Native Spirits & Spirit Pennies of Skamania Coves

“Hold the shell in the palm of one hand. Use the other to fan the smoke with the feather. Guide the smoke around the interior. Be sure to get the corners and walls too,” she directed.

I entered the shed with the smoking shell held out in front of me. I waved the feather through the smoke and watched as the smoke flowed in the direction I guided it. Fascinating!

As I walked around in the darkness, my friend chanted and sang a song, a blessing, helping to clear away the energies left behind.

“Stop!” her voice thundered in the quiet space, “Stop!”

I froze.

“Quick, take the smudge outside,” she whispered in a firm tone. “There is a young Native boy cowering in the corner over there. He is frightened.”

She pointed to the corner of the room. I looked, knowing I’d see nothing.

“He is alone, waiting for his mother to return. He is pleading for us not to make him leave without her. I need to reassure him that we are not here to banish him.”

I left the garden shed and waited for her to come back out. I didn’t know what to do so I just stood there with a smoking shell in my hand, getting hotter by the second. My knees were shaking.

There is a ghost inside that shed!

A few moments later, she came out with a hand covering her heart. She closed the door behind her.

“He’s okay,” she assured me. “We’ll let him be for now. It must be up to him to leave. Is the shell getting hot? Do we need to refill it?”

We went back into the Riverhouse and as she prepared for the next smudging round, she whispered to me, “Cinda, there is a Native woman on the other side of the tracks. She is asking to be allowed inside the fence line but can’t enter because of the shield of protection we set with the cornmeal. Please invite her in. Give her permission to enter the circle.”

I was standing right next to my friend. I looked through the window over the sink facing the railroad. The tracks are yards away hidden by the tall fence and a hillside. Yet, she could see through all the barriers and said that a woman, a Native woman, was talking to her.

Another ghost! And she wants me to go get her?!

“Um…Okay…,” I said, stumbling over my fear.

I walked to the far end of the property, where she had found the feather earlier. I squeezed around the end of the fence and walked toward the tracks.

“Hello, Native woman,” I called out to no one. I tried not to feel silly or embarrassed. I truly wanted to be respectful and honor her and my friend. “I give you permission to enter my property. Please, you are welcome. Follow me.”

I turned and retraced my steps back to the house.

“Is she here?” I asked my friend who was standing on the front porch.

“Yes. She’s gone to the boy. It is her son,” she answered.

“Do you mean that we separated them with our work?” I asked concerned.

“No, just the opposite. The energy of the land had separated them. Since we’ve cleansed things, she was able to come back. But out of respect for the work, she asked for permission. They are together now. Reunited in the shed.” Her voice cracked with emotion.

Continuing, she said, “I’m going to go stand along the water and bless the river with my drum. Please smudge the interior of this house and the other storage garage.”

I went back into the Riverhouse, lit the dried plants, and carried the shell with its smoking contents throughout the two buildings. As I waved the feather across the smoke directing it into corners and cabinets and closets, I asked for all energies that were not in alignment with the land and our vision for the property to leave.

As I did this, I could see my friend standing on the rock that jetted out into the river. She stood with her arms out to her sides. I watched as she picked up her drum and beat it to a rhythm I couldn’t hear from where I stood. The wind blew the sound away from me.

When she returned, her eyes were misty with tears. “I asked the mother and child if they wanted to leave, which they did. My spirit guides walked with them out onto the water, into the center of the river, and then they disappeared downstream. I serenaded their departure with the drum. It was beautiful.”

Since I couldn’t sense what she sensed or see what she could see or communicate with the Native spirits as she can or know what she knows, I had to depend on her to direct me with what she needed, translate what she heard, and tell me what she was seeing and sensing.

We had just released two ghosts and tons of dark matter. I hoped that that was enough to get the land back to its natural happy state of being.

Wishful hoping….

STORY CONTINUES >>>>> CHAPTER SIX: THE OVERLOOK