Odyssey of the 8th Fire is the true tale
of an epic pilgrimage for the Earth
across North America

by people of all colors and faiths.

  - A creative non-fiction book in online evolution - ◊
© - 2007 by Steven McFadden

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audio recording of
Odyssey of the 8th Fire,
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“We are the ecosystem, and it’s a part of us, internally and externally, The ecosystem is water, air, and earth, and we are water, air and earth, or minerals.

“Our frustration with the environment and all environmental issues is coming to reality now because we are beginning to realize that we are a part of our environment. We haven’t just been killing Mother Earth, we have been killing ourselves. Now we need to heal Mother Earth and heal ourselves.”

- J.T. Garrett

Day 143 - Sunday, November 12, 1995 - We kept our base camp in Bushland, even though it's now well behind the walk. We made this decision because once the walk leaves Bushland heading west there will be few good places to camp along our route.

From now on, our camps will be further apart, so the walkers don't need to set up and break down camp so often. That puts a real strain on the group.

Our footsteps are approaching the Texas-New Mexico border on this warm, sunny mid-November day. Temperatures rose to 82 degrees F.

Sunbow pilgrim Scott Kecken rests at a picnic table along the road to the west, with a butte off in the distance. Author photo.

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Meanwhile, in her faithful maroon Jeep Cherokee, which has been a workhorse for the walk, Jacki Hayward-Gauger drove me to the bus station in Amarillo. I then took the bus back east to Oklahoma City, with a plan of sleeping in motel overnight, and then flying back to New Hampshire on Monday.

I'm just going to touch down for a week or so in New Hampshire to take care of business, then turn around and fly back west to Albuquerque, New Mexico to meet the walk again, and to participate in the reconciliation council at Thanksgiving. The elders and the advisors to our pilgrimage have asked us to find a way to come back together as one group, and Albuquerque is the place where we will make our attempt.

From the beginning our core instruction as pilgrims has been to walk and to pray: to retrace the footsteps of the ancestors, and to see whether we can find what was long ago left by the side of the trail. We know now that one thing we must find is the unity we have lost.

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Copyright 2006 by Steven McFadden

Read Day 144 -- Odyssey of the 8th Fire

 
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Please support the telling of Odyssey of the 8th Fire. I freely offer the teachings of this true saga to readers. They are not for sale. That is the tradition. Still, I bear expenses to publish, and my labor has been long. I am a human being, not a non-profit corporation; thus expressions of reciprocity and support are welcome and appreciated, but not tax-deductible.

  With thanksgiving — Steven McFadden


 

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Odyssey of the 8th Fire Copyright © 2006-2008 by Steven McFadden