The People

I recall a time when I was taking a walk through the woods near my home. I walked up a path and there was a very large ant hill there. It was so large that it was uncommon in the area. I was relieved to see that no child or other being - perhaps a animal brush against it - that didn't happen and I remember in those days I was learning how to say, "Goodlife" instead of,"Greetings" or some other word that I would say to all life. I remember saying to the ants as they were coming and going, "Goodlife" and I would do this from time to time on my walk always being careful to step over their pathways that they make.
I have been guided that they walk in a single file the way they do - pretty much a single file yes - not because they are mindless but because they can be seen by larger beings around them. If they congregate in one place you see, or if they walk in a single file they can more easily be seen - is that not a wise way to be. So on my continuing walks I would say, "Goodlife" and continue on being careful to step over where they were walking.
One day when I walked by I said, "Goodlife" and I heard a voice say, "Goodlife" back to me and I had a vision of who I came to call Grandmother Ant. She said that, "There is a reason they do not stop and respond to you" and I remember thinking, "Oh I don't really expect them to stop. After all, they have their own life and their own culture and their own ways" and Grandmother Ant responded to my thoughts and said, "They do not stop but it is my job as a spirit to intercede and to pass knowledge and wisdom for them on to others and for others on to them and I have been letting them know that a human being is acknowledging them in a benevolent way and they have been cheered up by this.
"She went on to say that ant people, as I came to call them, will have songs and stories that they tell each other. Just because - you know I was reminded at that time and since then - just because we cannot hear someone else's songs and stories does not mean they are not there. She did not sing one of their songs for me because she said the song is intended to nurture and culture people of that type of being and it would not be appropriate for me.
She did go on to say however that they have a way of respecting each other, and I was quite startled by that, and she bowed somewhat - the type of bow that you see sometimes in various cultures.
I have also seen this with a deer out in the woods once when I was teaching someone I knew - a friend - how to do the deer walk which is done to honor deer and to welcome them and to experience them in a safe way for yourself and for the deer - if they wish to come and this particular student learned to do the deer walk very rapidly and was so good at it a deer did come and I remember because I had been experiencing the wisdom of Grandmother Ant - I remember doing the nod the way Grandmother Ant showed me - a slight bow - and the deer while eating a leaf and looking at myself and my friend nodded right back.
Is it not a wonderful thing how all the creatures of Earth have shared gestures. I found this to be very unifying and the deer walked slowly around us, while we stood quietly and appreciating this beautiful creature, and went on about its life.
Grandmother Ant told me various things about their culture over time and for awhile I was allowed to see things in their culture. The ants showed me what they did in order to invite rain if it was too dry, as I was living at that time in the American Southwest where it can be dry, and this was a worthy thing to learn.
I had been taught how to invite rain and how to invite the sun when there is too much rain. These are all things I would like to share with you some day if there is interest. The ant stories are worthy to learn and to pass on. I would like to tell you more about my experience with them and I believe you will be startled. There is one in particular that always amuses me. I will tell that now.
One day when I was living in that home near where I used to take my walk I remember that I was talking to a friend on the telephone and I saw an ant, just a single ant of the type that I saw when I went for my walks and the ant was walking across the shelf where the telephone is. It had a long cord and I was leaning back against an item of furniture - I think it was a bed and I could see the ant walking along. I didn't think to much of it - I was thinking perhaps when I'm done with my phone call perhaps I'll get the ant into a little cup which I had and escort ant outside so it will be safe and I didn't think much more about it until as I was talking to my friend I noticed that the ant was climbing up on the phone where I would hang up the phone normally and I thought this was rather odd.
Why is the ant doing that - and then the ant got up to the cradle where the phone would sit - it was a larger desk phone and it turned around and looked at me. I thought, "Oh well, this ant is making contact - it wants to tell me something" and so I told my friend that the - there was a being who wished to make contact and could he wait a moment and my friend said, "Oh sure, I'll do a little something else" and so I laid the phone down on the bed next to me and the ant realizing it had my attention slowly climbed off of the phone and got back down on the shelf and it - I remember it moved its arms around its head the way we think of them as cleaning themselves. I've been told though that this has a spiritual function for the ant. It is not necessarily that they are cleaning themselves. They do this to prepare themselves.
Then the ant turned around and looked at me to make sure that I was paying attention, like a good teacher, and then the ant did something I have never seen an ant do. The ant sat down. Think back. Have you ever seen an ant sit? I had never seen an ant sit before and it was quite startling and I realized that the ant wanted me to see this because when the ant sat down, it sat down facing slightly away from me. The ant turned around to look at me. The ant wanted me to know that they like all other beings do things that are natural for other beings on the Earth.
Many of us have seen animals that we don't often see sit or lay down but we know that they must - after all - they sleep yes? So here is an ant who came to show me that not only could this ant sit down but that ants in their own lives, in their own cultures - of course they sit down and when I had acknowledged it - I remember nodding my head - the ant got up, turned around,walked back the way it came and disappeared - apparently there was a way in and a way out.
I wanted to share that story with you today because it's a further acknowledgment of all life on Earth and how they want to teach us and show us about life in general. I hope you found this interesting. If you did you can let me know if you like. I will be happy to share other stories I've had with different forms of life on the Earth. Most of the time the stories are reassuring and comforting.
I find now that I relate to animals, as we call them, very differently. I do not think of them as ants anymore. After all, they do not call themselves ants but I do think of them, for the sake of my personal clarity, as ant people and I find that reminding myself that all other life are people first that it is important. Of course we think of ourselves as people and all other life that I have been able to communicate with - and I can communicate with the animals - then they always refer to themselves as - the people. I think that this is a word in my language, english, that is not only representative of all life but perhaps is representative of all life everywhere.
Goodlife to you all.