This is for a dear, special soul and friend to many here---Lynn (ShadowsNTime). Lynn hasn't been here since 2012, but I've been in touch with her; and she's been through so much...When you know someone with her depth and love, it's always painful to find that her struggles have continued long since. I heard from Lynn recently, and wanted to 'shine the sacred light' on her---for those who know and love her; and for those who never met her. A great Native American teacher---Doris (who I've celebrated here)---said that some people are simply old souls; that they've been present through many, many lives...when I asked Doris, "how can you tell?", she said, "you just know"...I think many of us felt that soul in Lynn: When she revealed her heart, you sensed that she'd seen the cycles of life many times over, with its heaves and revolutions and oceans of light...in Lynn, it's always been palpable, you could feel it. Lynn too is Native American: I know she's Cherokee, though she may have other nations as well. She often would say to me, Nvwadohiyada Nvwatohiyadv Ale Gvgeyvi (it's in my image): That's Cherokee for Peace, Harmony and Love. When I replied with Mitakuye Oyasin---an old Sioux prayer---she told me about its meaning, as one to the manner born. I quoted it; she seemed to know it in her cells. It means, All Our Relations; and is a very Native way of saying, We're all related...Listen: A wonderful Blackfoot woman, Beverly Hungry Wolf, spoke of rising in the morning to the sound of the elder women of her tribe, who went outside and prayed to the early sun, calling out the names of all the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and friends---leaving no one out, and showing thankfulness for their family, their human family, bringing tears to all within. I never saw Lynn actually 'do' these things, but I'm sure the old soul in her has, along with so many other pieces of her tradition. In her gallery, you'll find designs with Native images and patterns: They flow through her blood. And I've been thrilled when she's sent me Native songs and poems......through all her struggles with health and means, and all the other things that so many face, with age, I've still felt the deep drumbeats inside her, from the heart of so much Native spirituality: I truly believe they thunder in her veins "like a buffalo"; and so I honor her and send my love, because she has that power and has graced me and others with it. Because she has that special throbbing of the heart. Lynn had terribly difficult times, and was almost homeless more than once. She had crippling medical issues and still does. When you don't have money, and you've reached an age where employment is difficult, being sick is such a devastation---esp in a society where medicine can be so costly, and insurance isn't easy to work with. And so, in the words of Native traditions, I send my love "in the folds of skin at the tips of our fingers" (Navajo): Ie, through the very folds of her being. And through "the curtain at the end of the sky, where all birds fly" (Chukchi)...And on the "path of the world we travel over, walking on the moonlight" (Omaha)...I'm quoting right and left, but I want to say that I honor her heart and the mountain in her; and pray that her ailments and struggles will cower before those cataclysmic depths and feelings that make up the bundle of light that is Lynn. Finally, I'm giving links to the 8 installments of her autobiography: They're below. Any of you who'd like to read them, copy the links and see them at your leisure. I read the drafts (much to my stun and wonder) (which is why, btw, you won't see my comments in her gallery, as I'd already responded to them personally): They are so honest, and so direct, so naked and from the bottom-of-her-being. You'll see her childhood and its sacred dreams. You'll see the thunderous turmoil of family in cataclysmic transition: You'll see what Native Americans went through as they made the devastating transition from masters of their lives to being subsumed---and heavily decimated---by white invaders. You'll see great, glowing elders fill her with vision and light...and others terrify and hurt her and others. And, through it all, you'll hear the voice of a big, big soul, who hasn't lost her childhood, communing with the eternal. She writes: ...always taking the Indian role in Cowboys and Indians games...gathering stones and feathers and shells...talking to the animals, never having any fear of any animal... ...I made a circle with stones and sat at the center of it silently with my eyes closed just listening, letting dirt sift through my fingers, feeling the warmth of the sun, and in my mind were visions of earthly things, animals, trees, rivers and more. My cousins called me weird and my family said I had a vivid imagination...in a way they were right, only it wasn't imagination but truth in my mind. I was doing things that were natural for me to do... (And of course you can peruse her art, all the fanciful, rigorous, playful and daily images, plus her wonderful dedications, etc, etc.) To Lynn: You're a big, big soul, and while your struggles are so much smaller than you, I so understand how they become so formidable, and daily; and I'm so sorry you've struggled as you have. I pray that the light of your rich and infinite heart---and heritage---be with you and accompany you always; that your surroundings see it and learn so much from it; and that your wisdom may shine through, for a world you are so part of but which often doesn't know your wonderful gifts...And yes: Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, I'm privileged to call you sister, and I send all my love and strength and gratitude; and may light and blessings be in your pathway forever,love, Mark (Please zoom, it's huge...) The Links: Number 1 Number 2 Number 3 Number 4 Number 5 Number 6 Number 7 Number 8 -----------------