Earthsong Stories
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Here is a choir of stories for you to dream too. There will be further postings on facebook where you are welcome to add your own Dreamings from the land.
A Song of Iran
"What animal has been associated with the country of Iran and with the time of dawn?"
The first animal which came to my mind is the NIGHTINGALE associated with the time from dusk till dawn and closely identified with Persian poetry. It is the nightingale who sings in the dark, brings beauty and melody to the night − a hope, a promise of what the night might bring forth. In particular the southwestern province of Fars but also the country as a whole is also often referred to poetically as the country of flowers and nightingales ...
Then I started thinking about a very powerful animal: the PERSIAN LEOPARD. It is at home here in the north of the country where we live. A few days ago I saw a photo of one of these amazingly beautiful animals taken about south from here. Apparently eight leopards were seen that day and about 30 are supposed to live around there. I found myself trembling when envisioning these awe-inspiring animals roaming the nearby hills and mountains ... Yet, great as this news might be, it may also attract the attention of hunters who are eager to shoot them and boost their masculinity in this sickening way.
Also a couple of weeks ago a shepherd from a nearby village told us that two of his lambs were taken by a leopard while grazing on the nearby hills. A few days later the leopard was found dead near the village.
I felt deeply touched by seeing the photo of the leopard and also hearing the shepherd's story − to know and sense leopards being so near, roaming the area, searching for food. For the poor shepherd the leopard's appearance has been a disaster and sadly the state does not help him at all to handle the loss of his lambs. Even though there is a big fine for killing a leopard and they are supposedly protected, hunters and farmers continue to shoot them.
Sadly, there are only very few of these amazingly beautiful and fear inspiring leopards left. So I have come to think of the Persian leopard as Iran's most powerful animal envisioning the countries profoundly inspiring but also endangered wilderness.
Finally, I have been thinking of one of, if not the most powerful animal in Iranian mythology: SIMORGH who is a central figure in the stories of the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi. One of these stories is about all the birds wanting to fly to Ghaf, the highest mountain at the end of the world to see Simorgh there, the most powerful animal in the world. So the birds starting their journey, flying across the desert with many of them dying from thirst and hunger. Then, flying over the mountains many more of them died from the strain. Flying across many lands until finally crossing the sea where again many of them died. When they reached Ghaf only 30 birds were left and did indeed find Simorgh there − Simorgh, which literally means 30 birds!
So I am sending wild greetings from the valley where jakals and wolves are howling in the night and where this morning a white stork majestically spread its wings heading east into the gleaming eastern sky ... BR
Song of the Forest
“I am striding along the Findhorn River. I feel joy at my being in this beautiful land on a gorgeous early late Autumn/early Winter day. There is still auburn gold colour on the last leaves hanging. The river gurgles and swishes down stream as l go up stream. I imagine everything, all plants, stones, grasses, earth, trees, blue sky and more are alive and aware; l greet them. I imagine faeries, elves and gnomes and greet them too. I feel acutely alive myself, every cell in my body feels buzzing with life. I jump onto a rock in the river and sit there a while as if l am an elf in a magical world with the water flowing around me. I’m not too far from Randolph’s leap where he leapt across the river to safety….no mean feet though it seems clear to me here that for sure it is possible, anything is. It is as if my heart is singing. I jump back onto the river bank and stride back downstream.
I’m aware at one point of a physical sensation across my chest, as if l’m walking through a physical veil or a invisible web. Shortly afterwards l hear a woman singing out of sight in the trees and think how wonderful of someone to be singing out here, and such a beautiful voice. Suddenly l stop and ponder….there isn’t anyone else out here…and turn, wander back to where l hear the singing. I look between some smaller spruce trees. There are gold needles on the forest bed. I see no one. I walk in between the trees. I see no one and yet still hear this woman’s beautiful high voice. She now changes tune, she is singing 3 notes and then stopping for a short space, singing the same three notes, stopping for a short space. I feel perplexed. I follow the voice to a single tree…l look for a tape recorder at the foot of the tree. There is no tape recorder. I am both delighted and puzzled. It is as if the voice is inviting me to sing. She sings the 3 notes. I follow with the same 3 notes. She sings the 3 notes and adds 3 more. I am tingling with even more delight…and also thinking…but this isn’t a tune…l sing the same 6 notes. The tree sings the six notes and adds another 3, this makes a riff! In even further delight, l sing the nine note riff…when l finish…the whole forest sings out in rounds of harmony with the tune…the whole forest is singing, angelic…continuous. I am feeling ecstatic, tingling.
I see a man walking towards me and wonder if some magic spell is about to be broken as he comes closer. But no, he is coming since he hears the music and wonders what it is. We both stand together listening to the song of the forest. A young woman walks towards us from the other direction. She hears the singing and wonders what it is, she is frightened.
I could have just stayed there forever…and yet a sense that life, my life moves on. Walking away l could still hear the forest singing, becoming more distant. I knew my life would never be the same again; that all l had learned and been told about the world had just been shattered. As it turns out, the Spruce from this forest has been used to make violins, and, of course, musical instruments are made from Earth’s sources. It came to me, the way the tree had invited me in to song, that maybe that is how humans learned music in the first place and we have forgotten. What would it mean to remember now and to show gratitude.” Recording of song (recorded later)
Wendy Robertson Fyfe
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You may have experienced such a story yourself, one that feeds your life and the directions you take or maybe you long for such a story to follow. Feed and follow the longing...... We'd love to hear....
Alcove Song, Canyon of the Ancients, SouthWest Colorado
In the morning, having offered myself to a night in a cave, in the silence l heard these notes in my body. I sang them out back to the cave. Unlike the previous story, this song was felt/heard in my body rather than ‘aloud’ (hear recording). Songs come/are heard in different ways. (hear recording)
Sometimes l will sing the song of the trees to the canyons, the song of the canyons to the trees.. that way, this vast Earth can hear different aspects of herself she might not otherwise hear. Maybe that is something you can offer too, or another way might come to you.
Wendy Robertson Fyfe
Song of Bear's Ears National Park, Utah
Walking along a path l turn my head everso slightly and listen-in to a sound of a single note in the canyon. Usually l sing the song back. This time, when l try the note l hear it is both the note and more than the note. After trying a number of notes l find the seemingly single note being sung by the canyon.......is all notes. In that moment, l feel aware of a Cosmic Song.
Wendy Robertson Fyfe - Bear's Ears is one of USA's protected areas currently under threat.