Birth Of A Wise Woman
by
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Three days. Three days before the tribe began their walk to the valley between the Ice Mountains. The trip would take as many turns of the Moon Mother as Kilea had fingers on one hand. They would walk over the prairies, cross the hardened lava fields, lake of ice and float down the River of Rocks. It was a trip that tested the strongest members of the tribe, but they would arrive in the lush green Valley of the Sun in time for the Gathering.
Kilea paused in her packing. The air in the hut was warm and still. She pushed back the skin covering the entrance hole in the sod roof. Climbing out, she felt the cool wind from the sea on her face. Breathing deeply, she could smell the sulphur of the hot pools, the drying fish and the cooking fires. She heard the happy voices of the people as they went about their work. Her momentary sense of excitement faded into a feeling of impending doom. It surrounded her like the dampness of the morning fog.
Mantu had been sick for several turns of the Moon Mother. Kilea, as her apprentice, had been performing the daily duties of the Wise Woman, in addition to nursing Mantu.Three days was not long enough to prepare Mantu for the grueling trip. She sensed that Mantu, the beloved Wise Woman, might choose to join the Angel–of-the- Next-Life during this trip.
The tribe had returned to the Valley of the Sun at the beginning of the light time for as long as the people could remember. Some said the First Woman found it on a trip to the First Man's camp. There she had coupled with the Sun god. So pleased was the Sun god that he ran up the Ice Mountain into the Place Above. He stayed up there, shining his loving warmth, for six turns of the full moon. He then returned to the Place Below for six more turns.
From this union, the First Woman gave birth to the first Wise Woman. So now, just before the Sun god reappeared in the Place Above, the people would travel back to the magic Valley of the Sun for the annual coupling with men from other tribes. Kilea thought about the last time they were in the Sun Valley. The Sun god's arrival opened the ceremony, blessing the unions of coupling. The girls who had passed their first moon blood chose from the boys with the deepening voices. Then the older women, ready to have another child, made their choice. These were carefree days as they traded wares, played and coupled in the green grasses of the valley under the shining sun.
Mantu was the daughter, of the daughter, of the daughter of the First Woman. As the Wise Woman, she led the people with the strength of the Sun god. I am Mantu's daughter, thought Kilea. As Wise Woman, can I be as strong?
The gray light of morning illuminated the interior of Kilea's snug little hut as she returned to her packing. Sorting through the dry plants on the sleeping robe, she picked up a bundle of red clover and inhaled the odor. She smiled, remembering the first time Mantu had shown her how to pick and dry it.Her smile faded as she also thought about the many cups of red clover she had spooned into Mantu's dry mouth. Several times a day she fed her the brew, hoping for a healing.
No healing had happened. Mantu’s light was fading.
Carefully, she wrapped the red clover in dry fish skin and placed it in her carrying pack. Kilea pushed her black hair from her oval shaped face, pulling it back, smoothing it on the sides, twisting it into a knot and tying it with a rawhide string. She had learned how to fix her hair in the traditional style of the Wise Woman from her mother.
When she had trouble making the two-loop knot, Mantu would tell her,"You will be the Wise Woman some day. You must know how to hold the spirits with your hair." She practiced many hours with fibers from the vines until it now was second nature to twist her hair into the knot.
Mantu had been teaching her these past ten winters to take her place as leader of the people. Just when Kilea felt confident with her skills, Mantu would present her with something new. Like the time Janu came for help to be with child. Helping Mantu with the coupling rituals, Kilea had prepared tea from the briar leaves. The leaves, when cooked to make a hot drink, cleaned out the Soul-Robbing Spirits. Janu had come to the coupling ritual twice and was still without child. This time Mantu gave Janu something for the man to drink, and the union had been blessed with twins.
Kilea trembled, thinking about Mantu's passing. The tribe would be in her incapable hands. Can I make the right medicine? Kilea asked herself. Can I walk in the footsteps of the great Mantu?I don't think so. I couldn't help Jana. A wave of sorrow swept over her. She would miss her beloved mother and teacher. She would no longer hear her chanting in the evening or feel her gentle touch. As all creatures do, Mantu would soon die.
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About the Book
This book is a prehistoric fantasy story about the evolution of human kind. Using an ancient African legend telling about a time when men and women lived in separate camps it tells about how a woman was the leader of the clan. The Wise Woman, as she was called dictated the laws and religion of the people by using her magic and instinct for their survival. She was the healer, the teacher and intervened between the people and spirits. The role of Wise Woman was handed down from mother to daughter. As the people evolve into more civilized groups the role of the Wise Woman changed creating a birth of a new type of Wise Woman. They had no language as such but communicated with signs and gestures, but this book uses modern day language to tell the story. It tells the story of one girl who due to the death of her mother became the Wise Woman before her training was finished and the traditional trip to the "gathering" of the tribes. These people lived close to nature so the Sun god, Moon Mother and the star children play an active role in the story telling.
About the Author
Donna Mickler,Ph.D.
Donna is a Registered Nurse and a professional Astrologer. She had a large counseling practice in Texas but is now living in a very small town in Arizona. She uses past life therapy, astrology and tarot card readings as counseling tools. This is her second book to be published. The first one is titled "Seeds of Astrology" which was translated into Russian and sold over 5000 copies in Moscow. The English version is still selling in America. "The Birth of a Wise woman" is the results of many years of studying the human race through her nursing, astrology, legends, past lives, mythology and religion.
Born under a new moon in the bad lands of South Dakota to intelligent and creative parents was a perfect beginning for her creative abilities. An accomplished artist she has taught children’s art classes and has her art in many museums in the western states.
Due to life circumstances she became a single mother of five children but was still able to return to school and earned a Doctorate of Psychology and a professional counselors certificate. The story of the Birth of a Wise Woman was in part a past life session about her own mother.