Starseed Evolution: Raven! The Cosmic Trickster

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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)

https://insig.ht/dlUov5SHgLb   

Link Tree Information:

https://www.linktr.ee/silverlunastarseed 

 

10 Day Course for Empaths and Highly Sensitive People

https://insig.ht/38A3CwdPxNb  

 

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:

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Indie Music Box – Chris Collins

https://indiemusicbox.com/ 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi, thank you so much for joining me today.
I'm Shannon and this isStarseed Evolution, bringing the
wisdom and insight of thecosmos to you.
I'm grateful that you'relistening.
Today we will look at whatlight represents in our life,

(00:26):
how it's created, and divedeeper into the stories of
creation.
The act of creation begins withboth elements of darkness and
of light.
They require each other to makeone another visible.
When we reflect on the wordlight, it can conjure up images

(00:51):
of so many different meanings.
There is the light of ourphysical world, that which
brightens our dark spaces,candles that flicker in the
night, lanterns that guide ourfeet, electricity that light our

(01:12):
world.
There's also material light ofour solar system, our sun, our
moon, our stars, the light ofthe sun that grows our food and
plants.
And we also have spirituallight, that metaphor of light in

(01:34):
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.

(02:04):
As we reflect on all the Hedatradition of the Northwest
peoples, there is a story thatRaven is that which brings light
, and this is Raven's story.
As we move into the story ofRaven, I'll open with this

(02:27):
Celtic poem bringing light forour story, I arise today through
the strength of heaven, lightof sun, radiance of moon,
radiance of moon, splendor offire, speed of lightning,
swiftness of wind, depth of sea,stability of earth and firmness

(02:52):
of rock.
We will honor this time oflight now with the story of

(03:17):
Raven.
Raven and how he returned lightto the world, a creation story
adapted from the Haida NorthwestFirst Nation peoples.
When the world was created andthe first people walked the land
, there was one white raven whokept watch over them.
Raven was as white as firstfallen snow in winter, before

(03:41):
any person or animal had walkedupon it.
Raven had a friend, whiteBuffalo.
Raven would show White Buffalowhere to go for food on the land
because he could fly high intothe sky and see great distances.
In return, white Buffalocarried Raven upon his back.

(04:05):
This kept Raven's feathersclean and shiny.
Raven loved his people.
They shared their food with himand Raven loved to eat.
They shared juicy berries andfresh fish.
Raven also loved the peoplebecause they laughed at all of

(04:27):
his silly pranks.
There was one occasion on anight when Raven tied all their
shoelaces together while theyslept and when they awoke in the
morning to do their chores.
They all fell over.
That's how Raven earned hisnickname Trickster Silly Raven.

(04:50):
The people would laugh.
They knew he loved playinggames and Raven would call
loudly in return to the peoplelaughing at his jokes.
One night, now known as theNight of the Long Dark, when all

(05:16):
the people and animals slept,including Raven, a greedy old
man who did not like sharinganything with anybody, snuck
into the village and stole everypiece of light he could find,
tucking it into a box that hecarried with him.
He stole fire, he stole themoon, he stole the blanket of

(05:50):
stars overhead that comfortedthe people.
He even stole the sun so thatit would not wake them up the
next morning.
The greedy old man limped offinto the night without waking
anyone up.
He took his stolen box of lightback to his cave where he lived
all alone, which is just how heliked it.
When he was safely in his cave,he took out the box and peeked

(06:14):
inside there, all the light fromthe whole world was tucked
safely away.
Tucked safely away.
He grinned happily, knowingthat he now carried all the
light from the whole world andit belonged to him For many days
, which were as dark as thenight, and for many nights, the

(06:38):
people, when they finally awoke,cried If they had no light, how
would they grow food?
How would they live?
With each passing dark day, thepeople grew more scared and
fearful of every shadow andevery person around them.
No one laughed anymore, noteven Raven, and when Raven

(07:05):
stopped laughing he knew he hadto do something to help.
He had to go in search of thelight.
Raven said goodbye to Buffalo,his friend, and took to the sky
his wings spreading out acrossthe darkness.
He looked like a white kitetaking flight.

(07:28):
Now there's something that youneed to know about Raven.
Raven loved shiny, brightobjects, and there was nothing
in the world more shiny andbright than the sun itself.
As Raven rode the wind acrossthe vast, chilled,

(07:49):
midnight-colored land, he cranedhis neck left and right,
looking for a sign, any signthat might show him which
direction to go.
That's when he spotted it atiny yellow pinprick of light,
and for one shiny minute he sawthat light.

(08:13):
This lifted Raven's curiosity.
Could it be what he was insearch of?
And even though the brightspeck of light disappeared, at
least he knew which direction totravel.
Every 12 hours, raven would seethe light once more for one

(08:35):
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 greedyold man in the tiny cave would

(08:57):
open the box holding the sun,the moon and the stars, and as
he laughed happily, that guidedRaven toward him.
Each time the greedy man openedthe box, the light would shine
out into the darkness.
Now, before we continue ourstory, there are two more things

(09:18):
you should know about Raven.
One, he is very intelligent.
And two besides tricking peopleout of their food, he loves
stealing shiny objects.
These three loves his people,shiny objects and his brilliant

(09:41):
mind.
Raven found the cave where thegreedy old man was staying.
He waited and watched to seewhat the old man would do inside
the cave.
Soon, raven's patience paid off.
He watched as the little oldman moved a stone from in front

(10:06):
of the wall, took out a smallbox.
He watched as the old man moveda stone from in front of the
wall, took out a small box.
He watched as the old manopened the box and there the
bright, shining light from themoon, stars and sun shone out.
Raven counted, counted 60seconds, that one full minute.

(10:28):
And then the man closed the lidand put it back in the wall and
moved the stone in front of it.
Raven began to form a plan.
There is just one more thing youshould know about Raven.
You should know about Raven.

(10:53):
Raven has the gift of beingable to shape his voice in the
sound of those things that arearound him.
He can make the voice soundlike that of the buffalo calling
from the field.
He can make his voice soundlike a mourning dove or an eagle
.
He can make his voice soundlike the people from the village
.
Raven knew enough words fromhis people that he was going to

(11:17):
put his plan into action.
When he was ready, raven perchedhimself outside the mouth of
the cave behind a large rock andbegan to call into the night
towards the cave.
He called in the sound of thepeople from his village Come out

(11:41):
now.
We know you're in there.
Raven cawed in the voice ofFirst man.
Raven cawed in the voice offirst man.
We know you stole our light.
Raven cawed again in the voiceof a second man.
Give our light back to theworld.
Raven cawed in the voice of thefirst woman.

(12:08):
The greedy old man inside thecave began to tremble and shake
both with anger and with fright.
How could they have found him?
He couldn't imagine losing hisprecious light.
He crept slowly to the mouth ofthe cave trying to see out into
the night.
But because it was so dark nomoon, no stars and no sun the

(12:33):
old man could see nothing.
Raven smiled.
The old man stepped a littlebit past the entrance of the
cave, looking for the peoplewhose voices he heard.

(12:54):
Raven took this moment to sneakpast the man back into the cave.
And Raven found the stone,moved it with his beak and
pushed the box out of its hidingplace.
As the box toppled to theground, it hit and the lid

(13:15):
popped off.
But when Raven looked back downat the box on the ground, all
the light had left, except forthe sun, which was too big to
pop out of the box on its own.
The sun was still stuck insidethe little box.
Afraid that the greedy old manwould return, raven reached into

(13:42):
the box with his beak andgrabbed the sun.
He pulled and pulled until itpopped out.
Just as the old man returned,raven flew past him and out of
the cave.
Although the heat from the sunin Raven's beak blazed, blazed.

(14:16):
Raven dared not let go.
He took flight into the sky.
He flew upward so high.
The longer that Raven held thesun, 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 heneeded to to get it back into

(14:41):
the center of the sky where itbelonged.
When the sun found its place inthe sky once more, it shone out
brightly and the people of thevillage cried with joy.
Raven made his way home and ashe came back flying, he greeted

(15:04):
his friend, the white buffalo.
They threw him a great party, acelebration of light.
The people of the villagebrought Raven many shiny, bright
objects and gifts and lots offood, and this is the story of
how Raven brought light back tothe world once more.

(15:39):
As we reflect on this story ofRaven, we can reflect on the
importance of what light carriesin our life.
Throughout today, I'll have youreflect on these four questions
who brings light to your life?

(16:04):
Who do you bring light to?
What steals your light and howdo you take it back Throughout

(16:36):
your day-to-day?
Take this time to reflect onthose four questions, keeping in
mind that the journey thatRaven took to bring light back
to the world was not easy.
He flew great distances in thedark.
He was called by just merespecks of light.

(17:01):
He was called by just merespecks of light and once he
found the light, it was withgreat challenge and difficulty
that he brought it back to thepeople.
Our own journeys of darknessand light are never without
their challenges, but theycreate so much growth for us.

(17:22):
I hope that Raven's story todayhelps bring a little bit of
light back into your life.
Thank you so much for joining mefor this episode of Starseed
Evolution.
I'm Shannon and I'm gratefulthat you spent this time with me

(17:43):
and hope you enjoyed Raven'sstory.
In our next episode we'll bediving into spending time with
fairy energy the magic offairies from the natural world,
from the elemental kingdom.

(18:03):
I'll be sharing a poem that Iwrote about connecting with
fairies along with taking aguided journey into the fairy
kingdom.
So I hope you enjoy our nextepisode.
Remember that you can alwayscatch me live on Insight Timer

(18:24):
Meditation.
I teach live sessions everyWednesday evening.
You can click on the link belowtaking you to my Insight Timer
teacher page and until then, Ilook forward to seeing you next
time.
Have an awesome day.
Namaste.