Sky Mountain Myths 03 - Solar Myths

The Sky God was all-powerful and shone brightly. He sat at the top of the Sky Mountain and surveyed all before him. He saw everything and everywhere. However, as more and more things came to be, he found himself doing more and more. He shone, he controlled the weather, he ruled and he watched. One day he heard laughter and asked what that was. "It's laughter," said Trickster, "it's people having fun." The Sky God wanted to have fun, but he had so much to do, so Trickster offered to help him. He took a bowl of water and looked into it, seeing his reflection and his reflection looked out and winked back at him. Trickster showed the Sky God the bowl of water and his reflection looked back and took the form of The Watcher. The Watcher took the Sky God's place on the Sky Mountain and Watched for him while the Sky God went and had some fun. The Sky God looked into the Trickster's Bowl more and more often, shedding his powers as we shed our garments and creating more and more gods to do his work.

Once, Trickster complained that it was too hot near the Sky God, so the Sky God took half his Fire and created a new body made of pure gold. Fire moved into the body and became The Sun that sat above Sky Mountain and brought light and heat to the world. After a while, The Sun felt lonely and demanded a companion, but the companion had to be less than The Sun in all ways, so the gods made a body of silver, filled it with a goddess and placed it in the Sky, next to but just below the Sun. The Moon shone, but not as brightly as the Sun, and they embraced and their children were the Stars that spread across the Sky.

The Sky was golden and shone brightly, but the Sun, Moon and Stars also shone brightly and the people complained that all the light hurt their eyes. Trickster suggested that the Sky God give some of his light to the Sun. Then the Sun complained that he was majestic and bright but nobody could see him against the golden Sky. They called Rainbow and she showed them her colours, but nobody could agree on which colour the Sky should be. Then the Watcher saw a newborn babe with eyes of blue and suggested that as the colour of the Sky.

The Sun was jealous of the Sky as the Sky God had as much Fire as the Sun, although it was spread about the Sky and didn't seem as hot. "Why don't you give me all the Fire?" he asked. Trickster suggested the Sky God give the Sun and Moon half the Fire and keep the rest, so the Moon became fat and began to give birth. As the babe emerged, Trickster hid it beneath his cloak and replaced it with a bag of air, saying that she just had wind. He took the baby and hid it beneath the earth. The Sun Wind stayed around and was raised as the son of the Sun and Moon, but it was a bad wind that brought problems wherever it blew. The Fire beneath the ground played with the earth goddesses it found there and had many sons and daughters. One day, he asked what was above the ground, as he had never been there. "Your father is the Sun and lives in the Sky" said the earth goddess and he set off with his sons to meet his father. Mountain Builder took the rocks of the earth and built a mountain for Fire to climb up to see the Sky. He did and burst out in a shower of molten rock and flame, becoming the first Volcano. He greeted the Sun as his father, but the Sun shunned him.

The Sky God had shed so many of his powers that he was looking frail and thin, but was surrounded by many gods and goddesses. He still had some of his Fire and clung to the warmth for comfort, but Trickster said "Why do you cling to the Fire? You would be so much purer if you let it go." Sky God believed Trickster and created a second Sun, to sit alongside the first Son. With this, he had shed all his powers and became powerless, an invisible god, freed of all things. Nobody realised, as the Sky was still there, the Emperor was still there and all the powers of the Sky God still lived on. The Sun was unhappy and wanted rid of his new brother, so he asked Trickster what to do. Trickster said he did not know, as he was a friend of all the gods, but he did know of a god that was the enemy of Fire and perhaps he would help. Together, they went to see this god who hid in the deep shadows at the foot of Sky Mountain. This was Mountain Shadow and he always moved behind the mountain when the Sun moved around. He agreed to help the Sun, but said that his price would be a marriage between the Sun and Mountain Shadow's daughter. The Sun agreed and returned to his place above the Sky Mountain. Some time afterwards, Mountain Shadow travelled to the top of Sky Mountain and introduced his daughter to the Sun and Moon. "But, the Sun already has a wife - The Moon", said the Moon, so Mountain's Shadow told the Sun to make his two wives embrace. When they did, his daughter became the Black Moon and the two goddesses were locked in their eternal embrace, turning slowly throughout the month. Mountain's Shadow then put the second Sun into a bag and fled to the shadows beneath the ground. He released the Fire in the Underworld and he became the God of Hellfire, warming the ground and punishing the wicked.

The Sun became afraid and tried to call his brother back, but he never came. After a while, he attached his Sun Horses to his Chariot of Fire and moved from his place at the top of the Sky Mountain and crossed the Sky to the end of the world, where he descended into the Underworld to search for his brother. He was gone for so long that his Moon-wives became worried and they followed him to the Underworld. As Dark Moon was of the shadows, she helped find the Sun and together they searched for the lost Fire. The people were afraid as the Suns and the Moon had disappeared, so they called them back. The Sun and the Moon-Wives heard the calls and returned to the Sky. But, every day the return to the Underworld to seek out their brother.

After the Sun and Moon returned from the Underworld, they agreed that the Moon would stay behind while the Sun returned every day to search for Lost Fire. When the Sun disappeared again the people were afraid of the Night, so the Moon sent Sleep to help them, but they were afraid of Sleep as it reminded them of the cold grave. The Moons sent dreams to people to help them sleep, the White Moon sent good dreams, the Black Moon sent bad dreams, the Red Moon sent nightmares and the Blue Moon sent dreams of prophecy.

The Sun's Moon-Wives were always arguing. Once, they cast nets into the Seas and pulled them to and fro until they began to overflow. The Sun came and beat them with a stick until they stopped. But, when he had finished, he saw there were three wives, the White Moon, Black Moon and a new Blue Moon who controlled the tides. He was happy that he had a new wife but was unhappy that he had to beat his wives, so he looked into Trickster's Bowl and created the Harem Keeper who would beat his wives for him.

The Sun's Moon-Wives were always arguing. Once, they cast nets upon all the women of the world to see who could command the most. They pulled them to and fro until they hurt the women and they began to bleed and cried out for help. The Sun heard their cries and went to stop his wives. The Harem Keeper beat them until they stopped and alongside the White Moon and Black Moon was a new wife, the Red Moon. The Sun was pleased that he didn't have to beat bis wives but was not pleased about his new wife, the Red Moon, whose hands were covered in blood. The White, Black and Red Moons drew lots to see who would have control over women. The White Moon won young girls, the Black Moon won old women and the Red Moon won the rest, which is why young girls and old women do not bleed according to the Moon.