THE SASSAGIS (A parable-Where evil, mean people come from)

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.

To add injury to insult, the Sassagis were not kind beings.  Actually, they were downright miserable and mean.  Oh sure in the beginning they were a friendly bunch but as time went on they changed.  Their true colours began to surface and they started taking over everything.  They took over the land and houses.  They began telling the original inhabitants of Mother Earth what they were to believe.  They were actually very mean and did not believe in love or kindness.  There only concern was collecting these strange little pieces of paper which, they stated, were the official currency of Mother Earth.  Some say the reason for their meanness was the small size of their hearts.  They had big heads but small hearts which meant they could not be all that lovable. 

Well one of the ways the Sassagis loved to get their way was by using fear, and the more the people of Mother Earth feared them, the more power they ceded to the Sassagis.  Knowing this only made the Sassagis use fear even more.  They would continually taunt and bully the poor people of Mother Earth.  The Sassagis also believed that it was alright to trample all the forests, and throw garbage in the waters.  They believed the people of Mother Earth were indebted to them for their arrival.  They really liked things to be gloomy.  In the darkness of the evening, they would merrily stomp through the flower patches and lush forests spitting globs of their green slime which hardened and blackened with time.  And as each day went by Mother Earth got darker and sadder. 

Trying always to come from their hearts, the people of Mother Earth tried in vain to respect the Sassagis’ ways, but the more they tried, the worse things got.  The people tried to be friends with them, but the Sassagis were not interested in sharing or being friends.  ‘All for me.’ was the Sassagis’ motto.  They were only interested in taking over Mother Earth, and making her look like their homeland way out in space.  That homeland was void of color, and being so miserable all the time made their planet a really sad place.  They actually liked it that way, but they had also heard about Mother Earth’s treasures and beauty, and they wanted to find out if the stories were true.  Could there actually be a planet filled with so much love?

So, the more the people of Mother Earth tried to be friends with the Sassagis, the more the Sassagis bullied them.  Bullying was something the people of Mother Earth had never come across.  Things were supposed to be settled through love not through anger and meanness.  Yet, the more the Sassagis bullied, the more fear filled the air, and since the Sassagis liked using fear, the more powerful they became.  As time went on, the people of Mother Earth started hiding in their homes, and, seeing an opportunity, the Sassagis moved in to take control of things. 

They began making lots of rules, and giving lots of orders.  One of their first rules was that all meetings should be held at midnight.  You see, the Sassagis never liked the light of Grandfather Sun.  Some say, it was because Grandfather Sun melted some of their meanness.  The meetings were never fun and usually ended with the Sassagis spitting green slime everywhere.  Some of Mother Earth’s people did attend the meetings for a while, but they ended up agreeing with the things the Sassagis had decreed just because they were afraid.  The Sassagis always made it a point of intimidating the people, and since many of the people were a lot smaller, they always backed down.  They forgot about the power they had within. 

It was most unfortunate that all the people of Mother Earth stopped going to those meetings, because, one morning they awoke to discover that the Sassagis had posted a whole new set of rules on the trees. 

Notice to the Citizens of Mother Earth

We the Sassagis, rulers of Mother Earth do hereby decree the following rules to all the citizens:

1: No more smiling or laughing from eight o’clock in the morning to six o’clock in the evening.

2: No going out in Grandfather Sun’s light until after four o’clock.

3: No singing.

There will be punishment for any citizen who breaks these rules.

Signed, The Sassagis

Life was no longer filled with happiness for all of the people of Mother Earth.  Instead, they lived in constant fear that the Sassagis would hurt them.  They also began to doubt themselves.  As ridiculous as they knew the rules to be, as citizens they followed them.  They stopped smiling and laughing.  They forgot about their power.  Instead, they started worrying about how they were going to avoid the Sassagis.  They were living in fear that the Sassagis might hurt them.  There was so much fear about the Sassagis that whenever they were out with others, they would spend all their time talking about how scared they were of the Sassagis. 

Well, they say that if you think about or talk about something long enough it will come to pass.  So, with the citizens of Mother Earth continually talking about their fears, the Sassagis did indeed start to hurt the citizens of Mother Earth.  They started issuing harsher punishments to anyone who broke their rules.  Bullies do those sorts of things, and because no one will stand up to them, they get away with it.  Many of the fairies had their wings pulled off losing much of their power.  Some of the mermaids had their hair cut off, and becoming prisoners of the land.  The unicorns were also met with ruthless punishments.  Many had their horns ripped right off their heads.  Everyone was so consumed with fear that they began hiding in their homes.

Happiness had turned to sadness on Mother Earth.  Rainbows no longer filled Father Sky.  Dark clouds blocked out Grandfather Sun’s light.  The flowers had all been trampled to the ground, and gone were the fresh smells of flowers that had filled the air.  The lush forests were no more and became open spaces of cindered trees.  The waters were filled with trash.  Everything was covered with green slime that hardened and blackened with time.  With laughter and happiness outlawed, and their environment destroyed, the citizens of Mother Earth were forced to move into cold, concrete cities.  With no light from Grandfather Sun, the days got colder and everyday and in every way, the light around Mother Earth got darker and darker.

Well, the Great Spirit was watching how things on Mother Earth were progressing, and he was not very pleased.  He was not happy that the Sassagis had made their way to Mother Earth.  It was not part of his original plan.  He had created a planet specifically for them, and he had thought since he had put it far out at the edge of the universe, they would never find their way to Mother Earth.  He was wrong.  The Sassagis never did listen to the Great Spirit.  Always did what they wanted without any consideration of their actions.  They proved to be the dark side always set on destroying things. 

Now as the Great Spirit looked down upon Mother Earth he felt a deep sadness.  His gift to the Mother of Creation was slowly being destroyed and he really had no idea what he was going to do.  He also could not let the Mother of Creation know what was going on.  It would break her heart.  He had to think of something to do and he had to come up with an idea fast.  The Sassagis had destroyed much of Mother Earth, and as much as he wanted to swoop down and punish them, he knew he could not.  You see, a long, long time ago when the spirits were still young, they complained to the Great Spirit that they did not have enough freedom to be themselves.  The Great Spirit had suspected that the Sassagis had put the rest of the spirits up to it, but, he decided to take it under consideration.  So, he thought about it for quite some time, and decided he would give all the spirits ‘free will’ to make their own choices without his interference.  So now with the situation such that it was on Mother Earth, the Great Spirit could not intervene directly.  The spirits all had ‘free will’, and they could make choices about their situations.  He could however do something indirectly to get the people of Mother Earth to stop thinking about that which they feared.  For as long as they allowed the Sassagis to have their way with fear, they would take advantage of the people of Mother Earth.  The Great Spirit sat back and thought about the situation.  How was he going to get the people of Mother Earth to change their thinking?

He thought about it for what seemed to be a long time.  He could not exactly meddle in the situation directly.  He had given his word to all the spirits, and ‘free will’ was working well on the other planets.  How was he going to do this without interfering? He came upon an ingenious idea.  He could send some reinforcements to remind the people of Mother Earth of their power.  That way he would not be interfering directly.  With that he summoned into his Great Hall, some of his Angels, Wise Ones, High Priestesses, Sorcerers, Wizards, Shamans, Star People, Grand Masters and Witches.  They sat around the grand circular table for what seemed like two Earth years.  You see, in the world of spirit there is really no such thing as time. 

After much debate, it was decided that an advance team of Angels would go to Mother Earth to remind the people that they were safe and protected, and to let go of their fear, doubt and worry.  Since the Wise Ones, Grand Masters, Star People and Wizards were such great change-of-shape artists; they would mingle with the people of Mother Earth and help them remember the power in their thinking.  They would also start breaking all of the Sassagis’ ridiculous rules.  The first to go would be the no smiling or laughter.  The team of Sorcerers, Witches and Shamans would work together to develop a spell to cancel the damage done to Mother Earth by the Sassagis and restore her to her initial beauty.  They would also find a potion and spell to not only vanquish and send the Sassagis back to their planet but they would bind them to that planet.  No simple task.  If the potion and spell were off in the slightest, there could be negative consequences for generations.  The Great Spirit’s team had their work cut out for them. 

So after much preparation, the Great Spirit’s team set off to complete their parts of the plan to restore Mother Earth.  Within days, the citizens of Mother Earth started whispering about seeing and hearing angels.  Angels that were telling them to change their focus away from fear since it all starts with a change in thinking.  The citizens of Mother Earth got really excited, but since happiness and smiling were outlawed by the Sassagis they hid their excitement.  They swallowed their smiles.  Should the Sassagis find out about the Angels, they would be most upset, and when they were really upset, they were downright mean and nasty. 

Well time went by on Mother Earth, and on the surface of things, superficially, not much really changed.  The citizens on Mother Earth tried to change their thinking and it worked a bit but then there were setbacks and they lost some of their optimism.  It had been centuries that all this had been going on, and they were feeling rather downtrodden and hopeless.  Every day they wished the Sassagis would not bother them, and everyday their wishes did not come true.  They were beginning to think the Angels had abandoned them, and they were alone in this battle.  The citizens of Mother Earth were so busy worrying about being hurt by the Sassagis; most did not notice the new citizens moving in around them.  Until it happened on one fateful afternoon some of the new neighbors were heard laughing and singing out on the streets at two o’clock in the afternoon.  The sound of laughter echoed off the concrete walls and made it sound like there were thousands of citizens singing and laughing. 

Now, it had been years since anyone had heard the sweet sound of laughter on Mother Earth, and the sound caused quite a commotion.  No one really knew what to do.  The laughter was such engaging music to the ears of the citizens of Mother Earth.  But they knew what might happen if they joined into the laughter and singing.  The Sassagis might find them and put them into the gloomy, black dungeons they had built.  Anyone who disobeyed the rules ended up there, and they were not pleasant.  There was no freedom anymore on Mother Earth.  By all accounts if you were in the concrete cities or dungeons, you were still in prison.  Yet the sound of that laughter and singing brought strong stirrings in their hearts. 

Well the sweet, sound of laughter vibrated out, and could not help but stir in the hearts of the citizens of Mother Earth.  Many started to smile, but, when they heard the thunderous sounds of the Sassagis clumsy feet lumbering toward the sound of the laughter, they quickly wiped the smiles off their faces.  Once again they swallowed their smiles.  The smiles may have been off their faces, but inside they felt a warm glow in their heart, as they heard the repeated whisperings of the Angels telling them to trust and let go.  At this point, many of the citizens of Mother Earth started to come out of their homes.  As they peered up into Father Sky, a small crack of light pierced through the gray clouds.  After centuries of living under this gloom, Grandfather Sun was melting away the darkness.  The citizens of Mother Earth knew it was time to take back the Earth. 

In the meantime, the Sassagis were running toward the sound of the laughter and singing.  The sound of the laughter was not music to their ears.  The song being sung was so grinding to the Sassagis.  ‘Catch us if you can.  Our song will never end.  Catch us if you can.  Ha! Ha! Ha! Our song will never end!’ On and on and on it went.  To the Sassagis it was like fingernails running down a chalkboard.  They hated the sound of laughter and singing more than anything else in the universe.  It sent shivers down their crooked spines, and made their dark hair stand on end.  It was quite funny to see them in that shape.  Well the Sassagis were having a terrible time trying to catch the elusive laughter and singing.  It seemed that whenever they finally made it to where they thought the laughter and singing was coming from, they heard it from another place.  The laughter and singing were moving at incredible speeds.  Now, the Sassagis were not especially pleased about this, and could not understand what was going on.  Laughter and singing had been outlawed a long time ago.  Now, hundreds of years later there was never-ending laughter and singing.  They just could not understand where it could be coming from since there was no place to hide on Mother Earth.  Under the Sassagis’ rule, there were no more forests anymore.  There was only blackened tar.  After years of the Sassagis snorting green slime everywhere, not much grew on Mother Earth. 

So, the Sassagis chased after the laughter for a long time.  On and on the Sassagis ran.  Almost looked like a dog chasing its tail.  After some time, you could say the Sassagis became obsessed with the fleeing laughter, and like the citizens of Mother Earth, they forgot about the power of their thoughts.  They kept telling themselves that someday, one day they would capture the laughter, and silence it.  But it was never to be.  Using the words ‘someday’ or ‘one day’ always results in nothing.  It shall always mean tomorrow and there is no tomorrow.  There is only today.  So, the Sassagis chased the laughter and singing all over Mother Earth.  They could not capture that laughter and song, because it was always two steps ahead of them singing: ‘Catch us if you can.  Our song will never end.  Catch us if you can.  Ha! Ha! Ha! Our song will never end!’

Meanwhile back at the concrete cities things were beginning to change.  With the Sassagis’ legions of armies off chasing the laughter, the citizens of Mother Earth began to enjoy some of their new found freedom.  The Wise Ones, Grand Masters, Star People and Wizards that had come to live among them began persuading more and more of the people of Mother Earth to venture out beyond the walls of the cities.  Slowly, the people of Mother Earth stepped through the gateway, and as each did, they discovered how much damage the Sassagis had done to the forests and waters of Mother Earth.  There was lots of garbage strewn everywhere.  Mother Earth looked worse than a garbage dump. 

As the people of Mother Earth walked along the pathways leading out to what used to be the forests, they looked around in horror.  Where once trees and flowers grew, there were only cindered trees and ashes.  There was no colour.  Mother Earth’s majestic waters were filled with the Sassagis’ green slime some of which, over time, had not yet fully hardened.  As the people of Mother Earth looked around, a feeling of helplessness filled their beings. 

They had no idea where to begin to heal Mother Earth to her earlier beauty, or even if they could.  Just as they started to cry, Grandfather Sun’s light pierced through Father Sky revealing a tiny rainbow.  It was a sign of hope for the people of Mother Earth. 

Now as the people of Mother Earth were figuring out where to begin repairing things, the Sassagis’ armies were still chasing after the laughter.  They ran all over Mother Earth, and green slime was flying everywhere.  After about ten times around Mother Earth, the Sassagis were quite exhausted, and very angry.  Many of them just collapsed on the ground.  It was now potion time.  At that moment, the Great Spirit’s team stepped out from behind a large curtain, and just as the Sassagis lunged at the team, the Sorcerers, Witches and Shamans swooped down and threw a vanquishing formula at the Sassagis, which would send them back to their planet for good. 

With the Sassagis vanquished, the Sorcerers, Witches and Shamans quickly formed a circle, and began to cast a magic spell to return Mother Earth to her previous beauty.  There was only one problem.  In their haste to cast their spell they did not notice that a few of the Sassagis had managed to remain behind.  That was most unfortunate, since it weakened the power of the spell and only restored Mother Earth to 99% of her beauty. 

Now the Great Spirit’s team of reinforcements could have gone after those few Sassagis but after a bit of discussion it was decided to let them remain on Mother Earth.  It was decided that because of ‘free will’ it was important that the people of Mother Earth see living examples of what they do not want to become. 

Those few Sassagis reproduced and multiplied, as did all spirits.  So that is why we have some mean, miserable people on Mother Earth today.  They provide you with contrast and give the opportunity to see that you always have a choice.  You have free will.  You have the power to make your life miserable or happy.  The power resides in your choice.