A STORY FROM THE AGES
Imagine riding on the back of a great raptor as it soars through an angry storm of billowing clouds and piercing rain. Up and down, over and around hills and valleys, it bursts through the fog and wind. Your hair is plastered back, you cannot open your physical eyes, yet you believe in the strength of those wings to carry you to the sunshine, and a grassy meadow… Oh, to have such belief and faith!
We marvel at the great feats some people achieve. We watch a video of a brave encounter and it gives us pause. We are awed by the courageous efforts of a life-saving hero. We wonder “how” they rise to their purpose, and if we could…
“Believing” in something greater than ourselves is sometimes missing from our story of life. It’s easy to admire others for their belief. But, how do we remember when we are in the midst of a life-altering experience?
Sacajawea was human and no different from us. Yet she had respect for creation and belief in the strength of her inner spirit, as she was taught by her Shoshone people.
Scene description from the screenplay Sacajawea, The Windcatcher — Boinair (Sacajawea) is 12-years old and has been brutally kidnapped from her family. She and other children are forced to make the long trek by foot from Three Forks, Montana, to the Hidatsa village in North Dakota. Along the way, Boinair is distraught at the loss of loved ones in the attack – she worries about the fate of her mother. Though heartache shrouds the scene, it is on this path that we see her powerful and mystical communion with Nature’s “winged messenger,” her spirit guide, the Great Eagle.
The Hidatsa are in awe and respectful of the Spirit of Nature through this event, and Boinair receives a sacred gift from her captors – something we remember, to this day…
In her story, we learn that even though Sacajawea had difficult circumstances and great sadness in her life, this young mother chose the ways of her people and the wisdom from her Ancestors. Sacajawea believed in her spirit guide, and the eagle came to her. With deep respect for the sanctity of Native American spirituality, this story presents a message of strength. Through Indigenous wisdom it calls to all people to believe, to ride through the “storms” by listening to their spiritual self and awakening to their innate power within.
Sacajawea’s mystical experience and the powerful impact it had on her kidnappers, beautifully depicts Nature communicating with us, through the matrix of Creation.
And it is through that experience that Boinair received the gift we remember – her name, “Bird Woman” Sacag(j)awea. From that moment her life changed, and her destiny was defined. Her journey proves how we are cared for and shown the way. But we must call to our spirit guide within. We must listen. We must believe and choose to soar toward the light and trust the eagle’s wings, no matter what the circumstances. This is the Warrior Woman Spirit.
ONWARD!
Spirit Wind
~ Descriptions and content from Sacajawea, The Windcatcher, are protected under a copyright from the U.S. Copyright Office and the Writer’s Guild of America/west.
Changing the World! 