Editor's Note: This is the tenth of a projected series of 26 articles in which Allen Aslan Heart will pass along the spiritual wisdom found in the stories behind his dream catchers. Like many others, Mr. Heart feels that the time has come when we must get our spiritual and ecological acts together if we are to survive and evolve.

Dreaming the Spiral: The Beauty Behind Each Moment

by Allen Aslan Heart/White Eagle Soaring

Blue sky, clouds, and Father Sun reflected in the blue waters of the great sweet water sea of the Ojibwe people. The old man shifted himself to relieve the strain on his knees and back. Sister Wind blew the fragrances of the forests, rivers, and Mother Earth to him. He inhaled the sweetness and sang songs of thanks. He had lost count of the many winters past. Many days he had walked in the beauty and wonder of Dreamtime. He had come back each time bringing secrets and wisdom for his people. His love for his people had kept him coming back to share this treasure. Through his dreaming he had opened new doors of possibility. His stories pointed the way through difficult times of famine, fierce cold, sickness, and wars. They brought clearer ways of understanding, so that everyone could see beyond the simple day-to-day life.

He had separated himself from his people for weeks while he traveled to a high place closer to the Great Spirit. Not eating for several days he prayed and dreamed...and a white eagle appeared before him and spoke.

“Why do you come to this holy place, human?”

“Brother Eagle, I seek a vision of wisdom so my people might live in a beautiful way,” he said.

“Is it not enough to be alive to rejoice in the pleasure of each day?” said the white eagle.

“Yes, I have learned the beauty of living in the moment of each day. This I have taught my people. Yet I believe there is an even greater beauty that hides behind each moment and I have searched to know what it means. I wish to know the way of the One. When I can bring this wisdom to my people they, too, will know this hidden beauty.”

“You have asked to receive a great and wonderful gift, human. From this day you shall be called Eagle Dreamer, for you shall learn through my eyes, the eyes of Wabishkie Ginu, the white eagle.”

“I shall bear the name with honor and humility, Wabishkie Ginu.”

“Now, Eagle Dreamer, close your eyes and look into the windows of your heart. There in the golden shadows of inner sight we shall soar at the top of the sky. I see all things and I bring wisdom from the Great Mystery. In your heart you have become Eagle. Now we shall journey beyond the dawn and into the heart of wisdom.”

The white eagle and Eagle Dreamer pushed off from the high place and soared above the clouds. The entire world lay below, a richly woven tapestry of color and texture. And they could see beyond horizons. Eagle Dreamer was amazed at such beauty and wonder. He could see from far above the world with the far-seeing eyes of the white eagle.

After what seemed like forever and no time, in a great symphony of color and silence, the eagle said, “Within the Great Mystery are principles upon which the universe is moved into and out of Being. You can learn of these when your heart is open and your mind is at peace. This wisdom is always before you throughout your Earth Journey. Simply attune your awareness to the natural world around you. Have you noticed the shape of the sun, Eagle Dreamer?”

Looking toward the sun, the old man replied, “A circle.”

“And what do you think is the path of the sun across the sky from sunrise to sunset to sunrise again?”

“Well...it must also be a circle!” he said.

“And the seasons passing from the time of cold to the time of new growth to the time of warm days to the time of falling leaves to the time of cold again?”

“A circle!”

“What can you learn from the path of our flight, Eagle Dreamer?”

There was a pause as he considered the question. “We seem to be flying in circles,” answered the old man.

“You see that the world is made of circles, and circles within circles. Look for these and you shall begin to understand. There is more.” They soared so high that they could see that earth was also a circle. “What is happening to the clouds below?” asked the white eagle.

“They seem to be traveling in circles,” said Eagle Dreamer.

“Hidden in these circles is the spiral,” said the eagle. “The clouds spiral through the air the way whirlpools spiral in the water. Look inside all things and you will see the spiral.”

They began a glide that carried them over hills and valleys, rivers and lakes, deserts and forests. Soon the hills and valleys reappeared, and the rivers and lakes. As they circled, they came closer and closer to the pinnacle from which they had begun. Suddenly, in a flash of white wings they were standing in the high place. “Eagle Dreamer, look closely at the cone on this pine tree. How is it constructed?” asked the white eagle.

“The scales are arranged in a spiral,” said Eagle Dreamer.

“And you will see that there are spirals that cross. What is at the joining of the two spirals?”

Eagle Dreamer examined the pine cone closely from different directions and said, “Where the spirals cross there is a seed. At each crossing there is a seed!”

“In this seed you will find a truth. And what did you observe about the path of our return flight?”

“We seemed to have been soaring in a circle that got smaller and smaller,” said Eagle Dreamer.

“Yes, and within that circle is a deeper truth.” Wabishkie Ginu began to disappear as silver mist began to descend upon them. “Our path is a spiral leading from the outermost view of the world to the innermost, the hidden. This is the Great Mystery hidden within you, hidden within All That Is. The spirals are the key to discovering the Great Mystery, to knowing the One.”

Thunder in the distance and a sudden gust of wind brought the old man to a sudden awareness of the need for shelter. He clambered down among the rocks to a shallow cave under a rock overhang. There he would remain safe and dry from the thunderstorm that was coming. Lightning crashed between the mountain tops, splintering trees in explosions of flame. He picked up two stones and for the next several hours he carefully hammered his new discovery into a memory of stone. A Spiral.

Every winter evening Eagle Dreamer sat at the fire with his clan and told stories of his flights with the white eagle and the many things he had learned. He taught the secrets of the spirals. He saw spirals in the swirling waters of the streams and rivers, and in the whirling dust on the prairie. He saw that pine cones, flowers, snail shells, trees were spirals. The women sewed spirals into all the clothing. The men carved spirals in bone ornaments. One day as he straightened the sleeping robes in his lodge he heard his name called from a place near the roof.

“Eagle Dreamer. Look up here, Eagle Dreamer.”

Looking up, he could make out the strands of a spider web highlighted by a shaft of sunlight shining through the smoke hole. The spider, satisfied that she had the attention of the old man, began to weave. From the point at which the strands crossed she spun new fibers attaching them to the strands that served as a foundation of her work. As she wove, Eagle Dreamer's eyes followed every move, and his mouth opened wider and wider in amazement. She was spinning a spiral! When she finished weaving the spider stood in the center of her creation.

“Do you see, Eagle Dreamer? This is how Creator works, in a spiral dance from the known into the unknown, connecting everything to everything else. Everything is in the circle. We are All One and the Creator is in all things.”

“Yes, I see,” said Eagle Dreamer. “You have given me a great gift, Asabikeshii. I have seen that the spiral is in All Things. I would learn to weave as you do, Asabikeshii, for the story is woven into the Web of Life. The story is in the weaving.”

“You do see, Eagle Dreamer. And you will see still more. Go and gather twigs of the red willow saplings, now when they are at their peak of red. Tie them into small hoops and bind them until they have dried. Make a bead of stone, find colorful feathers that are the natural gifts of the winged ones, and make fine thread from the fibers of the nettle stalk. With these you will be honoring the stone people, the plant people, and the animal people – the first three orders of being. When all is ready, call upon Asabikeshii and I shall teach you how to weave the spiral web of the Dream Spiral.”

His head filled with the magic and wonder of the spiral web of Asabikeshii, Eagle Dreamer gathered the materials the spider had demanded. Weeks later he stood before the spider web in the roof of his lodge and called to Asabikeshii to teach him how to weave. From the shadows came the voice of the spider.

“You have done well, Eagle Dreamer. Since you cannot make thread sticky as I do, I will show you a human way to weave the Dream Spiral. After you have tied the twig ends together, make six loops around the hoop so that the seven points honor the Seven Powers – the Four Directions, Mother Earth below, Father Sky above, and the Great Mystery within you and all things.”

The spider showed Eagle Dreamer how to weave the Dream Spiral and then, “After you have finished the weaving, thread a stone bead into the center. This remembers the Creator at the center of Creation. Then tie feathers to the thread that remains, so that good Dreams will know the way to the Dreamer. Bad dreams will be lost in the weaving. There they perish by the first light of day. They evaporate like drops of morning dew. Hang this above where you sleep. Even the little infants in the cradle board should have one of these Dream Spirals to catch dreams. As they see it before them they will know the wisdom of the Spiral and the beauty of the Web of Life. Then your people will always see the beauty that hides behind each moment and know the pathway that leads to the One.”

Now the spirals sing the old songs in a new way.

So.....be light.

©Copyright 2002 Allen Aslan Heart