Trafford Publishing: Raven in the Forest of Illusion

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Raven in the Forest of Illusion

by Leah SkyBird

391 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #04-1601; ISBN 1-4120-3786-7; US$25.35, C$30.72, EUR21.94, £15.36

Raven, a young Native American woman, is forced to employ secret ceremonial rites when the evil embodiment of the two-thousand-year-old-man invades and threatens her sacred ancestral forest.

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About the Book About the Author Excerpts Catalogue Information

About the Book

Is it possible to be born a witch and not know it? It was during a visit from her brother-in-law, Brandt, that Raven Red Wing begins to wonder if this can be so. It has long been rumored that women of past generations of her family had been blamed for witching practices. True, they were herbalists, as is Raven herself, and oft-times herbalists have been accused of alchemy and witchery.
But, the implications posed by Brandt's evil intent are horrifying. Will he stop at nothing to satisfy the entity which possesses him? Does Brandt possess some sort of multiple evil personality? Or, does it possess him? Does this malevolent personality spring up from him own evil, submerged deep within his own psyche? Or, is it some loathsome evil, existing far beyond Brandt's own pathetic life-time? Perhaps two-thousand years beyond?
Raven delves deep into the ancient ceremonial rites of her tribal roots, in a desperate attempt to save the sacred forest of her ancestry. In so doing, she is amazed to find that the forest literally comes alive around her, and, she, herself, possesses the essence of the spirit of the white lynx, and the shape-shifting abiltiy to call it up...But will this be enough?
In a wild, frenzied battle of free-flowing magical antics, that sends Raven spiraling back through the ages, to ancient Egypt itself, Raven discovers the Secret of the Cat as she attempts to fend off the ancient evil that has invaded her forest, staging her final stand from within the ceremonial chamber of the ancients.

About the Author

Leah SkyBird is an author, researcher and artist. Her historically accurate Native American artifacts, paintings and carvings are in museums, galleries, and private collections throughout North America and Europe. Ms. Skybird is also a noted restorer, working to preserve Eastern European religious icons, Buddhist temple statues, and other works that have been entrusted to her knowledge and talent from all parts fo the world.
Ms. SkyBird's research and articles on Native American culture, religion, and ethics has made her a respected resource and a requested lecturer. Her research on woodland flora has resulted in a series of articles and columns on herbs and their curative properties currently and as employed by early Native American Cultures. Ms. SkyBird is a licensed nurse and Herbalist currently pursuing a Masters Degree.
Descended from a Canadian band of the Iroquois Nation, Ms. SkyBird was married into the Iron Cloud family of the Lakota (Sioux) Nation and raised her children in the danger, beauty and tradition of the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. There have been a number of medicine men and women among Leah's ancestors. Her children's great grandfather was Chief Frank Fools Crow, considered one of the highest ranking ceremonial Chiefs of the Sioux Nation.
Ms. SkyBird's name was given to her by a respected elder, with the words: ''You have risen above the dark clouds of oppression. You have soared above and overcome, like a bird in the sky. Your new name shall be Skybird."

Excerpts and Table of Contents

Excerpts from chapter 47, Shadow of the Cat
Kneeling before the ancient graves, I presented my plea..."Meh-tauk-a-you-ah-seh, all my relatives, in respect to all who have passed this way before me...I...I suppose you already know, that I am going to need your help as never before. This fight belongs to all of us...for we dwell here together...you and I...all our relatives...two-leggeds and four, winged and crawling creatures, and the standing people of the forest."
"I go my way now, to prepare the Sacred Ceremony of the Forest People...If there be any forces, unknown to me, that you can bring forth...please, call upon these now...I go...Meh-tauk-a-you-ah-seh, all my relatives"
All through my training sessions with Red Wing, I had been preparing the cave for this very night.
In the ancient chamber, benches had been carved out, all along the walls, and niches chipped out for moss candles. The fire pit, dug out of solid rock and lined with limestone, stood before the rectangular slab altar...Dead center, lay a mask...carved from a living tree...removed only when every detail was complete. Sprigs still sprouted up all around the mask's circumferrence; some in bright autumn colors, others, still green and alive. The mask, itself, was so alive, that it still teamed with the tiny insect life which had dwelt there at its carving. This mask was the essence of the Spirit of the Forest.
I placed the eagle talon necklace around my neck...and put on the mask..."Put it on when the time is right," Red Wing had instructed. "You will know. The Spirit of the mask contains the Spirit o fthe Forest...and, within the Spirit of the Forest, dwells the spirits o fall our ancestors...the Haudenosaunee of hte Longhouse, the Seneca, the People of the Great Mountain, pround peoples of the mighty Iroquois Nation. These spirits will guide you, come to your aid, every step of the way."
In the far reaches of my mind, I began to pick up the throb of a distant drumb, beating time with my throbbing temples...the tch-tch-tch of dry seeds shaking within a hollow rattle...The haunting melodious strains of a cedar flute, floating in and out of the rustly leaves, upon the soft night breeze.
I picked up the flute, which lay upon the altar. Raising it to my still-blue lips, I began, hypnotically, to accompany the harmony within my head. The mellifluous honey-tone seemed to drift through the deep walled corridors, and on out into the night, seeking to join with tha tof the spirit one floating through the trees. The tones reached out to one another, like misty fingers, and, when they joined, the rustling amongst the branches increased, like a rising storm.

Table of Contents

A Bewitching Question
Sarah Furnace
Silent Forest, Deadly Forest
The Diabolical Duo
Something Evil This Way Cometh
Old Cemetery in the Woods
Coltsfoot and Wolfs-bane
Best Good Lookin' McClanahan in Pennsyltucky
A Twist of Fate
More Than Meets the Eye
Last Chance
Rice and Cheers
Rice Veil and a Widow's Peak
Chun-ka
Journey North
Port Allegheny
Bi-Polar Personalities
Month of the Cracking Ice
Blood Bath
Developments
Memorial Weekend
Catfish Creek
Ms. Horse 'n' Rider & the Appearance of the Cat
The Two-Thousand-Year-Old-Man & the Soul-less People
Forest of Illusion
Magic & Medicine Pouches
Sign of the Cat
Bear-Dog
A Trivial Matter
Horrific Implications
Shadow's Passing in the Night
The Games Begin
Institutions & A Slap in the Face
Spirit Song
Confrontation
The Arch-Angel Gabriel
Moon Lodge
Tales Witches Tell
Red Wing
Returns & Departures
Face in the Dark
Bear Gets Plastered
Red Wing Black Bird
Footprints in the Snow
Old Dogs, Old Tricks
Soul of the Cat
Shadow of the Cat
Invasion of the Chamber
Secret of the Cat
Afterward

Catalogue Information