Silence to Sound (Part 1 & 2)

Part One | The Ina People

Guardians of The Valley of Iris

There was once a village in the Valley of Iris, an abundant and lush land filled with every color of the revered Iris flower. They were the Ina People, keepers of peace and light for these sacred lands. The village established 4 tribes, each facing a cardinal direction, each a guardian for one of the 4 enchanting colors of the iris.

Celestial Violet, a strikingly rich and vibrant purple, represents cosmic wisdom, respect, royalty, and ancestors, honored by the tribe facing North, while Starlight Electric, a deep, effervescent blue, represents hope, faith, and light, guarded by the tribe facing east. Solaurelia, a brilliant, golden yellow symbolizes passion, friendship, joy, and creation, cared for by the south-facing tribe, and Pearl Essencia, the soft, delicate white iris, is a symbol of purity, innocence, sympathy, and the ethereal realms, protected by the Tribe facing West. 

The Ina people lived joyously and in balance for generations unnoticed by the modern world, learning the ways of the sacred flower to create harmony across the Valley of Iris. Each tribe carried an oath to live by each iris they protected, while also learning the ways of one another. 

They thrived as a nation. They prayed and protected the iris. They performed daily rituals honoring the 4 cardinal colors and directions. Adorning their altars with the iris they felt no separation between themselves and the divine flower. The lands became so fertile that crops and medicinal flowers sprouted where they danced. The forest surrounding the valley blossomed with exotic fruits and vegetation that neighboring lands could never even imagine. The forest swayed with abundance and joy. It became a home to many creatures, the place where once nearly extinct creatures were able to multiply and flourish. The Ina people were able to make and stock shelves of herbal tinctures, salves, perfumes, and there was a flow of endless creative culinary delights flowing from them. 

On a typical day, the reeds of the lakes were played by Samira, the gentle wind god whose breeze could lull a baby to sleep, just as he could flutter the hearts of young loves first discovering one another. The gentle brush of Samira carried the song of the Valley of Iris, light and sweet with the deep resonance of the wise ancestors who came before.

The sun beamed from the clear blue skies and rain was bountiful but always a gentle shower. If you look closely you can always see double rainbow arching over the valley…even in the night, when it looks almost like two dark rainbow iridescent serpents slithering above head.

The rulers of the Ina People were Namra-Ina & Prema-Ina, the Humble Lord and Devoted Lordess of the Valley of Iris. They ruled without ruling, led by following, and never was a word of the language of the Sama spoken, the language of the modern people who carved out entire valleys like their precious Valley of Iris and built square and rectangular structures on them with small windows that grew far from the earth, as tall as the clouds. Namra & Prema knew only the ancient language of the Ina, who spoke through prayer, chanting, song, dance, and the glimmering white channel of the eyes, which even some of the elders were still mastering.

The Ina greeted one another, raising their right hand to their softly beating hearts. Their third eyes tenderly unite as the back of the heart-holding hands join, “Inlahamsa,” (Een-Luh-Hum-Suh) meaning “I Am That which is You, acknowledging their unwavering surrender to honoring the divine within themselves and one another as sentinels of the veil between worlds, seeing themselves as no separate from earth, cosmos, and beyond.

Part Two | Mithun-Ina 

A Child of the Eclipses is Born

Born from Namra and Prema was Mithun-Ina. He came into the world during a lunar eclipse, while the moon was full but dark from earth blocking the sun’s reflection, but he did not fully descend from his mother’s womb until the solar eclipse, a full fortnight later. It was a difficult birth. The Ayur-Ina, the shamanic medicine beings of each tribe channeled the ancient call of the Mother Iris. The song of Mother Iris is one not often sung. Namra had a strong chin and broad shoulders, and seemed to float as he walked, but this fortnight his usual upright shoulders slumped more with each passing day. His chin seemed to go soft, and his tightly combed hair now hung loosely in tendrils around his tender eyes. It was as if he was standing over the edge of a cliff and she was at the bottom of the crater. There was nothing he could do and he felt waves of nausea that choked into tears over and over again for 2 weeks. He had no idea if  Prema would survive, if the child would survive, but they somehow both did. It was the hardest experience the three of them would ever have, so they thought.

Each new born receives the song of the 4 tribes. The 4 irises sing their song through the tribes. The iris that the Inanino, new born, is assigned to is initiated by its song and the symbol of their directional tribe illuminates. The forehead first glows with the upward facing crescent moon and central dot, the marking of the Ina People. The right arm then beams with the markings of one of their chosen tribe. The entire sky, whether day or night, is lit up by this initiation, connecting each marking on their arm to a star in the solar system.  

The night Mithun was initiated, the Ina People witnessed something they had never before seen. 

During the ceremonial ritual and celebration of Singing Iris, Mithun’s forehead radiates with the symbol of the Ina. Namra, Prema, and the Ina Tribe proudly watch as the markings of the East facing Starlight Electric Tribe glowed through him. He is coded with the same light markings as the tribe of Ina Lord & Lordess. They illuminate through his shoulder. Lines, circles, crosses in a specific order carrying the sacred frequencies channeled from the sun. They shine like light beams from his arm and mesmerize the entire village as they excitedly anticipate which of them was the chosen Dristhraheya, The Watcher of the newborn Inanino. The bond between Dristraheya and Inanino is unbroken for eternity. But there was a unique and strange occurrence that happened that night. The markings never came to completion. There was no Dristraheya bonded to Mithun. The light code activation stopped halfway down his forearm rather than continuing to the back of the hand in the symbol of sacred geometry. This represents the Infinite that they all come from and would return to one day. It is also the way the Ina People greet and fully merge with one another as a tribe.

There was a hushed gasp across the village. No one had seen anything like this before, nor did they know what to do. Some feared this child would disrupt the harmony of the valley. Some revered him as if he held a special key for their people. His parents teetered between the worlds of fear and trust but their love was so strong they knew deep in their hearts their son was here to create a big shift for their world. But the lingering question remained, “What will come of their son and the rest of the tribe if he will never be able to merge with any one of them?”

The East-facing Starlight Electric Ina Tribe. They are the keepers of the deep and bright blue iris, who pray and chant and dance each to welcome each day from darkness before dawn until the fullness of the sun’s beams meet all the land. As the song of the blue iris sings through the Starlight Electric Ina, the Valley of Iris awakens. Cosmic inspiration, creation, song, dance, and laughter echo throughout the village, spanning the entire forest surrounding the valley. 

All within and beyond earshot of the Starlight Electric song relied on them to receive the spark of light to begin each day in love. There was a collective low-level disturbance that was cast over the village that only grew as the child grew. Like a scar on a new born, as Mithun grew, the incomplete light codes on his arm became more visible and harder to ignore. Each encounter he had with the others was a reminder that he could not fully merge. They honored one another by uniting the symbol of the Ina on their foreheads, but the heart connection could not be made. The elders began to stir over the meaning of this arm which revealed darkness where the rest of the village shined brightly.

To be Continued….