-Eagle. The Goddess or Divine in this story who is sympathetic to man, takes care of the natural cycles of life and death, and judges those works performed is Spider Woman. The Elementals are represented through Mole and the Pinon sisters who assist Son of Light in rescuing his wife through their use of trickery against Man-Eagle during the time of challenge. For without the assistance and reliance on the Divine, Son of Light would not have succeeded and would not have killed the evil Man-Eagle. But Spider Woman, having control over life and death, gave Man-Eagle another chance at life and he was incarnated into a handsome man and given a chance of renewed life. She also incarnated those he had killed.
I take this lesson to teach us that our successes often come about because of the assistance of others, whether Divine, Elemental, human, or animal. We must always remember those who do assist us. It also teaches us that we should give others a chance to change and help them transform. The Divine transforms us through allowing us to reincarnate into another life. We are often, even in the current incarnation, to transform ourselves over and over again. I know personally, the Gods have allowed me to transform and remake myself over and over. One of these days I will get it right!
Until next time, Bright Blessings!
Rev. Candy S. Lacey-Partlow
Rose Oak Interfaith Ministries/
Coven of the Three-Fold Path
rev.cslacey@hotmail.com
For this lesson, I chose the Hopi myth of "Son of Light Kills the Monster" from the book "American Indian Myths and Legends" selected by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz. In this story, the monster Man-Eagle, an ugly, frightful monsters seizes women, girls, wives, and maidens and takes them to his home above the clouds to torture them for four days before he eats them. One of the victims was the wife of Son of Light. He decides he is to go and rescue her. Along his journey to rescue his wife, he meets up with the Pinon maidens, Spider Woman, and Mole. They asked him where he was going and he told them he was going to rescue his wife. Spider Woman told him that she would help him, but he must do what she tells him. Mole nests in his hair and Spider Woman becomes a small spider and rides on his ear and tells him in his ear what to do. They use the aid of three different birds of prey: a spotted Eagle, a hawk, and a red hawk to carry them to Man-Eagle's home.
Son of Light sneeks into the house while Man-Eagle is sleeping; but Man-Eagle wakes as Son of Light is going to rescue his wife. Man-Eagle challenges Son of Light and says that if he, Man-Eagle wins he gets to kill Son of Light and makes Son of Light's wife his. If Son of Light wins he may take his wife and go. Man-Eagle challenges Son of Light to four challenges; all of which Spider Woman and Mole assist Son of Light so that he can win. The last challenge involved Man-Eagle putting on a fireproof magic flint-arrowhead shirt of which actually was switched by Spider Woman. The shirt that Man-Eagle put on was made of a resin. Son of Light's wife was to ignite them. Son of Light's shirt was coated with ice that melted and extinguished the fire; Man-Eagles ignited and burnt him to ash.
Now Spider Woman told Son of Light to take her medicine into his mouth and then spurt it all over Man-Eagle's ashes. Man-Eagle then arose from the ashes into a handsome man. Spider Woman asked him if he had learned his lesson and if he would stop killing and eating people. If he would stop stealing women and abusing them. He promised he would never do such a thing again. Spider Woman also brought back to life all the people that Man-Eagle had killed. Everyone was taken back to their homes on the backs of the birds of prey that had brought Son of Light to Man-Eagle's home.
The hero in this story is Son of Light who goes to rescue his stolen wife from Man-Eagle. He goes through all of the challenges imposed upon him to win her back from the grasp of the evil Man-Eagle. The Goddess or Divine in this story who is sympathetic to man, takes care of the natural cycles of life and death, and judges those works performed is Spider Woman. The Elementals are represented through Mole and the Pinon sisters who assist Son of Light in rescuing his wife through their use of trickery against Man-Eagle during the time of challenge. For without the assistance and reliance on the Divine, Son of Light would not have succeeded and would not have killed the evil Man-Eagle. But Spider Woman, having control over life and death, gave Man-Eagle another chance at life and he was incarnated into a handsome man and given a chance of renewed life. She also incarnated those he had killed.
I take this lesson to teach us that our successes often come about because of the assistance of others, whether Divine, Elemental, human, or animal. We must always remember those who do assist us. It also teaches us that we should give others a chance to change and help them transform. The Divine transforms us through allowing us to reincarnate into another life. We are often, even in the current incarnation, to transform ourselves over and over again. I know personally, the Gods have allowed me to transform and remake myself over and over. One of these days I will get it right!
Until next time, Bright Blessings!
Rev. Candy S. Lacey-Partlow
Rose Oak Interfaith Ministries/
Coven of the Three-Fold Path
rev.cslacey@hotmail.com
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