Luonnotar

There was a maiden, daughter of the heavens,
the beautiful Luonnotar,
who pondered on the meaning of her life,
a life spent all alone
in the vast emptiness of space.

She descended to the seas
and was carried forth by the waves;
for seven hundred years
the maiden, mother of the waters,
swam north and south,
from horizon to horizon.

A great gust of wind came,
lashing the sea to a fury.
"Oh, how wretched is this life!
I would have done better
to remain a maiden of the heavens.
Oh, Ukko, supreme god!
Come and hear my entreaty."
Then a duck came flying,
it flew from horizon to horizon,
north and south,
but found no place to build a nest.

"No, no, no.
If I make my home in the wind,
my dwelling-place on the waves,
then the wind will overturn it,
the waves will sweep it away!"

Then the mother of the waters
lifted her knee out of the waves.
There the duck made her nest,
and began to hatch her eggs.

The maiden felt the eggs growing warmer,
and her leg began to shake.
The nest rolled into the water
and broke into pieces.

Beauty emerged from the eggs:
the upper part of the eggshells
became the lofty sky,
the upper part of the egg white
became the shining moon,
and the mottled part
became the stars in heaven,
the stars in heaven.


Mirage
Text: Maria Sabina (1896–1985), Mazatec healer and Shaman

I am a woman who flies.
I am the sacred eagle woman, [the mushroom] says;
I am the Lord eagle woman;
I am the lady who swims;
Because I can swim in the immense,
Because I can swim in all forms.
I am the shooting star woman,
I am the shooting star woman beneath the water,
I am the lady doll,
I am the sacred clown,
Because I can swim,
Because I can fly.