measured_words (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
measured_words) wrote2007-09-08 12:09 pm
measured_words) wrote2007-09-08 12:09 pm
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Ellen's Wisdom
So, this probably requires a little bit of explanation. Once upon a time I used to be a member of ther Camarilla, a White Wolf larp fanclub kind of deal. This was old school World of Darkness era. One of the local games was live action Werewolf game. I played an Uktena kinfolk hedge witch. She was very much based on me in some ways - she was an anthropoliogy graduate studuent who was interestd in pagan movements. She might have been a little bit 'Mary Sue' in that sense, except that the way in which she was set apart from everyone made her a second class citizen who was less powerful than everyone else and who was disqualified from interacting in most of the ongoing plots ;) Anyway. The scenario described in the beginning of this piece was something that came across one of the mailing lists, and this is always how I/Ellen felt about it. Not that she ever got to meet any Elders, or that they would have ever listened to her. Anyway, I don't know why I was thinking about it this morning, but it woke me up so I figured I might as well put it on 'paper' :)
Ellen's Wisdom
“Speak, kinswoman. I see that you have a weight on your mind.”
Ellen bowed her head, respectfully averting her gaze from the other woman’s face.
“Revered Elder. I am honoured that you would speak to me, but you’re right. I have long heard of your wisdom among, even beyond, our tribe, and there’s a tale that troubles me.” The Elder made no reply, and after a moment, she continued. “Some years ago, there was another born under the sign of the crescent moon who came to you and your council, wishing to increase her prestige and rank so that she might sit with you as an equal. You set her many tasks and tests which she completed and now she herself is considered an elder of some wisdom. But there is one test which, I admit, left me unsatisfied.”
Still no response, though Ellen could feel the older woman’s scrutinizing gaze. She fought the impulse to look up and try read her expression. The interaction had taken on strong formal overtones that she hadn’t intended, and it would be disrespectful. Ellen also knew that she would find little insight or guidance there. She had cast the runes, and now must see how they would fall.
“It is the river test. You took her to a river and gave her some time to change its course. A month or a week, I don’t remember. She called on the power of the spirits to help her to move rock and earth, to make a small bypass, and dammed the water into its new course. Though this showed her ability to convince and cajole the spirits to help her, and showed that she understands the feats of engineering required to move a river, the physicality of her solution that feels wrong. It seemed a careless thing to do, though I don’t mean to disrespect our elders. Humanity has been quick in recent times to build dams, alter the landscape in such ways to harness their power, changing whole ecosystems without considering their impact. The Aswan dam in Egypt is strong an example of this, but it is not the only one. Perhaps the consideration of consequence was simply not part of the tale which reached me.
“But what is change? What is the course of a river? These are questions that occurred to me when I heard of the challenge. If I look at a river, I see it flow from left to right. If I cross it, and look again, it now flows from right to left. My perception of the world has changed: I see new and different things from where I stood before.
“A river is a dynamic living thing. Some creation tales claim that rivers were once great snakes that writhed across the face of the earth before they were fixed in place. In places you can see how they have changed their own courses over time, but in truth this still happens. The world is not in stasis – no change, great or small, is permanent. A flood will come and overspill the banks. Over thousands of years, a river might drift in an open plain, sliding like a snake across the landscape. It will cut deeper and deeper in its passage through a canyon. It will grind down the boulders that lie in its past, worming its way past them and spilling in to new place. Animals other than humans can change rivers as well, and the scale of change doesn’t need to be so drastic.
Since no change is permanent, then scale becomes irrelevant. If I stand in a river, it must flow around me as though I were a mountain.
“This is what came to mind when I heard of this challenge – that it should be a test of how one understand the world and our place in it. How we understand our relationship with Gaia. How we think and perceive, and understand the nature of change and of perception itself. This is what has troubled me.”
Ellen kept her head down, waiting to hear the elder’s response, or judgement for her impertinence.
“Look at me, kinswoman.” Her discerning brown eyes gleamed sharply, but she wore a slight smile across her lips. Wisps of white hair, escaped from her long braid helped to soften the sharpness of her features. “I will remember your words, Ellen Christopher, and your name. Go, and may the spirits guide you.”
Ellen's Wisdom
“Speak, kinswoman. I see that you have a weight on your mind.”
Ellen bowed her head, respectfully averting her gaze from the other woman’s face.
“Revered Elder. I am honoured that you would speak to me, but you’re right. I have long heard of your wisdom among, even beyond, our tribe, and there’s a tale that troubles me.” The Elder made no reply, and after a moment, she continued. “Some years ago, there was another born under the sign of the crescent moon who came to you and your council, wishing to increase her prestige and rank so that she might sit with you as an equal. You set her many tasks and tests which she completed and now she herself is considered an elder of some wisdom. But there is one test which, I admit, left me unsatisfied.”
Still no response, though Ellen could feel the older woman’s scrutinizing gaze. She fought the impulse to look up and try read her expression. The interaction had taken on strong formal overtones that she hadn’t intended, and it would be disrespectful. Ellen also knew that she would find little insight or guidance there. She had cast the runes, and now must see how they would fall.
“It is the river test. You took her to a river and gave her some time to change its course. A month or a week, I don’t remember. She called on the power of the spirits to help her to move rock and earth, to make a small bypass, and dammed the water into its new course. Though this showed her ability to convince and cajole the spirits to help her, and showed that she understands the feats of engineering required to move a river, the physicality of her solution that feels wrong. It seemed a careless thing to do, though I don’t mean to disrespect our elders. Humanity has been quick in recent times to build dams, alter the landscape in such ways to harness their power, changing whole ecosystems without considering their impact. The Aswan dam in Egypt is strong an example of this, but it is not the only one. Perhaps the consideration of consequence was simply not part of the tale which reached me.
“But what is change? What is the course of a river? These are questions that occurred to me when I heard of the challenge. If I look at a river, I see it flow from left to right. If I cross it, and look again, it now flows from right to left. My perception of the world has changed: I see new and different things from where I stood before.
“A river is a dynamic living thing. Some creation tales claim that rivers were once great snakes that writhed across the face of the earth before they were fixed in place. In places you can see how they have changed their own courses over time, but in truth this still happens. The world is not in stasis – no change, great or small, is permanent. A flood will come and overspill the banks. Over thousands of years, a river might drift in an open plain, sliding like a snake across the landscape. It will cut deeper and deeper in its passage through a canyon. It will grind down the boulders that lie in its past, worming its way past them and spilling in to new place. Animals other than humans can change rivers as well, and the scale of change doesn’t need to be so drastic.
Since no change is permanent, then scale becomes irrelevant. If I stand in a river, it must flow around me as though I were a mountain.
“This is what came to mind when I heard of this challenge – that it should be a test of how one understand the world and our place in it. How we understand our relationship with Gaia. How we think and perceive, and understand the nature of change and of perception itself. This is what has troubled me.”
Ellen kept her head down, waiting to hear the elder’s response, or judgement for her impertinence.
“Look at me, kinswoman.” Her discerning brown eyes gleamed sharply, but she wore a slight smile across her lips. Wisps of white hair, escaped from her long braid helped to soften the sharpness of her features. “I will remember your words, Ellen Christopher, and your name. Go, and may the spirits guide you.”