My Thoughts on How We Got Where We are
(This is my translation of the Keresan speaking Pueblo people’s story of Qi Yo Ke Pe)
In the long ago time of being, she lived on the River of Six Eyes. And that River flowed within her, was part of her. Flowing as one Great River of Life, the Mother of the Waters and Qi Yo Ke Pe lived with her family on the edges of its immense banks.
Qi Yo Ke Pe was ancient and had a relationship with the Spirit that Lives in All Things, and The Great River of Life. And every morning as she would welcome Grandmother Sun into her lovely space, she would offer this prayer to the Great River:
“O Great Mother of the Waters. May you be well and free this day. May your Life bless us all. For without You, there would be no life, no living and growing things, no trees, birds, no animals, plants or humankind. There would be no songs to sing, love to give, or the Dance of Life on the Sacred Dance Ground of our Mother, the Earth. Thank You for healing us, comforting us and cleansing us. Thank you for causing to be and sharing your gifts with us. May you be blessed this day and all the days of your being.”
And so, the Mother of the Waters blessed Qi Yo Ke Pe and her family. They were intertwined flowing into the same mind of peace and knowing of the Secret of Life. She was a great Healer, Sacred Woman with the power to pull a plum out of Spirit off a barren winter tree to feed her family. She was One with all things.
This old woman of the ancient medicine ways lived in a big leafed thatched roof house. She worked with the Spirit that Lives in All Things for the benefit of all. For you see, Qi Ko Ke Pe was a Woman of Peace. She lived in Peace and Harmony with every living thing, respecting each being’s way of life and sacred space, for she knew her own Sacred Space and what it meant being in the Center of her Center, and where the dialogue of Spirit to Spirit happens. This is a Sacred and Holy thing. She loved the calling together of Great Spirit and Sacred Mother, the Sacred Great Directions, and all her relations visible and invisible to participate in that moment. It was an act of honoring and respecting Mother and Father Light and all the life forms of the Created, and the Ancestors. And when all come together in that infinite space of being, there is nothing like the sweetness of this gathering together and sharing. Time becomes no time, space becomes no space. And the Oneness envelops itself into the whole.
It is in this space great wisdom is imparted from Sacred Mother and Great Father, and knowledge is gathered from the Sacred Winds and the Elders and it is there all are taught the Great Mysteries. Sometimes the teaching would come in the voice of the Ancient Cosmic Parents, or Ancient Grandmother, sometimes as one of the Direction Spirits, or one of the Ancestors, Mother Earth, a Leaf, a Stone Person, or any one of the Relations. It is there the Great Mother and Qi Yo Ke Pe lived - in the Center of Being. It is there the Sacred Mother called her by her Spirit name and where she opened herself to the Spirit that Lives in All Things and expanded in the Light. It is there where peaceful thought forms were created for all.
So, she lived in this perfect cocoon of Peace in her big leafed thatched roof house, making ceremony and healing for the benefit of all. She was much beloved and many tribes knew of her skills in Healing. She was a Sacred Woman, and the daughter of the Ancient Mother.
Now living from this place of Perfect Peace and Harmony, another people grew and flourished on the banks of an Enormous River. It was a little wheel of bustling activity of everyday life. Not without its struggles and conflicts, yet it was still a happy place.
The Leader of the Village was a good man. He loved his wife and family of four beautiful daughters very much, taking care of their well being. But, one day, the third daughter became sick. Her entire body was covered in sores and painful scabs. It hurt the Leader of the Village to see his beautiful daughter in such agony, so he sent for all the Medicine Men of the Village. Each Medicine Man was skilled in certain areas of healing, each taking turns chanting, and reciting chants. They painted the ailing daughter of the Leader of the Village with the sacred colors of the Four Directions. They counseled with each other discussing what could be done to restore her to health and well being. They did everything they knew but nothing worked. They did everything but ask the Sacred Mother for help. The beloved daughter’s skin itched and oozed and the sores burned causing her much pain.
The Leader of the Village knew of Qi Yo Ke Pe and of her healing skills, and prepared to send for her. But the journey would be challenging and difficult. Four Great Rivers separated them and the terrain was rough so he sent for his strongest and bravest man, the War Captain to bring Qi Yo Ke Pe back to the village to help his daughter.
Crossing the swift and flowing Four Great Rivers, and overcoming many obstacles, he found Qi Yo Ke Pe and her family. He told her of the young woman’s illness and the sorrow of the Leader of the Village so she agreed to return to with him.
When they reached the First River to cross, this Great Healing Woman of Peace took off one of her moccasins. Thinking she was going to shake a rock or sand out of her shoe the War Captain stopped and waited patiently for her, for she seemed to thinking of something and taking her time. Instead, as she shook her moccasin, herds of deer, buffalo, antelope and all species of animals of the forest and plains jumped out and came running forth. The War Captain had seen many things, but this frightened him. These things did not exist before she shook them out of her moccasin. Wanting to get to the Village by the Enormous River as soon as possible he helped her across.
They traveled until they came to the Second Great River. Again, Old Qi Yo Ke Pe took off her moccasin and shaking it, all different kinds of birds flew out, different colors, sizes and shapes. Now the War Captain was becoming exceedingly uncomfortable and increasingly frightened and hurried her along as much as was possible. As they reached the Third Great River, Qi Yo Ke Pe removed her moccasin and shook out all sorts of snakes, and lizards crawling about looking for a place to live.
The War Captain and the Old Woman forged ahead, and he trembled at what might happen at the next crossing and anticipated it with fear. This time, when they reached the Fourth Great River, when Qi Yo Ke Pe emptied her shoe, all types of insects came crawling and buzzing forth. During the last part of the journey, the War Captain contemplated all that he had seen. He had never witnessed anything like it, and though there was fear, he had also never sensed such peace from any living being as he had this Healing Woman.
At last, they reached the Village by the Enormous River. When Qi Yo Ke Pe saw the daughter of the Leader of the Village, she was burning with fever and delirious, not knowing who or where she was. The sores oozed with pus, and her fingernails were caked with blood from scratching. Qi Yo Ke Pe looked down at this sore-ridden, very sick young woman with love and compassion and thought it hard to imagine her as beautiful and full of life as her father had described.
Undaunted by her condition, Qi Yo Ke Pe began her healing ritual, silently communicating with the Spirit that Lives in All Things and the Great Mother. She began preparing and asked for someone to bring some water and place it by the daughter’s bed. She bathed her with the Water from the Enormous River, and she and the Mother of the Waters began the healing process.
Now, the Medicine Men of the Village gathered around to watch, and started laughing at this Old Woman. “What? She is using only Water - no songs, no incantations, special colors - that crazy Woman! How could she possibly heal with just water from the Enormous River when all our efforts didn’t work!”
But Qi Yo Ke Pe paid no attention to them. For four days, Qi Yo Ke Pe bathed the girl in only water from the Enormous River. And on the fourth day, the Leader’s daughter was restored to perfect health, beauty and well being.
And so it was that the Medicine Men grew in jealousy and believed they were made to look weak and that the people no longer trusted or believed in them. They thought their power had been stolen by a woman. They were so mad, they began to plot the death of Qi Yo Ke Pe.
The Leader of the Village by the Enormous River was happy and filled with gratitude for the restoration of his beloved daughter and as Qi Yo Ke Pe was sent on her way to return home by the River of Six Eyes, he and the War Captain never noticed the Medicine Men following.
Qi Yo Ke Pe was happy to be home once again with her family in her big leafed thatched roof house by the River of Six Eyes. Soon after, the Medicine Men arrived and knocked on the door. Qi Yo Ke Pe invited them in to rest and eat. But they declined and told her they were there to kill her and would return in four days to carry out this task against her and her family.
When they left, Qi Yo Ke Pe picked up her broom and swept her home. The Sun was shining and she quietly cleaned the floor of her house in the Sunlight. As she worked, she sang this song,
“Qi Yo Ke Pe is not with your class. Qi Yo Ke Pe is above your caste. Over tens of years shall come and go. Before the scars shall cease to show, or trouble cease to be, for the murder of Qi Yo Pe Ke.” Four days later, the Medicine Men returned and killed Qi Yo Ke Pe, her husband, daughter and son.
When Qi Yo Ke Pe was dead, all the animals cried with great sorrow. The happy songs of all the birds stopped and they folded their wings in lament. The reptiles crawled away, hiding their grief in the dark places, and all the bees and insects buzzed with great lamentation. The Great Earth Mother and all Her children were saddened and felt the great loss of their Beloved Qi Yo Ke Pe.
This is based on the story of Qi Yo Ke Pe from the Keresan speaking Pueblo people. For me, this is a metaphor as to what is happening to our Mother, the Earth and us, our Planetary Family.
This story is a perfect example of what is taking place at this time in our planetary history. Power without Love, Peace and intent for the well being of all has created an imbalance of immense proportion. All is out of balance. Our thoughts, actions, and emotions are creating an upheaval threatening to turn everything upside down. Without the Heart of the Great Mother, energy is used for selfish purposes, to create harm, enslave and dominate. Without the Heart of the Great Mother, there is no Peace. No Love, no Balance. Only a race to the ill-gotten gain of fame, fortune and imitation of the Truth. What is the Truth? That we are luminous beings born out of Peace and Love. It is time to remember who we are.
We started to get out of balance the moment we believed ourselves separate from the Great Light and Created, each other and began to establish dominion, control and enslavement over all beings. The balance is tipped too much toward the intellect and technology.
So how do we come back into balance? By making manifest a world of Peace in our individual microcosms in the Great Macrocosm. How do we do that? By creating it.
In the long ago time of being, she lived on the River of Six Eyes. And that River flowed within her, was part of her. Flowing as one Great River of Life, the Mother of the Waters and Qi Yo Ke Pe lived with her family on the edges of its immense banks.
Qi Yo Ke Pe was ancient and had a relationship with the Spirit that Lives in All Things, and The Great River of Life. And every morning as she would welcome Grandmother Sun into her lovely space, she would offer this prayer to the Great River:
“O Great Mother of the Waters. May you be well and free this day. May your Life bless us all. For without You, there would be no life, no living and growing things, no trees, birds, no animals, plants or humankind. There would be no songs to sing, love to give, or the Dance of Life on the Sacred Dance Ground of our Mother, the Earth. Thank You for healing us, comforting us and cleansing us. Thank you for causing to be and sharing your gifts with us. May you be blessed this day and all the days of your being.”
And so, the Mother of the Waters blessed Qi Yo Ke Pe and her family. They were intertwined flowing into the same mind of peace and knowing of the Secret of Life. She was a great Healer, Sacred Woman with the power to pull a plum out of Spirit off a barren winter tree to feed her family. She was One with all things.
This old woman of the ancient medicine ways lived in a big leafed thatched roof house. She worked with the Spirit that Lives in All Things for the benefit of all. For you see, Qi Ko Ke Pe was a Woman of Peace. She lived in Peace and Harmony with every living thing, respecting each being’s way of life and sacred space, for she knew her own Sacred Space and what it meant being in the Center of her Center, and where the dialogue of Spirit to Spirit happens. This is a Sacred and Holy thing. She loved the calling together of Great Spirit and Sacred Mother, the Sacred Great Directions, and all her relations visible and invisible to participate in that moment. It was an act of honoring and respecting Mother and Father Light and all the life forms of the Created, and the Ancestors. And when all come together in that infinite space of being, there is nothing like the sweetness of this gathering together and sharing. Time becomes no time, space becomes no space. And the Oneness envelops itself into the whole.
It is in this space great wisdom is imparted from Sacred Mother and Great Father, and knowledge is gathered from the Sacred Winds and the Elders and it is there all are taught the Great Mysteries. Sometimes the teaching would come in the voice of the Ancient Cosmic Parents, or Ancient Grandmother, sometimes as one of the Direction Spirits, or one of the Ancestors, Mother Earth, a Leaf, a Stone Person, or any one of the Relations. It is there the Great Mother and Qi Yo Ke Pe lived - in the Center of Being. It is there the Sacred Mother called her by her Spirit name and where she opened herself to the Spirit that Lives in All Things and expanded in the Light. It is there where peaceful thought forms were created for all.
So, she lived in this perfect cocoon of Peace in her big leafed thatched roof house, making ceremony and healing for the benefit of all. She was much beloved and many tribes knew of her skills in Healing. She was a Sacred Woman, and the daughter of the Ancient Mother.
Now living from this place of Perfect Peace and Harmony, another people grew and flourished on the banks of an Enormous River. It was a little wheel of bustling activity of everyday life. Not without its struggles and conflicts, yet it was still a happy place.
The Leader of the Village was a good man. He loved his wife and family of four beautiful daughters very much, taking care of their well being. But, one day, the third daughter became sick. Her entire body was covered in sores and painful scabs. It hurt the Leader of the Village to see his beautiful daughter in such agony, so he sent for all the Medicine Men of the Village. Each Medicine Man was skilled in certain areas of healing, each taking turns chanting, and reciting chants. They painted the ailing daughter of the Leader of the Village with the sacred colors of the Four Directions. They counseled with each other discussing what could be done to restore her to health and well being. They did everything they knew but nothing worked. They did everything but ask the Sacred Mother for help. The beloved daughter’s skin itched and oozed and the sores burned causing her much pain.
The Leader of the Village knew of Qi Yo Ke Pe and of her healing skills, and prepared to send for her. But the journey would be challenging and difficult. Four Great Rivers separated them and the terrain was rough so he sent for his strongest and bravest man, the War Captain to bring Qi Yo Ke Pe back to the village to help his daughter.
Crossing the swift and flowing Four Great Rivers, and overcoming many obstacles, he found Qi Yo Ke Pe and her family. He told her of the young woman’s illness and the sorrow of the Leader of the Village so she agreed to return to with him.
When they reached the First River to cross, this Great Healing Woman of Peace took off one of her moccasins. Thinking she was going to shake a rock or sand out of her shoe the War Captain stopped and waited patiently for her, for she seemed to thinking of something and taking her time. Instead, as she shook her moccasin, herds of deer, buffalo, antelope and all species of animals of the forest and plains jumped out and came running forth. The War Captain had seen many things, but this frightened him. These things did not exist before she shook them out of her moccasin. Wanting to get to the Village by the Enormous River as soon as possible he helped her across.
They traveled until they came to the Second Great River. Again, Old Qi Yo Ke Pe took off her moccasin and shaking it, all different kinds of birds flew out, different colors, sizes and shapes. Now the War Captain was becoming exceedingly uncomfortable and increasingly frightened and hurried her along as much as was possible. As they reached the Third Great River, Qi Yo Ke Pe removed her moccasin and shook out all sorts of snakes, and lizards crawling about looking for a place to live.
The War Captain and the Old Woman forged ahead, and he trembled at what might happen at the next crossing and anticipated it with fear. This time, when they reached the Fourth Great River, when Qi Yo Ke Pe emptied her shoe, all types of insects came crawling and buzzing forth. During the last part of the journey, the War Captain contemplated all that he had seen. He had never witnessed anything like it, and though there was fear, he had also never sensed such peace from any living being as he had this Healing Woman.
At last, they reached the Village by the Enormous River. When Qi Yo Ke Pe saw the daughter of the Leader of the Village, she was burning with fever and delirious, not knowing who or where she was. The sores oozed with pus, and her fingernails were caked with blood from scratching. Qi Yo Ke Pe looked down at this sore-ridden, very sick young woman with love and compassion and thought it hard to imagine her as beautiful and full of life as her father had described.
Undaunted by her condition, Qi Yo Ke Pe began her healing ritual, silently communicating with the Spirit that Lives in All Things and the Great Mother. She began preparing and asked for someone to bring some water and place it by the daughter’s bed. She bathed her with the Water from the Enormous River, and she and the Mother of the Waters began the healing process.
Now, the Medicine Men of the Village gathered around to watch, and started laughing at this Old Woman. “What? She is using only Water - no songs, no incantations, special colors - that crazy Woman! How could she possibly heal with just water from the Enormous River when all our efforts didn’t work!”
But Qi Yo Ke Pe paid no attention to them. For four days, Qi Yo Ke Pe bathed the girl in only water from the Enormous River. And on the fourth day, the Leader’s daughter was restored to perfect health, beauty and well being.
And so it was that the Medicine Men grew in jealousy and believed they were made to look weak and that the people no longer trusted or believed in them. They thought their power had been stolen by a woman. They were so mad, they began to plot the death of Qi Yo Ke Pe.
The Leader of the Village by the Enormous River was happy and filled with gratitude for the restoration of his beloved daughter and as Qi Yo Ke Pe was sent on her way to return home by the River of Six Eyes, he and the War Captain never noticed the Medicine Men following.
Qi Yo Ke Pe was happy to be home once again with her family in her big leafed thatched roof house by the River of Six Eyes. Soon after, the Medicine Men arrived and knocked on the door. Qi Yo Ke Pe invited them in to rest and eat. But they declined and told her they were there to kill her and would return in four days to carry out this task against her and her family.
When they left, Qi Yo Ke Pe picked up her broom and swept her home. The Sun was shining and she quietly cleaned the floor of her house in the Sunlight. As she worked, she sang this song,
“Qi Yo Ke Pe is not with your class. Qi Yo Ke Pe is above your caste. Over tens of years shall come and go. Before the scars shall cease to show, or trouble cease to be, for the murder of Qi Yo Pe Ke.” Four days later, the Medicine Men returned and killed Qi Yo Ke Pe, her husband, daughter and son.
When Qi Yo Ke Pe was dead, all the animals cried with great sorrow. The happy songs of all the birds stopped and they folded their wings in lament. The reptiles crawled away, hiding their grief in the dark places, and all the bees and insects buzzed with great lamentation. The Great Earth Mother and all Her children were saddened and felt the great loss of their Beloved Qi Yo Ke Pe.
This is based on the story of Qi Yo Ke Pe from the Keresan speaking Pueblo people. For me, this is a metaphor as to what is happening to our Mother, the Earth and us, our Planetary Family.
This story is a perfect example of what is taking place at this time in our planetary history. Power without Love, Peace and intent for the well being of all has created an imbalance of immense proportion. All is out of balance. Our thoughts, actions, and emotions are creating an upheaval threatening to turn everything upside down. Without the Heart of the Great Mother, energy is used for selfish purposes, to create harm, enslave and dominate. Without the Heart of the Great Mother, there is no Peace. No Love, no Balance. Only a race to the ill-gotten gain of fame, fortune and imitation of the Truth. What is the Truth? That we are luminous beings born out of Peace and Love. It is time to remember who we are.
We started to get out of balance the moment we believed ourselves separate from the Great Light and Created, each other and began to establish dominion, control and enslavement over all beings. The balance is tipped too much toward the intellect and technology.
So how do we come back into balance? By making manifest a world of Peace in our individual microcosms in the Great Macrocosm. How do we do that? By creating it.
Once Upon A Time
I came across an ancient Pueblo story and thought it was a perfect metaphor for what is happening today and how we got here. This is my interpretation.
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