After a strange "illness" a few years back, I have transformed my life according to visions I had during a prolonged fever. Everything in my life has transformed since then, and I am grateful for the inspiration to write poetry and paint I was left with. I never have a block to creativity now. It is a full on open channel.
While reading Black Elk Speaks, by John G. Neihardt, I ran across a paragraph about an after- illness-born vision, Black Elk struggles to integrate the wisdom, concepts and changes he earned during his fever with normal life. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Black Elk was a great medicine man of the Lakota Sioux tribe in the South Dakota area.
"One day during this time I was out with the bow and arrows my Grandfather had made for me, and as I walked along thinking of my vision, suddenly I felt queer, and for a little while it seemed that the bow and arrows were those that the First Grandfather in the Flaming Rainbow Tepee had given me. Then they were only those that Refuse-To-Go had made, and I felt foolish and tried to make myself think it was all only a dream anyway. So I thought I would forget about it and shoot something. There was a bush and a little bird sitting in it; but just as I was going to shoot, I felt queer again, and remembered that I was to be like a relative with the birds. So I did not shoot. Then I went on down and when I saw a green frog sitting there, I just shot him right away. But when I picked him up by the legs, I thought: "Now I have killed him," and it made me want to cry." -excerpt from Black Elk Speaks, John G. Neihardt
