Bridging continents and cultures, the Eswatini folktale of Cloud Princess from Africa and the Haudenosaunee folktale of Sky Woman from North America, offer us their shared and relevant wisdom enriching, deepening and expanding our understanding of the meaning of “generosity” in unexpected ways. We learn generosity is the vital and sacred choice that can weave us back into relationship with each other, draw us into closer kinship with the wild, and open ourselves up to belonging to a larger whole.
Read MoreTern Teachings: Guests that Nest & Give
It is not only humans that tell stories. . . In the voice of bright white feathers and a charming black cap, a story darts its way through gusts of wind off the coast of Massachusetts hatching out of makeshift nests of pebbles and dry grasses. during the months of April and May. It is a seasonal story with themes of reciprocity and interdependence between the arctic tern, a migrating bird, and local coastal cloudberry flowers suggesting that even temporary guest can still contribute to a landscape’s thriving.
Read MoreBraiding Sweetgrass and the Goddess of Creation
SkyWoman, a Haudenosaunee Creation story about the first woman who falls from the sky clutching seeds and plants which she plants on Turtle’s back where they grow and blossom. . . Sky Woman is a story about an outsider, an immigrant, a celestial stranger who falls from the sky into the world of earthly creatures who help her. Sky Woman shows us the power of reciprocity to bridge differences, and the abundance everyone receives when two worlds meet.
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