Author’s
Note: This was written in 2003 and
published in my book, Into the
Waves-Poems and Other Writings by Petrabooks www.petrabooks.ca . Considering what is happening in the world
perhaps it is carries a message for those awakening. The word Sassagis is Ojibway and means evil mean ones. Enjoy!
Once
upon a time, a long, long time ago, things were much different on Mother Earth
than they are today. Back then, there
were no planes, trains or cars. There
were no factories or stores. No electricity
buzzing through wires. No computers or
video games. No pizza delivery. No ATM bank machines. No one had to carry money or credit
cards. There were no banks. There was only a community of spirits who saw
no diversity and who understood the ancient laws of the Universe. During those days, Mother Earth was filled
with tranquility. There was never any
fighting and there were no bullies. All
the inhabitants of Mother Earth saw each other as a spark of the Great Spirit
in physical form; and it was in their best interests to get along with each
other.
Since
the spirits of yesteryear understood the ancient laws, they knew the importance
of using their emotions as a personal guidance system. If something didn’t feel right or good, they
knew they were not aligned with the Great Spirit’s energy. If something felt good they were aligned with
the Great Spirit’s energy. There was
connection. Since everyone lived by the
same law, life on Mother Earth was spent enjoying existence. Everyone looked for the best in everything
and that which they focused upon came to them.
Of course this was a long, long time ago.
They
say that back then, Mother Earth was really stunning. She had the most lush, green forests which
housed the unicorns, elves, fairies, pixies, wolves, birds and other
spirits. The air was always clear. The sweet smell of flowers filled the air,
and sometimes the wonderful fragrance cast an unending spell of happiness on
everyone on the land. Everyone played
and worked together in complete joy and everywhere you looked, everyone was
smiling because the more you smiled, the happier you became.
Not
only was the land filled with an abundance of happiness. Long ago, there flowed a great network of
crystal clear streams, rivers and lakes across the body of Mother Earth. These waters bustled with life, and flowed
into oceans filled with mermaids, seahorses and dolphins who would always make
their way to the shore to play with their friends who lived on the land amongst
the tree spirits.
During
that time Mother Earth was considered the most beautiful planet in the whole of
the universe. She radiated so much
loving light that many space travelers used her light to navigate the galaxies. It had also been said, that the reason she
had so much beauty was in the legend about her creation. Many of the old Elders had said the Great
Spirit had created Mother Earth as a gift for the Mother of all Creation. For the Great Spirit knew, without the Mother
of all Creation he could never have created the universe. So in a gesture of thanks, he filled the
planet Earth with all that was beautiful, and created a place where only love
was to abide and bloom. Grandfather
Sun’s light provided warmth and protection for all of Mother Earth’s children,
and at night Grandma Moon would guide her oceans, and the Star People would
shine their loving energy upon her to ensure the spirits inhabiting Mother
Earth would always live in harmony. It
was really a paradise back then. So
after he created Earth, the Great Spirit gifted it to the Mother of
Creation. Of course the Mother of
Creation was overcome with emotion and she cried happy tears. He then dedicated Earth to the Mother of Creation
by calling it Mother Earth.
Life
on Mother Earth from that point onwards was about having fun. For all Mother Earth’s children, everyday
seemed like a vacation. That is not to
say they did not work. They had a lot of
things to attend to, however because they were passionate about what they
contributed, they never considered it work.
They considered it to be just like playing. Wake-up, pursue your passions and do what
needs to be done. Everyone had a role. There were no worries or fears. No one worried about not being liked. Everyone considered everyone else as being
incomparably unique. For on Mother Earth
everyone knew they looked different but it did not matter. No one cared.
For each of them knew, they were all family. Everyone knew they were a spark of the Great
Spirit, and everything they needed would always be provided for them. Provided of course, if what they wanted
harmed no one or thing. All they had to
do was ask and trust that sometimes what they wanted would come through pathways
they had not considered. They also knew
that they could not force the manifestation of their desires. For under the Law of Allowing they understood
that when they focused too hard on what they wanted they pushed it away. So sometimes it was best to ask and then
detach from their request.
Well
as you can see, in those days, life on Mother Earth was quite first-class. Happiness filled the air. Everyone was accepted as they were which
meant that there was never any fighting on Mother Earth. In fact, the word fighting did not even
exist. If there ever was a problem, and
they always looked at problems as challenges, the solution was always for the
good of the whole. Love had the final
say. They would actually ask, ‘What
would love do?’ In asking this one question, they always discovered the
answer.
It
came to pass that things changed with the arrival of the evil ones, known in
Ojibway as the Sassagis, to Mother Earth.
With the Sassagis love would not be considered. The Sassagis were known throughout the
Universe as the evil mean-ones, and the night they arrived, well let us just
say, Mother Earth lost a lot of her light.
Things would never be the same.
The old ancient laws got forgotten.
The Spirits of Mother Earth forgot who they were and started believing
the propaganda and stories of the Sassagis.
It
all started one fateful night long ago.
You see the Sassagis lived out on the outskirts of the Universe and had
been put there because they were a part of the Great Spirit that he had not
been too thrilled about. He actually
created their own planet, and because of their propensity to unscrupulous
living they had caused much damage to their own planet. Anyway the Sassagis had heard about Mother
Earth and being the greedy spirits that they were, made their way to reap some of
the benefits of the most beautiful planet in the universe. So on that fateful night a long, long time
ago, the Sassagis landed on Mother Earth.
It had been a long and difficult journey for the Sassagis, but they were
a very determined bunch, and somehow, no one will ever understand how, they
arrived on Mother Earth.
Since
they had been traveling a long, long time, and had stopped in at a few other
planets on their way, they had gotten in the custom of arriving in the darkness
of the night. They certainly caused a
great uproar on Mother Earth with their night time arrival. The people on Mother Earth had never felt
anything like it. It was worse than an
earthquake. The clamor of the Sassagis’
club-like feet pounding on Mother Earth shook the ones who lived on land from
their beds, and it rippled out to the oceans creating a tsunami that whipped
the mermaids, seahorses and dolphins out of their beds. It was the first time the people on Mother
Earth had ever felt fear, and it would not be the last.
Now,
let me tell you a little bit about the Sassagis. They were ghastly looking ogres with
personalities that matched their looks.
They had two stubby horns that stuck out of their heads, and a black eye
sat in the middle of their forehead. It
would eerily roam from side to side.
Their noses were smudged into their faces, and they had a permanent
snarl painted across their lips. Even if
they tried they would never be able to smile.
Their bodies were covered with long strands of dirty, black hair, and
little bugs shaped like dollar signs flittered about them. They were not very graceful. You certainly would not see them in dance
class. Their monstrous hairy club feet
lumbered out in front of them as they marched along snorting and spitting green
pools of slime. It was said, ‘Where the
Sassagis goes, nothing grows’. It was
true. Many of the planets they visited
on their journey to Mother Earth had suffered irreparable damage, and now all
that was beautiful on Mother Earth was threatened. Where the Sassagis went everything was
flattened and trampled, and sealed with green slime which hardened and
blackened with time.
