Skywoman and Eve, who do we believe, who shapes our view and manner of interacting with the world? I didn’t grow up learning about either woman, except as distant folktales, stories on the periphery of my life. For a time I chose Eve, and now I am reverting to Skywoman. I have my reasons. Love of this planet, my home, love of nature and wilderness, and my fellow travelers on this earth, this love has reframed how I live and believe. Once on a walk I asked myself, “What do I believe in?” I was going through a crises of faith, a time of doubt. Years before, as a young adult, I had chosen Eve, and all the baggage that comes with her. I didn’t understand the baggage, didn’t want it, but all the same it is attached and it becomes a part of her followers. I had read a book entitled “What do I believe?” and in this book many people, famous and not, had written essays answering this question. I walked and thought, on a sunny warm day, and said to myself, “Well, I believe in the sun. I believe in the shade, and the trees that make the shade.” A part of me felt I was choosing the easy path, after all I could feel the sun and the shade as I walked. Another part said, “No, you are focusing on what you know. You believe in that which you see and enjoy. Start at the basics, then work your way up.”
I walked on, saw some trash and picked it up. “I believe it is my duty to care for this land. I love these trees, these plants, this pathway, so I should help to care for it.” Now I had two things. This was the start.
I am rereading Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer. She is the writer that introduced me to Skywoman. I’ve always enjoyed Native American writers but I never paid attention to their creation myths. I had enough trouble with the one in the faith I chose, so why should I look at others. But, she describes the creation of Turtle Island so beautifully, and she describes the outcome flowing from our basic beliefs or our basic stories. She paints the followers of Eve as wanting to have dominion over the earth, as they were instructed to do. She paints the followers of Skywoman as working with the earth, sharing and honoring the resources, as they were instructed to do. Eve began her walk on this earth being punished for having curiosity, for wanting to learn, and Skywoman began her journey by sacrifice and love, sharing her bounty with the inhabitants of the world. In the Native American story, sky woman falls to the earth and is rescued by some geese who hold her in their wings. The earth is only covered in water, and if she sank she would die. Various animals try to bring some earth or mud up from the water to save her, and the one that is able, dies in the attempt. The mud he brought up is placed on the back of a turtle, and grows into all the land on earth from that spot, which is why the name Turtle Island is used for the land. Skywoman carried plants and seeds, and she shares these with the animals, covering the new land with greenery. She created the ecosystem that we live in, and need to live.
According to the book our Western tradition, the thoughts from the Eve story, sees the world as a “recognized hierarchy of beings, with, of course, the human being on top - the pinnacle of evolution, the darling of creation- and plants at the bottom. But in Native ways of knowing, human people are often referred to as “the younger brothers of creation.” And what a difference that tiny viewpoint makes. Another thought is whether we belong, and how do we become a belonging part of the world. How do we become indigenous. I was born in the country where I live, so were my parents and my grandparents. Some of my ancestors came from Scotland, others from Germany and some were here before those people arrived. But, we are all immigrants in a way, we all are the “younger brothers” of the land on which we live. How do we become native? Another quote - “For all of us, becoming Indigenous to a place means living as if your children’s future mattered, to take care of the land as if our lives, both material and spiritual, depended on it.”
On the walk where I thought about what I believed, I started comparing some of the teachings of Jesus to the values I wanted to cherish. Care for my world, he said. He separated his followers by how they treated the least of these, feeding the poor, helping the sick and visiting the imprisoned. Care for my world might also include the land, the plants and animals, the ability to feed ourselves within this land, not just us, but our children, their children and on and on. The poor, the sick, the suffering, they all have to live on this land as well. And, those animals that we live off of, do they not deserve care and protection too? That walk, that first day of rediscovering what I believed, I returned to my original value of love, love of the natural world and all that lives within it. I love trees, I love the sun, I love the shade, I love the squirrels, birds, insects, monkeys, dogs and cats, babies, toddlers, people. I love it all. I want to share that love with everyone in a way I never felt when I had restricted that love to a book of rules and a people of rule following. Now I had room for everyone in the way I naturally felt. I want to share that love with others. I want us to love this planet and the people on it. I want us to protect our turtle Island, our own Eden, our neighbors and fellow travelers.
I’m still walking, still reading, still growing.
I have walked a total of 503 miles, putting me in Virginia, barely. I have a map of the AT on my wall, and am pointing to how far I have walked from last year, and how far I have to go. It may take a while. At any rate, I am having fun, getting exercise and having an excuse to write here.
