Robin Atkins invited anybody who is interested to take part in this challenge...

The idea is to go back in blogtime to your earliest posts and identify the 6th picture you posted. The next task is to critique your own photo, explain what you would do differently now, and then pass on the challenge to 10 other bloggers. I'm not big onpassing along, because of the sense of obligation that might be felt, so the challenge is extended to anybody who's interested!

I started blogging in 2007. I don't use this blog much apart from posting my Bead Journal Project efforts, which have been er very minimalist for a year...

So here is my 6th photo...

From early this morning, I have felt Coyote's presence around me. It is a day of hidden giggles in the most bizarre situations, which doesn't allow me to relax in my bad mood and tiredness. Like I went to church before work this morning, feeling very depressed because of my very frustrating love life. After a few minutes this sexy man appeared, which was striking since the church is always empty. The priest seemed puzzled to see me there. When I came out I saw many flowers, one with the inscription "to my husband" ; a funeral was apparently planned. I didn't know what to think about all this but when I spotted a Coyote Express van across the road, I got the message : SMILE, DON'T TAKE YOURSELF SERIOUSLY !

So what would I do differently today about this picture ?

Well, I would clean my fridge before taking the picture (note to self : clean the fridge), and I would use a picture software to reduce the size. But I think I would definitely not take a picture like this. Well, I hope so anyway ! lol

More than everything this challenge has reminded me of what is really important to me, because all of it is on this blog. Thank you Robin !

BE HAPPY EVERYONE !

Birthday presents

I got spoiled for my birthday :o)))

Coyote and the Shadow People

James C. Christensen, 2003

Coyote's wife dies of an illness and he weeps for her. He is visited by the death spirit who offers to take him to the land of the dead if Coyote will follow his instructions. Coyote agrees.

On their journey the spirit points out a herd of horses. Coyote cannot see the horses but he pretends that they are there. Neither can Coyote see the death spirit. He appears to be a shadow.

When Coyote and the death spirit arrive at the land of the dead the spirit invites Coyote to eat some berries. Coyote cannot see them but pretends to eat them nevertheless. The spirit leads Coyote to a lodge and tells him to enter through the doorway and sit down beside his wife and eat the food that she has prepared for him. Coyote cannot see the lodge, the food, or his wife, but he obeys the spirit.

When night falls Coyote sees the lodge that he could not see during the day, and in it are fires, and people he knew when they were living and, of course, his wife. With the dawn, everything and everyone disappears, only to return on the following evening. It is like this for several days and nights.

Eventually the death spirit tells Coyote that he must leave. The spirit allows Coyote to take his wife with him but warns that he must not touch her until they have crossed the fifth mountain of the five mountains that lie between the lands of the living and the dead. Coyote agrees.

Coyote and his wife begin their journey. At night they sit with a fire between them and Coyote notices that with every night his wife's form becomes clearer. On the last night of the journey Coyote can wait no longer and reaches across the fire to embrace his wife. She disappears the moment he touches her.

The death spirit returns and tells Coyote that because of his foolishness the practice of returning from the dead will never be and that the dead must remain forever separate from the living. The spirit leaves. Coyote tries to return to the land of the dead, repeating everything he was instructed to do on the first journey: he pretends to see a herd of horses, to eat berries, to enter a lodge, to acknowledge his wife, and to eat the food she has prepared for him. When evening comes the lodge, the fires, the people, and Coyote's wife do not appear, and they and the death spirit never appear to Coyote again.

Excerpt from the Larry Ellis essay "Trickster : Shaman of the Liminal" .

A longer version of the story is here.

The Trickster way

Some time ago, I began reading the autobiography of Chief Archie Fire Lame Deer (in French it is called "Le cercle sacré"- "Gift of Power" in English ????). Two sessions of holotropic breathwork had made me see unexpected aspects of my personality, and had encouraged me to learn more about the Native American culture. This, by the way, is also what encouraged me to get into beading seriously.

Reading Archie Fire Lame Deer's book gave me a great lesson in what courage is all about. Also this book introduced me to the notion of "Heyokas", the Sacred Clowns. For a long time I said jokingly that this had something to do with me. I am left-handed, clumsy, hold two nationalities and generally have a habit of saying the wrong things at the wrong time, dressing up inadequately for the occasion and often making people laugh unintentionally. Feeling inadequate is something I have known all my life. And funny things happen to me all the time.

Musing about what to do for my June BJP page, I found a remarkable essay by Larry Ellis entitled "Trickster : Shaman of the Liminal". It tells about the archetype of the trickster, of Coyote and thresholds. Well, I had been losing my home keys and access card for work all week so it made me smile. However I was deeply moved to find out in this article a Nez-Percé version of Orpheus and Eurydice, as this is one of my favourite myths, and this is what had brought me there in the first place. So I decided to do something around this Coyote story, including Nez-Percé style beading.

But Coyote is a weird protector ; yesterday evening I got fired two days before the end of my work assignment and asked to hide from my boss by staying at home. The reason ? I almost made a cockup. Anyways, later that evening, I was called for two other job interviews. Hey, calm down, Coyote ! lol

Another great essay on the Sacred Clown is here.

Back to beading, one of the first book I bought was "Beadwork, a World guide" by Caroline Crabtree and Pam Stallebrass, closely followed by "North American Indian Jewellery and Adornment" by Lois Sherr Dubin. Awesome stuff. I was immediately attracted to Native American beading, especially from the Woodland area, and wanted to copy flower patterns but didn't dare to. It soothed me to think that Europeans immigrants bought two good things to Native Americans ; glass beads and horses. Time has now come for me to dare to bead one of these flower patterns and to heal the grief and shame about human follies.