Part 18 (2/2)

Into the circle of Her throne room they flooded and fell on their faces before Her.

Devi sat at the center on a throne, half of which was made of fire and the other half of water. A tree grew high on either side of Her, and the scent of lotus hung in the air. Green threads sprayed out from Her thousand hands, and Devi's three eyes glowed one black, one white, and one the color of blood.

”Great One!” the people rumbled.

”Luminous Mother! You of the thousand arms. Queen of Earth, Queen of Fire, Queen of Water, Queen of Air. You Who hold the threads of all matter in Your hands!

”Neither Shakti nor Kalatri can leash the mighty Durga. We need You, O Great One. Put Your sword in his heart.”

Devi the Great One rode to meet Durga on Her lion. The Demon Buffalo had created soldiers beyond number for this battle. He also had 120 million chariots and 120 million horses. With a whoop of rage, the Evil One hailed a storm of arrows on Devi, but they fell from Her body like raindrops.

Then the Demon blew hurricanes with his breath. He tore boulders off mountains and uprooted trees. He hurled the trees and rocks at Devi, but they touched Her like sand might touch a cliff in a breeze. Then the Evil One lashed a huge wave from the ocean with his tail and sent it to drown Devi's lion.

Though Devi's arms were busy with many battles, She was angered at the attack on Her lion. She took a mighty rope and la.s.soed Durga's tail.

At that instant, Durga the Buffalo became Durga the Lion. Devi plunged Her sword through the Lion, but Durga the Lion then turned into Durga the Man, sword and s.h.i.+eld in his hands. When Devi slung Her spear at Durga the Man, Durga became Durga the Elephant.

And so it was that the Evil One kept changing forms and creating more and more evil. No one lost and no one won. A mountain of evil grew up, and Devi sliced it into seven smaller hills.

Finally Durga showed himself in his true form. The Demon Buffalo stepped into battle without a disguise. This time he was Durga the Evil One, and he too had one thousand arms.

Then came the battle. One thousand arms of Durga flew against one thousand arms of Devi. Suddenly, just when it seemed that the clanging and cutting and searing could get no hotter, Devi stopped.

She pulled in Her one thousand arms and sat Herself down and was silent. Then slowly She spread a purple cloth before Her and began to eat and drink of the fruits and wine that appeared there. Devi chewed and swallowed with pleasure, and Her three eyes shone.

The whole world watched. People held their breaths. Why had Devi stopped fighting? Was She admitting defeat?

Then Devi stood. When She called to the Evil One, Her voice sounded like cymbals and bells.

”Durga! Laugh your last laugh!” She said. Durga roared. Devi leapt up and set Her foot on his neck. Then with Her thousand arms, She tore the thousand arms of the Evil One from his body. Then She braided his arms into Her hair until they rose up like a crown about Her face.

The people cheered.

”We are saved! Victory! Queen of the World! Savior! Devi!” they shouted, waving branches and singing.

From that day forth, Devi was called Devi the Luminous by Her people.

But they also called Her Durga, for at the battle of the Buffalo Demon they saw Durga become a part of the Devi.

Sun Woman (Australia) Introduction Before the European Caucasians began to force themselves onto the continent of Australia two centuries ago, the aboriginals, who prefer to be called Australoids, were the land's original peoples. Then they numbered five hundred tribes and three hundred thousand individuals. Today they are only forty thousand and have been largely pushed out of the fertile eastern sections of the continent onto the deserts of the central regions. The Australoid peoples tell the stories of the Ancients who lived under the world and came out at the beginning to sing into being the rivers, the ranges, the salt pan, and the sand dunes. The Ancients wrapped the world in a web of song, a net of music trails that even today enliven the land's forms and inhabitants, though the colonizer may be deaf to the sacred sound. Their song sung, the Ancients went back to the cave holes that bore Them, leaving the records of these wondrous cantatas on wooden and stone churingas (record sticks) for the people, to be guarded by every generation forevermore.

Yhi is the Sun Woman of the Arunta people who now live just west of Queensland in central Australia. She is the G.o.ddess who grows both old and young as the year changes (like Changing Woman of the Navajo: see story). Every day She reenters the Womb of Life under the sand where all the Ancient Spirits live. Sun Woman, like Amaterasu Omikami of j.a.pan (see story), Allat of ancient Arabia, and Sun G.o.ddesses of Argentinians, Inuit (Eskimo) peoples, and ancient Anatolians, defies the stereotype that Sun deities are always male.

I borrowed the seed of Merlin Stone's tale in Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood to write Sun Woman's story, which honors the Twelve-Step program concept of ”one day at a time” that is so helpful in my life. I invoke Sun Woman with that slogan and have also carried a bit of red cloth and a wood chip to remind me of Her.

The Tasks for Each Day Deep down under the sands of the desert live all the Spirits who have died or have not yet been born. All day long the Spirit People sew a huge red dress, needles flas.h.i.+ng in and out, working seams and hems so the dress will fit just right.

The dress is for Sun Woman. Every night Sun Woman returns to the Spirit People under the sand and slips into the new dress They've prepared for Her. Then, just before every dawn, the Spirit People give Sun Woman a huge log, which They light for Her journey up to the Earth People.

Each night, the Spirit People make just one dress and ready just one log for one torch. That one dress and torch are what Sun Woman takes for Her trip across the sky every day.

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