She Walks Through the Smoke

She walks through the smoke; a solitary figure coming out of the Fire . The acute perspective of her figure, large, in the forefront with a backdrop of burning mountains behind her.

Is she old, is she young? We cannot see. Her face is smudged with ash and her head and neck are wrapped in scarves and there is a snake coiled on top of her head like another scarf. She is wearing a coat that has a long full skirt and is cinched at the waist. There are many large pockets on her skirt and they are all full of little animals with their heads peeking our. In her arms she carries a fox which is stretched across her chest.

Who is this mysterious figure coming out of the smoke and ash from the flames beyond? She is that spirit that lives within many of us at this time. She watches over the animals and makes sure they’re ok. She comes forth from the flames, brought to life again, called forth through the longing resonating from those who are inside the burning cauldron of the valley. In this longing she is brought to life again from the spirit world, rising form the earth fully formed, gathering the animals in the Fire’s path.

The mountains behind her, where she came from, are glowing red with embers and sprinkled with firelight that look like stars glowing in a sunset sky. Clouds of smoke are billowing all around her like a full body halo as wisps of smoke trail the path where her skirt brushes the air as she walks. In the cloudy billows of smoke around her there are almost discernable figures appearing and disappearing - spirits of Fire, Air and Water and Earth. As the fire takes the water away from the vegetation transforming it all around into smoke and ash, taking the clothes off the land in a passionate burst, moving surely across he landscape consuming all, going back where it missed a part, showing the land it in its nakedness, no cover, no protection, revealing its actual form, the Valley’s body exposed.

She is an ancient spirit, a Grandmother’s Grandmother, the spirit of the love of the life of the people, that animals and the land. She comes to life when she is needed, when there is no choice but to be fully present to the loss and transformation all around. When there is no denying our small place, our tiny being in the great conflagration surrounding us. She comes when people look in each other’s eyes and strangers greet each tiers when they pass on the street because there is no denying that we are in the fire together as it burns, a huge fire breathing dragon encircling our valley.

She is birthed through the Fire, she is birthed through the Flood. Out of the Fire, out of the smoke, out of the flood, out of the mud, she comes to life and is revealed. She lives inside us, encoded through our ancestral DNA. She is the one who rises to the occasion, no creature to humble to be in her care. She is the one who is not afraid to go and do what needs to be done, to take care of the precious life all around. She is our Grandmother’s Grandmother’s Grandmother, she is the spirit of the land protecting and nurturing Life.