Encircling Light – Expectant Silence: Memories

- By Monica Gold

One of the many very special events during our conference was a talk given by Meta Williams from the Southern and Northern Tuchone First Nations. She is from the Wolf Clan but in her also lives her British heritage. During her talk she shared with us “the Native Way” of nurturing children and leading them through youth into adulthood. Many of us were deeply touched as she brought to life the caring and love extended by elders in this process.

I had spent some time talking to her on the bus during one of the excursions. She revealed to me that as soon as the conference was over she was planning to go into solitude leaving all comfort and earthly goods behind. Throughout the winter she will live on her own, with the world of animals, in the forest at temperatures which are far below freezing. She described how food caught can be preserved in a five foot deep hole during the cold winter months. This she will do
in preparation for the opening of a healing centre for women of her clan.

At her talk she stood before us on stage saying: “First and foremost, I feel responsible for all of you, secondly I feel responsible for my family and thirdly for my clan.” In some of us arose the question: What are we doing for her? As she is parting with all of her belongings, she will need help with funding to fulfill her calling and so on the day of her talk, a fund was set up without her knowledge, to assist her when she decides to move on. Phillip Thatcher will remain in contact with her. It is held under the umbrella of
ISIS Cultural Outreach Society
c/o Arie van Ameringen
1358 Chemin Bruce
Dunham, J0E 1MO, Quebec
If you are interested in helping with this worthy cause, please make out a cheque to
ISIS Cultural Outreach International Society and mark it clearly with Meta Williams Fund, then send it to the above address. If you are a Canadian Citizen you may request a tax deductible receipt.

Meta:

We have made a new friend,
Her laughter purified by suffering,
Her speech transformed through tears
Reached deeply into our Being.
Breathing stopped for moments,
Hearts felt touched – and peace
Found a new place.
Monica Gold

THE GUARDIAN OF THE NORTHERN GATE

This poem was inspired by the author’s attendance at the recent Conference of the North in Whitehorse, entitled: “Encircling Light, Expectant Silence.”
by Ron MacFarlane

They came ...

This rag-tag band of gypsy-eyed and dry-mouthed seekers of soul,
     Hope-thirsting for northern gold –
Not for the hardened sunlight locked in quartzite veins within the earth,
     But for the golden effulgence that bridges the Great Divide between Worlds.

From the Four Facings they came ...

Sore-bruised from the fierce march of city-ization,
     And bent-weary from the weight of world wisdom.

I know these long-travellers from ancient times ...

When oceans of ice flowed down from the Axis;
     When mighty Aztlan sank deep beneath the dark waters
I provided them green haven, these carriers of outer fire,
     And I survived them on the meat of my beasts.

Urged on by the Iron Spirit of Our Age, they have returned ...

The one who leads them new is familiar to me:
     He sounds from the shining heart of Shamballa;
Sadly, few recognize his spirit
     When he present moves amongst them.

They speak of “crossing over” and of “the guardian” ...

This is not strange to me, for I am Beringia,
     The Guardian of the Northern Gate;
I serve Borealis, the Great Spirit of the North;
     In times past, I bridged the old lands of the East and the new lands of the West.

In times yet unborn ...

I will spirit-ferry the old and the new rounds
     That come before the Great Wrath;
In those bright and terrible days,
     Will I see again these walkers-on-the-earth?

Will they carry anew the inner fire and the inner gold?
Will they then find in my tundra-land of outer diamond,
     The Philosopher’s Stone within themselves?

Will they come again ...?