The Making of the Rainbow Medicine Blanket Part I
In September of 1999 I attended an Indigenous gathering of Spiritual Elders of the Americas founded in an ancient prophesy that spoke of a reunion between the long separated people of the Eagle with those of the Condor. Don Alejandro Cirilo Perez Oxlaj, a leader who presides over 25 district indigenous regions in Guatemala was traveling with Mayan families to make new relations and share ways to give voice to Earth Mother. The years ahead of us are pivotal and require spiritual dedication to bend destructive consumption of nature’s elements.
I was tending the cooking fire with Delia a Dine grandmother in anticipation of our visitors from the south. The sky was dancing with stars and the evening meal of buffalo meat slowly roasting on a grill over an open pit fire was waiting for their arrival. Head lights splashed over the low pinon trees and the people rushed to the vans to carry the highland Mayans over the border threshold. Misty eyed and hungry journeyers hobbled over to receive a meal of plenty. I held their brown hands as I looked into their eyes. Café I asked? This was a miracle; a return of the flower soldiers dressed with ribbons in the braids of the women and the rainbow colors of their native clothing. They formed a healing circle around the tribal elders of the North.
We were in New Mexico on sacred land to the Canyoncito Band of Navajo’s. Arvol Looking Horse was there with his new baby and wife. He is the bearer of an ancient linage represented by a peace pipe given to the Lakota Sioux people by a woman who is called White Buffalo Calf. He declared that this was history in the making because two sacred bundles representing the Eagle and the Condor had finally achieved the goal spoken by the shamans.
The following day a procession formed. The distant relatives began to partake in a healing sand ceremony. There were rocks that lined an avenue with a circular arena at the top. I had brought a clear quartz crystal stellar to my friend Leon Secatero that I had for 25 years. Much to my surprise he had placed it in the center of the healing sands arena. Each one of the delegates offered tobacco and corn pollen as if to say I am remembering that I am connected to you. Honoring the crystal wand was the first of many ceremonies we shared together. Afterwards Don Alejandro laid upon the breast of Earth Mother a symbolic offering of rainbow colored candles, fruit, and incense. Then his tribesmen lifted his body and passed him through the smoke of copal and sage. Many were crying while I listened to the language of their star ancestors.
Six years have passed and I relive the experience effortlessly. Inspired by Don Alejandro and guided by the Eagle and the Condor I have walked the Americas to know the heart beat of Earth Mother. In 2001 I visited six Mayan temples to make offerings. Tested with physical collapse and spiritual revival, I continue to serve the vision to established harmony between the indigenous cultures of the Americas for we are related. The power of indigenous myth and prophesy can unleash a wealth of remembering. All around that surrounds the all there is a divine substance that connects the seen with the unseen. For now my intention is to lead you to the field of possibilities and claim the promise of the rainbow. Shall we keep it simple and fill our minds with beauty? Then allow our hearts to bring into manifest the “We feeling” inherent in the promise of Heaven on Earth.
Carol Perez Petersen January 2005
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