Starseed Evolution with Shannon Sullivan
Join me on this star-filled adventure as we raise our vibration to uplift our human selves through spiritual direction, Reiki, ceremony, mantras, guided meditation and stories for the soul. Thank you for joining me on this cosmic adventure!
Starseed Evolution with Shannon Sullivan
Starseed Evolution: Raven! The Cosmic Trickster
What happens when all light disappears from the world? Ancient wisdom holds profound answers that still resonate today.
Shannon guides us through a powerful exploration of light in all its dimensions – from the physical illumination that brightens our homes to the celestial bodies overhead and finally to the spiritual light that guides our souls through darkness. At the heart of this episode lies a captivating creation story from the Haida people of the Pacific Northwest, where Raven – the beloved trickster figure – embarks on a challenging quest to recover the sun, moon, and stars after they've been stolen by a greedy old man.
This isn't merely an ancient tale but a metaphor for our own journeys through darkness and light. As Raven's brilliant white feathers transform to midnight black through his sacrifice to return the sun to the sky, we discover how our own challenges can permanently change us while enabling us to bring illumination to others. Through Shannon's gentle guidance, we're invited to reflect on four powerful questions: Who brings light to your life? Who do you bring light to? What steals your light? And perhaps most importantly, how do you reclaim it?
Links:
Artful Touch Therapies – my professional website
https://www.artfultouchbyshannon.com/
Shannon Sullivan, International Meditation Teacher on Insight Timer
(Download Insight Timer app. Then click link to my teacher page)
Link Tree Information:
https://www.linktr.ee/silverlunastarseed
10 Day Course for Empaths and Highly Sensitive People
Blue Heron Creates
This is my music artist name where I share mantras and original songs from many different faith traditions.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4I0l8GxlFZ0dD5acKgsabs?si=hVSjJSt7Quudh0-yGBQEBg
Silver Luna Starseed Instagram Feed:
https://instagram.com/silverlunastarseed
Indie Music Box – Chris Collins
Hi, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Shannon and this is Starseed Evolution, bringing the wisdom and insight of the cosmos to you. I'm grateful that you're listening. Today we will look at what light represents in our life, how it's created, and dive deeper into the stories of creation. The act of creation begins with both elements of darkness and of light. They require each other to make one another visible. When we reflect on the word light, it can conjure up images of so many different meanings. There is the light of our physical world, that which brightens our dark spaces, candles that flicker in the night, lanterns that guide our feet, electricity that light our world. There's also material light of our solar system, our sun, our moon, our stars, the light of the sun that grows our food and plants. And we also have spiritual light, that metaphor of light in the darkness. Who lights the world for us, our friends and family, our teachers, our spiritual leaders, those whom we learn from, that guide our soul in the night. As we reflect on all the Heda tradition of the Northwest peoples, there is a story that Raven is that which brings light, and this is Raven's story. As we move into the story of Raven, I'll open with this Celtic poem bringing light for our story, I arise today through the strength of heaven, light of sun, radiance of moon, radiance of moon, splendor of fire, speed of lightning, swiftness of wind, depth of sea, stability of earth and firmness of rock. We will honor this time of light now with the story of Raven.
Speaker 1:Raven and how he returned light to the world, a creation story adapted from the Haida Northwest First Nation peoples. When the world was created and the first people walked the land, there was one white raven who kept watch over them. Raven was as white as first fallen snow in winter, before any person or animal had walked upon it. Raven had a friend, white Buffalo. Raven would show White Buffalo where to go for food on the land because he could fly high into the sky and see great distances. In return, white Buffalo carried Raven upon his back. This kept Raven's feathers clean and shiny. Raven loved his people. They shared their food with him and Raven loved to eat. They shared juicy berries and fresh fish. Raven also loved the people because they laughed at all of his silly pranks. There was one occasion on a night when Raven tied all their shoelaces together while they slept and when they awoke in the morning to do their chores. They all fell over. That's how Raven earned his nickname Trickster Silly Raven. The people would laugh. They knew he loved playing games and Raven would call loudly in return to the people laughing at his jokes.
Speaker 1:One night, now known as the Night of the Long Dark, when all the people and animals slept, including Raven, a greedy old man who did not like sharing anything with anybody, snuck into the village and stole every piece of light he could find, tucking it into a box that he carried with him. He stole fire, he stole the moon, he stole the blanket of stars overhead that comforted the people. He even stole the sun so that it would not wake them up the next morning. The greedy old man limped off into the night without waking anyone up. He took his stolen box of light back to his cave where he lived all alone, which is just how he liked it. When he was safely in his cave, he took out the box and peeked inside there, all the light from the whole world was tucked safely away. Tucked safely away. He grinned happily, knowing that he now carried all the light from the whole world and it belonged to him For many days, which were as dark as the night, and for many nights, the people, when they finally awoke, cried If they had no light, how would they grow food?
Speaker 1:How would they live? With each passing dark day, the people grew more scared and fearful of every shadow and every person around them. No one laughed anymore, not even Raven, and when Raven stopped laughing he knew he had to do something to help. He had to go in search of the light. Raven said goodbye to Buffalo, his friend, and took to the sky his wings spreading out across the darkness. He looked like a white kite taking flight.
Speaker 1:Now there's something that you need to know about Raven. Raven loved shiny, bright objects, and there was nothing in the world more shiny and bright than the sun itself. As Raven rode the wind across the vast, chilled, midnight-colored land, he craned his neck left and right, looking for a sign, any sign that might show him which direction to go. That's when he spotted it a tiny yellow pinprick of light, and for one shiny minute he saw that light. This lifted Raven's curiosity. Could it be what he was in search of? And even though the bright speck of light disappeared, at least he knew which direction to travel. Every 12 hours, raven would see the light once more for one minute. And each time Raven grew closer, the light grew a little bit bigger, first the size of a dime, then the size of a quarter. Every twelve hours the greedy old man in the tiny cave would open the box holding the sun, the moon and the stars, and as he laughed happily, that guided Raven toward him. Each time the greedy man opened the box, the light would shine out into the darkness.
Speaker 1:Now, before we continue our story, there are two more things you should know about Raven. One, he is very intelligent. And two besides tricking people out of their food, he loves stealing shiny objects. These three loves his people, shiny objects and his brilliant mind. Raven found the cave where the greedy old man was staying. He waited and watched to see what the old man would do inside the cave.
Speaker 1:Soon, raven's patience paid off. He watched as the little old man moved a stone from in front of the wall, took out a small box. He watched as the old man moved a stone from in front of the wall, took out a small box. He watched as the old man opened the box and there the bright, shining light from the moon, stars and sun shone out. Raven counted, counted 60 seconds, that one full minute. And then the man closed the lid and put it back in the wall and moved the stone in front of it. Raven began to form a plan.
Speaker 1:There is just one more thing you should know about Raven. You should know about Raven. Raven has the gift of being able to shape his voice in the sound of those things that are around him. He can make the voice sound like that of the buffalo calling from the field. He can make his voice sound like a mourning dove or an eagle. He can make his voice sound like the people from the village. Raven knew enough words from his people that he was going to put his plan into action.
Speaker 1:When he was ready, raven perched himself outside the mouth of the cave behind a large rock and began to call into the night towards the cave. He called in the sound of the people from his village Come out now. We know you're in there. Raven cawed in the voice of First man. Raven cawed in the voice of first man. We know you stole our light. Raven cawed again in the voice of a second man. Give our light back to the world. Raven cawed in the voice of the first woman.
Speaker 1:The greedy old man inside the cave began to tremble and shake both with anger and with fright. How could they have found him? He couldn't imagine losing his precious light. He crept slowly to the mouth of the cave trying to see out into the night. But because it was so dark no moon, no stars and no sun the old man could see nothing. Raven smiled. The old man stepped a little bit past the entrance of the cave, looking for the people whose voices he heard.
Speaker 1:Raven took this moment to sneak past the man back into the cave. And Raven found the stone, moved it with his beak and pushed the box out of its hiding place. As the box toppled to the ground, it hit and the lid popped off. But when Raven looked back down at the box on the ground, all the light had left, except for the sun, which was too big to pop out of the box on its own. The sun was still stuck inside the little box. Afraid that the greedy old man would return, raven reached into the box with his beak and grabbed the sun. He pulled and pulled until it popped out.
Speaker 1:Just as the old man returned, raven flew past him and out of the cave. Although the heat from the sun in Raven's beak blazed, blazed. Raven dared not let go. He took flight into the sky. He flew upward so high. The longer that Raven held the sun, the darker his feathers became, singed by the heat, turning them from brown into black, into twilight. Raven didn't care. He held the sun as long as he needed to to get it back into the center of the sky where it belonged. When the sun found its place in the sky once more, it shone out brightly and the people of the village cried with joy. Raven made his way home and as he came back flying, he greeted his friend, the white buffalo. They threw him a great party, a celebration of light. The people of the village brought Raven many shiny, bright objects and gifts and lots of food, and this is the story of how Raven brought light back to the world once more.
Speaker 1:As we reflect on this story of Raven, we can reflect on the importance of what light carries in our life. Throughout today, I'll have you reflect on these four questions who brings light to your life? Who do you bring light to? What steals your light and how do you take it back Throughout your day-to-day? Take this time to reflect on those four questions, keeping in mind that the journey that Raven took to bring light back to the world was not easy. He flew great distances in the dark. He was called by just mere specks of light. He was called by just mere specks of light and once he found the light, it was with great challenge and difficulty that he brought it back to the people. Our own journeys of darkness and light are never without their challenges, but they create so much growth for us. I hope that Raven's story today helps bring a little bit of light back into your life.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Starseed Evolution. I'm Shannon and I'm grateful that you spent this time with me and hope you enjoyed Raven's story. In our next episode we'll be diving into spending time with fairy energy the magic of fairies from the natural world, from the elemental kingdom. I'll be sharing a poem that I wrote about connecting with fairies along with taking a guided journey into the fairy kingdom. So I hope you enjoy our next episode. Remember that you can always catch me live on Insight Timer Meditation. I teach live sessions every Wednesday evening. You can click on the link below taking you to my Insight Timer teacher page and until then, I look forward to seeing you next time. Have an awesome day. Namaste.
