Changing Woman

 

There is a legend among the Navajo about Changing Woman, Asdz nadleehe, who represents the Earth and all her life-giving qualities. Ever in motion, always creatively changing, it is said that she gracefully ages through the seasons only to be reborn with the coming of spring every year, repeating the process again and again. One summer she opened herself to the warmth of the sun as she lay naked upon a rock by the water's edge, and became pregnant, whereupon she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, Sa'ah Naaghai and Bik'eh Hozho, the children of Earth and Sky.

The twins were hero children with the goal of conquering the monsters of the Earth and dispelling all illusion. However, Changing Woman instructed them to leave everything as it was so that the people who came to live on Earth would find challenge here in remembering their Source. She explained that only through challenge and distraction could people become strong warriors and learn to grow in awareness.

The children of Changing Woman, Sa'ah Naaghai and Bik'eh Hozho, have powerful meaning among the Navajo, generally translating into long life and happiness, but also meaning to walk in balance and beauty with the Earth. To walk in the beauty way is to walk in honor, appreciation, and gratitude for the Earth, especially for all living beings. For the Navajo this is the profound philosophical foundation of their existence, representing an understanding that they are but a piece of the whole of creation, here to walk in balance with each other and always in harmony with the Earth throughout their time here and for all of eternity.

Sa'ah Naaghai may also be thought to mean to walk upon the Earth with gratitude and respect so that you may grow to be content and fulfilled as you move through the seasons of life. Bik'eh Hozho may also be thought of as being aligned with the Universe and the Earth, ever in balance, sacredness, and beauty. We are each the children of Changing Woman, of Earth and Sky, all interconnected in the great web of being. Our lives are a most wonderful gift that we should acknowledge by aspiring to always seek harmony with the vibration of the world around us and the Source from which we come. To walk in beauty, we must be beauty.

Creation stories abound among all peoples from every corner of the world, but they all have a common link at the center of their particular paradigm. It is the acknowledgement of awareness. Each culture adapts a story that satisfies their perception and experience of the world. They then justify that story by retelling it again and again. Over time, unfortunately, the original point of awareness becomes lost in the repetitive dogma of the mythological tale. People remember the details of the story, but lose sight of the original reminder of the metaphor that we are each the actual energy of awareness.

In the beginning, the first peoples were completely aligned with awareness of who they were in relation to their surroundings and the Source from which they came. They shared a certain wisdom of the cosmos and an understanding that their journey here was transitory. As tribes grew in population and spread across the Earth, the awareness of being a part of original Source energy was only retained through their stories. After thousands and tens of thousands of years of retelling the same stories, our connection to the original point of awareness was no longer accessible as we increasingly became immersed in a world of reason. We simply lost this understanding over time.

There have always been those among us, men and women of power in every culture, who have maintained a connection to Source energy. We all have this ability, but only a few remembered and maintained a connection of awareness. It was always the task of these few people of power to remind each of us of our own power to make the same connection, to recognize the center of consciousness within, and restore the original wisdom of our true place within All That Is.

I encounter more and more of these people of power in these days of challenge and change, people awakening to the higher consciousness within, more than ever willing to leap into the abyss of the unknown. The ability lies within each of us to become a shaman in our own world. All it takes is an openness to explore ideas that lie beyond conventional, consensual knowledge – that limited realm of understanding that has been instilled in humanity since we each came to this world. It is sad that few have the energy to leave the familiar behind and make the leap into the silent knowledge embedded within the great mystery.

The world is changing in a good way. More and more people are no longer content to accept things at face value. They are seeing through the lies of those who promise freedom, but continue to perpetrate slavery. People are beginning to find the mystery again in their own way. Changing Woman told her children that only through challenge and distraction could people become strong warriors and learn to grow in awareness. Are these the times we have been waiting for to awaken us en masse to a greater awareness? I wonder what new stories will be told of these days. And what tales will we tell our children's children to help them remember their place in the Sun.