Sage's Three Tasks & Our Last Day

Bear Spirit had given Sage Three Tasks. Sage must complete each challenge in order to free Luna and bring her back to Poppy Mountain.

Bear Spirit spoke: "First, you must return to Scorpion Rock and lift the rock carefully. Ask the Scorpion Mother for one of her babies. You are to take the Baby Scorpion, tending to it with great care. Feed it a mushroom growing next to the creek beneath the Crooked Oak Tree. Once the Baby Scorpion has eaten the mushroom, it will speak to you the Secret of the Moon. Remember what the Scorpion says, for you will be asked by Luna the next time you see her.

"The second day you must follow your footsteps taken with Luna -- backwards -- from Scorpion Rock, across Rocky Ridge and finish at the exact spot where you first met. There you will find a Golden Acorn, which you must keep in your satchel. Make a chain of gold from pounded gold flakes you will find in the creek. Hang the Golden Acorn on the chain and give this talisman to Luna the next time you meet.

"On the third day, as soon as you awaken, you must go and drink from the deep pool in the creek. Take three long drinks. You will then be visited by Water Snake. He will show you how to braid with sweet grass, a braid just like Luna's hair. You must dry and then burn the grass. The rising smoke will be your final key to bringing Luna back to Poppy Mountain."

Sage awoke the next morning and was exhausted from his busy sleep and his visit from the Animal Spirit Counsel. In his heart he had his Three Tasks. His mind was questioning why he had to do this to see his friend again? But his Spirit in his heart knew that it mustn't be questioned. It must be done. He set off toward Scorpion Rock....

~^~^~

 The story has been told. Did Sage free his friend, Luna, from behind the stone door? Only the children on Poppy Mountain know.

Our final day was spent listening to the tale, making cookies, drawing something from the story, and visiting the swimming hole in Zayante Creek.

Thank you to YOU for reading this blog and following along with Poppy Mountain's summer adventures. I am grateful for a beautiful, creative, active summer spent with delightful children, and my own daughter and baby son. Many blessings to you all! With love...

The Counsel of Animal Spirit Guides

Sage made his dream catcher the very next day. Using vines and wet grasses he created his magic web. In the center, he placed a shiny piece of black obsidian. He called on his friend, Raven, who gave him three lustrous black feathers. And he tied those on. Before nightfall, Sage gave thanks to the Animal Spirits: Bear, Snake, Raven, Quail, Scorpion, Rabbit, and asked for their guidance to find his friend Luna again.

When he went to sleep that night, Sage hung his dream catcher right above his sleeping mat. He fell into a deep sleep and in his dreams he met the Counsel of Spirit Guides. Twelve Animal Spirits sat upon thrones of glass in a perfect circle. The Spirit of Bear spoke:

"We are here to guide you, as you requested. Please listen carefully. If you are to find your friend Luna again, you must trust in every word we say and follow our instructions to the letter. You have Three Tasks to undertake before you can call Luna back to Poppy Mountain," said Bear Spirit. "She is trapped in a timeless space and needs your help to unlock the stone door that keeps her from returning."

"Tell me what I must do. I will take on anything," said Sage.

Bear Spirit gave him the Three Tasks...

~^~^~

Today after story telling, we got right to work. It was bread baking day. In the wood-fired outdoor oven. In terra cotta pots. My husband, Hans, started a huge, hot fire for us, and built it up for about two hours. Meanwhile, our sourdough fermented in the terra cotta pots I had seasoned the day before. Read how here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/443734-how-to-bake-bread-or-cake-in-terra-cotta-pots/

Baking in our wood-fired oven, I often say, is an art. Each experience is different, every outcome unpredictable. Today we had the added variable of the pots, which we had never used before. I will say, it was a success. The loaves got slightly charred on the outside, on the side closest to the wood. In hindsight, if we had rotated the pots, it would've been better. But underneath the blackened crust was some very soft and delicious bread! I loved the idea of baking in a pot, and it was a super fun thing for the children to bring home.

While the fire heated up the stone oven and the dough was rising, the children did what we call in Waldorf circles "free rendering." Free rendering means a child constructs something completely up to them, in freedom of execution, and based on their imagination of an experience, a story, a lesson, etc. In our case today, the children made a creation from our story of the Animal Spirit Guides. They could make anything they wanted. The materials they had to work with included clay, beeswax,wool, paper, pencils, glue, glitter, pipe cleaners, and other crafts. The two photos below show Bear Spirit and Bird Spirit.

Dog Days

It's getting hot up here on Poppy Mountain. It happens every summer. I get through July thinking what a mild season we're having. Then August hits and we start baking. See, here in the Santa Cruz mountains, people don't have air conditioning. In fact, most people in the SF Bay Area don't. And up here where we are, on top of the world, and above the trees, it can get very hot. One year, it was 100 F upstairs in our house. So, yes, the dog days of summer are setting in. The fans are whirling and the windows are open all night.

I'm a little amazed to find that it's August already, and soon summer will be winding down. Poppy Mountain is in its final summer session, and I will be transitioning to a school-year emphasis, supporting home school families come September. I'm going to be holding an open house soon for Waldorf home schoolers, hosting sample classes in the arts/handwork realm for parents and children. If you're reading this and are interested in my offerings, stay tuned to Poppy Mountain's evolution.

As the story of Sage and Luna unfolds, we find Sage puzzled by the disappearance of his new friend, Luna. None of Sage's other friends recall ever seeing her, and they tease him about having a rich imagination. Sullen, Sage finishes his day's work and heads off to bed. In his dreams, the moon is full and so very bright. But then clouds roll in and cover the moon completely, making the earth pitch black. Slowly, the clouds clear and the moon is smiling down on Sage, a familiar face. He woke up. She is out there, he told himself. He felt sure of it. As sure as he could envision that smile. The next day, Sage made a magical dream catcher. One that would catch Luna in his dreams and bring her back to Poppy Mountain. But would it work?

...

Today we made dream catchers, much like the kind that Sage was making. Using wisteria vines from our garden, and embroidery floss, the children created beautiful webs to catch their dreams. We collected blue jay feathers to adorn the dream catchers and hung beads on them as well.

We also painted with watercolors in a wet method, and used small sponges to move the paint on the paper. The children painted Sage and Luna as they imagined them.

A Day of Scorpions and Gnomes

Who knew that they had so much in common, scorpions and gnomes. Scorpions have been on this earth for millions of years. So have gnomes. Scorpions live in the rocks. So do gnomes. Of course scorpions don't wear pointy hats and gnomes don't eat insects (as far as I know).

If you read my last post, then you know the story of Sage and Luna and the Scorpion family. Today, the children made a soft pastel drawing of that story on black paper. I love pastels. They are so forgiving and so alive. Form and color melt under your fingertips almost like you are sculpting. We practiced blending and creating edges of rock and luminous mountaintops.

And then the gnomes came in. I had read about a sweet wood carving project and wanted to bring that to Poppy Mountain. So simple, really. We found some fairly thin branches. About one inch wide or even less, and cut them into three-inch lengths.

The children carved first the pointy hat atop the gnome's head, next the face. Then, they scored the branch where they wanted the beard and carved that out. Finally, they colored their gnome's hat in pencil and drew on a face. Voila!

Wood carving is the kind of activity one can get immersed in and forget about all her troubles. It's meditative. Oh, and if you happen to carve with a dull knife like I did, the experience lasts even longer.

One of the children today was so focused on his carving that he had time to make two gnomes. It was a great project to get into deeply. We took a snack break and also explored the forest for the makings of gnome dwellings. Then back to whittling. At the end of the day, some wonderful gnome homes were built. The gnomes looked pretty happy about the whole thing. Maybe they'll invite their scorpion friends over.

Sleepless Night

Sage couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned and rolled and sat up. Looking around, he watched his sleeping family nearby. He listened to the sounds of the night forest outside. He heard the scurrying of a raccoon. He heard the hoot of an owl and the rush of feathers as it took flight from a nearby redwood tree. Crickets played a symphony of chirping. Rather than lulling him to sleep, all the sounds were making him even more awake. Sage quietly got up, put on his satchel and went out into the night.

The night forest was so different from the day. The moon was bright so he could see well. His feet stepped lightly on the ground. Sage wasn't sure where he was going. He let his feet carry him on the path.

Sage stopped to watch the owl pass over his head. He heard the howls of a distant coyote pack. Nature was busy at this time of night!

Sage looked up and his eyes were surprised to meet the eyes of another person! A young girl who he hadn't ever seen before. "Hello," he said. "Hello," said the girl. "What are you doing out here?" she asked. "I couldn't sleep. How about you?" "Me neither," she said. "My name is Luna. What's your name?" "Sage," he told her. Luna told him, "My family is traveling through. We are traders. We have feathers and abalone shells and want to trade them for obsidian. We stopped on this mountain since it has such a special feel and such abundance of food and water. We aren't planning to stay very long."

Sage was happy to meet this girl. He didn't have a lot of friends on Poppy Mountain. He looked at her long braided hair and her angled nose and jaw. She looked familiar, like he had known her before. But he knew he had never met her until now. Her eyes were bright in the moonlight and she looked like she may have just a little mischief in her.

"Want to see something I just found?" she asked. "Sure," said Sage. Luna walked him over to a rocky ridge. He followed silently. Only a very careful listener could have heard their footsteps. She stopped in front of a large boulder. "Look there," she pointed at the rock.

The two children watched as a family of scorpions came out from under the boulder. There was a father and a mother. The mother scorpion was carrying her litter of babies on her back! They were going out to hunt for their meal. Scorpions eat insects. The scorpion has two pinchers and a tail that curves up and over its back with a stinging tip. The scorpion stings it's prey, releasing a toxic venom and paralyzing the insect. Sage and Luna silently followed the scorpion family from a distance and watched as they hunted. They had a lot of babies to feed! About a dozen baby scorpions clung to their mother's back. They were almost white and see-through because their exoskeleton hadn't formed yet. The babies were totally dependent on their mother for their survival, until they became strong enough to venture on their own.

Eventually the scorpion family made their way back to the boulder where they lived, having hunted and eaten their fill for the night. The moon sat low in the sky. The crickets and night bugs were silent. Sage and Luna didn't think the scorpions had known they were there, since it seemed they had no notice or fear of them. But after the scorpions had gone away, the moonlight revealed a small gift left behind for Sage and Luna. It was a complete exoskeleton, that father scorpion had recently shed. It was left just outside the entrance to their home. Sage picked it up gingerly, holding it in his palm. Luna looked at it with wonder, realizing that the scorpions had known they were there the whole time. She said to Sage, "You keep it. You can look at it and remember this special night." He gently placed it in his satchel, and when he looked up to thank her, Luna had disappeared.