Earth and Spirit

Liberating Wings

Rev. LoraKim Joyner, D.V.M.

They who bind to themselves a joy
Do the winged life destroy
But they who kiss the joy as it flies
Live in eternity's sunrise
- Adapted from William Blake

Once upon a time there was a great FireBird called Phoenix. Year after year as she flew all over the earth she witnessed the toils and troubles of humans, and became increasingly sad. Eventually, the burden of what she saw tired her, and her feathers became dull. Using the last of her strength, she gathered twigs and leaves to build a soft mound upon which to lie. Human peoples gathered round her, first confused, and then afraid because Phoenix's brother, Thunderbird, began to rumble. The despair of one so beautiful angered him, and his rage lit the sky with lightening. One bolt struck her tinder-ready bed, and she was consumed in flames. Out of the cooling ashes a fresh rainbow head emerged, and the people rejoiced to see their winged hope alive once again. The people felt that they too had come through the fire of desire, but the fledgling FireBird knew better. The humans did not yet know what it meant to give of one's self so hope could be born.

The people not only continued, but increased their devastation of one another and their brother and sister beings. Each succeeding generation of the Phoenix died younger, because the Great Bird could only carry the burden of so much suffering and loss in one lifetime. One day so greatly had the climate changed that the Phoenix no longer had to build her own funeral pyre or Thunderbird to light it. She simply burned while she flew through the gray skies full of the ash of the burning lands below, consumed by human desire. In that not so distant time, the ashes of life constantly fell and never cooled, and there never was seen another Phoenix that could love, care, and hold beauty and tragedy together. The people fell into despair.

I have fallen into despair. My first trip to Guatemala witnessed the burning of old growth tropical forest and with it acres of nesting trees in the southern farmlands. Even after years of conservation efforts in the burning fields there, the losses continued as field upon field of sugar cane supplanted the food, nesting, and roosting trees of generations of wild parrots. To harvest sugar cane the fields are first fired and the ashes rain down as "nieve negra" (black snow). Now the pristine north forests of Guatemala are aflame, endangering the remaining 200 Scarlet Macaws. This rainbow colored bird once flew throughout Guatemala in the tens of thousands and now there is but a remnant, waiting, waiting for new life and hope to emerge.

As avian veterinarian and minister, I have been waiting. Time and time again I've seen hope go up in flames, ever expecting some new idea or project to arise and illuminate what we might do to save ourselves and the life around us. Though it seems we are in darkness, not all is lost. Sparks exists in each of us that if kindled and cared for, may provide enough light to lead us out of the darkness that is our brokeness and our disconnection from the whole of nature. To walk this path, I believe the time has come, must come, for humans to be FireBirds themselves, envisioning a new way. This new way shines in the story of Tsesuna, a FireBird of the Abenaki tribe of North America.

Tsesuna the Raven was the son of Thunderbird. He had beautiful feathers that shone with all the colors of the rainbow. As he flew over earth, he sought light, for the world and its peoples lived in perpetual dark. One day he came upon the Fire of Life. He jumped into the hot fire to secure one brand for the people. All his feathers were burned black and his voice, once melodic, became only a harsh croak. Tsesuna gave the fire to the people, who in turn carried it throughout the earth, no longer waiting for light, but singing.

May we each listen to the singing of earth's beings so that we grow the courage to jump into the fire of interconnection. Our ego may then be as ashes at our feet as we spread our wings to hold all that we may. Healing bathes us in joyful light as we act from the deep knowing that the fate of one is the fate of all, and that we can live as one people and as one earth. Then in some not so distant time, I pray, the promise of life will arc over us as rainbow wings, and with the birds we shall fly free.


Reflection Questions
1. Where have you "fallen into despair" over the plight of earth and her beings?
2. What "lifts you up," if anything, and offers you a sense of hope, compassion, interconnection, or unity?
3. What would you do to help our beloved earth if you had enough courage, or less ego?

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