I went to the cave and tended my fire on the ledge. As I stare into the flames, a song rises within my heart. It grows stronger and stronger until I stand facing out with my arms raised. I sing "Hear, Winged Man comes. I come seeking visions. Hear, Winged Man comes. I come seeking wisdom." After singing this for awhile, I turn and enter the cave.
I sit in my circle of light and wait. Finally, after a long time of silence, I feel my spirit drawn upward like a wisp of smoke, and float through the hole in the ceiling of the cave. My spirit flies swiftly Southeast and I find myself on a beach by the ocean. The sky is overcast with clouds and gray, and the sea is choppy.
As I stare over the water, a Whale breaches and returns to the water with a loud splash. Whale stares at me with one kindly eye, and I wade into the water and shift to Dolphin. Together we swim, and I play at diving and splashing, and learning how to breathe through my blow hole. Finally, Whale tells me to take a deep breath, and we dive down to the ocean floor. I ask Whale what it is he wants to show me, and he says that I am here to explore. I swim along the bottom and notice a small cave. Whale tells me to go into the cave alone, for he is too big and won't fit.
I swim through and find myself coming to the surface of a different ocean. I see the shore of an island nearby and swim to it. I shift to Winged Man and wade ashore. I notice that the island is tropical, and there is a small monkey sitting in a tree staring at me. He begins to scold me with loud screeches, and throws rocks at me. I shift to Monkey form and climb the tree to chase him. We swing and jump from tree to tree, chasing each other. I find a large nut with a strong husk, and sit on a branch to open it. Monkey sat next to me, curious. I gave him the nut and he ate it gladly. He climbed down the tree and asked me to follow him.
When I got to the ground, I became Winged Man again. The monkey showed me a path through the jungle that I had not seen before. Monkey led me down the path to where there was a small pool of water, and then left down the path again. I notice that the pool was a spring. The water was contained by large boulders that had tumbled from the slope above it, forming a circle.
I sat atop one of the rocks so that I could sit and stare into the pool. There were many flowers growing there and they were reflected in the still water. I tried to see my reflection, but each time I tried to see my face, the water rippled and would not let me see. For a long time I gazed into the water seeking a vision, but nothing came.
I took a pinch of tobacco from my medicine bag and sprinkled it over the surface of the water, asking for a vision. The flakes of tobacco all moved to the sides of the pool as though drawn by a magnet. As soon as they reached the sides of the pool, they immediately sprouted into large, leafy tobacco plants. By this I was shown that this was not a vision spring, but a healing spring, a spring to renew life.
I cupped my hands to into the water to drink. When my hands were placed in the water, I saw that my left hand was healthy and whole, but my right hand became skeletal. I knew that the spring was reminding me of how life and death are linked, and one is a part of the other. I brought the water to my lips and drank. The water was cool and sweet, and sent a tingling sensation of cleansing throughout my body. I filled a small leather flask with the water and put it in my Medicine Bag.
From the Medicine Bag, I withdrew a rose. It was deep red, and without a flaw. I tossed the rose into the spring as an offering of thanks. The rose moved to the side and blossomed into a beautiful rose bush with many different colored flowers. I climbed off the rock and prepared to leave. As I was about to go, I saw a beautiful woman dressed in white, standing on a rock above the spring. She smiled at me and raised an arm in farewell. I raised my arm as well, and returned down the path.
I saw monkey waiting for me at the end of the path, so I spread my wings and flew to the top of a large banana tree. I brought Monkey a large group of ripe bananas as a thank you gift for showing me the spring. Monkey grabbed the bananas and pulled himself up to a high branch to eat them. He chattered a happy goodbye to me.
I waded into the water and shifted to Dolphin. I found the cave passage on the bottom of the sea, and swam through to find Whale waiting patiently for me. Whale brought me to the surface, and I noticed that the water of the ocean had calmed, and the sun was beginning to shine through the clouds. Whale offered to give me a ride to shore, so I shifted to Winged Man, and gently climbed on Whale's back. He brought me back to the beach, and I thanked him with my heart, for I had no gift to give him.
Once on the beach, I again became a wisp of smoke and floated into the sky. I drifted up and became a cloud, floating with the breeze. The Cloud people brought me back to the cave where I shifted back to Winged Man and flew to the ledge. I tended my fire and contemplated what I had experienced.
The journey ended.
~Flame RavenHawk