National Water Center, Eureka Springs, Arkansas
         

National Water Center, Eureka Springs, AR

Updated: April 2014 Contact: Contact: NWC

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The Salmon Circle

by Fraiser Lang

The salmon circle is a mandala — a particular way of seeing the world and our place in it. Within the salmon circle mandala, we find oceans, rivers, mountains, forests, clouds, and the lives of many beings; from the tiny crustaceans that feed the salmon, to the Orcas, eagles and humans that salmon feeds. The seasons and their turning are also woven into the mandala. At the center are the cycles of the salmon; their 5000 mile migrations, their unerring. long-range aim at their spawning. time and place, their iron-clad four-year contract with life, their incredible regenerative drive, their passion.

We are also in the salmon circle. Turtle Island is ringed and shot through with water. Each of us that touches water, Atlantic or Pacific, also touches the salmon. Water is the sacred binding element in the mandala.

Within the cycles of the salmon are the cycles of our own lives. Doing the salmon dance we feel the salmon swimming in our own bodies. We can see our birth as fry in the rivers. We see ourselves growing and engaging with the world, in the oceans, getting in deep water, rough seas. We feel our impending deaths, and the primal urge to pass something on. We see our flashing, silver bodies decay and redden.

The salmon circle is turning in the rivers and oceans right now. We can join it. The salmon circle is there, already complete and perfect. It’s us who have lost the taste of the waters that guide us. It’s us who have lost the way home.