Carrieann Thunell returns, with an incantation: note by Laurel Johnson at end

All Medicine Wheels Must Now Spin As One

The Maker left the Map of Mystery

for the two-leggeds who needed riddles.

Their complex minds could not embrace bare truth.

The four-legged people, bear and the like,

moved in circles of instinct and passion.

All creatures learned the dance of life to mate,

find food, shelter, and their strand in the web.

            The winged, the finned, six-legged and four,

            the eight-legged, shelled, two-legged and more

            all danced together to a great web bound

            no hierarchies rule a song that is round.

                        All medicine wheels must now spin as one.

The Maker left jigsaw pieces within

the crevices and fissures, plants and plains.

Some lodged in clouds and some in deep tide pools.

Some dotted ley-lines, some ringed volcanoes.

No one culture of man could assemble

the Master Puzzle in isolation.

Mystery drove each to fashion their Gods.

            The winged, the finned, six-legged and four,

            the eight-legged, shelled, two-legged and more

            all joined in dance to Life’s symphonic sound

            what once was found was lost and the lost found.

                        All medicine wheels must now spin as one.

Then the two-legged set themselves apart

and built hierarchies with themselves above.

Some cultures tried to keep the dance alive

but technocrats spread like a forest fire

consuming and reshaping all in greed.

Each faction fought under their own banner:

Their icon that they each mistook for God.

            The winged, the finned, six-legged and four,

            the eight-legged, shelled, two-legged and more

            for whom this industrial honeycomb

            held naught, these refugees began to roam.

                        All medicine wheels must now spin as one.

Somewhere on this Earth, lies a Great Table

to which all diverse knowledge must be brought.

Gathered from the North, the South, East, and West,

from Above Earth where the Universe spins,

from Below where Life’s ancestors whisper,

and from the Center: Earth, our Womb of Life;

from all Sources this tapestry must come.

            The winged, the finned, six-legged and four,

            the eight-legged, shelled, two-legged and more

            recognize the center of our life, Earth.

            Daughter of Universe, Mother of Birth.

                        All medicine wheels must now spin as one.

There’s something new that’s trying to be born.

There’s something old that’s trying to reform.

The prophet’s muse is making herself known.

She’s weaving a new web of the forlorn.

This Masterwork must be collaborative:

drawn from religions and instincts diverse.

Two-leggeds must give heed to all the rest.

            The winged, the finned, six-legged and four,

            the eight-legged, shelled, two-legged and more

            must come together as siblings and share

            all ways of knowing, strip differences bare.

                        All medicine wheels must now spin as one.

Come Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Jains,

come Muslims, First Peoples, and Pagans, all

ancestral humans from all continents

bring forth your wisdom-lore to this great quilt.

Let us return the places at Table

held by all creatures to close the circle.

In balance we live, in strife we shall die.

            The winged, the finned, six-legged and four,

            the eight-legged, shelled, two-legged and more

            The mountains and valleys, oceans and streams,

            fungus and fir trees, all support Life’s dreams.

                        All medicine wheels must now spin as one.

“Whatever man does to the Web, he does to himself.”
  Thus a great chief prophesied.

Now humankind must put aside its pride

and serve the least of creatures on this Earth.

We who would rule must bow to all creatures.

In solidarity with Life’s own Source.

We must all heal the Sacred Living Web.

            The winged, the finned, six-legged and four,

            the eight-legged, shelled, two-legged and more,

all these are needed as well as the plants,

water, air, and soil, let us learn their chants.    

                        All medicine wheels must now spin as one.

Published in Bellowing Ark March/April 2006

note from Laurel Johnson