The Boiling River

Part IV | The Jaguar Path | Peruvian Amazon

As an archer, Sagittarius is said never to fail in hitting the mark and this depiction alludes to the power of prophecy, hence, the claim that seers and prophets are born in this sign.

~

The Amazonian dancer was a male curandero wearing a headdress made from the red, yellow and blue feathers of Scarlet Macaw. The dancer was accompanied by the upbeat rhythm of an apprentice's animal skin drum and steam was rising around them in thin streams of white mist. Three or four pairs of bright yellow eyes gleamed behind the dancer in the jungle night.

“The river will show us what we need to see.” The dancer bent down, felt the water was too hot to touch and pulled his hand back with a sudden shriek.

"Too hot for us!"

The drummer stopped drumming his steady beat, and sat quietly, his arms around his knees, staring up at the darkness above.

"The starry night sky looks different here, Boss."

The two men slept and the night's inky blackness was replaced by the trickle of a myriad of dreams. The curandero dreamt he had journeyed for one hundred years in order to find all the colors he needed to paint the sunset back home. He had gathered flowers from almost every continent in order to find the perfect shades of orange, yellow, red, pink and blue. In his pocket, he still had the seeds from the bright red Blood Spider Orchid from Australia, the last continent they had visited on their search.

 When they woke up the next morning, the curandero left a few Blood Spider Orchid seeds in the ground, near the spring's warm water and left on the journey home.

~

The carpet shifted on the horse's back and Cassie almost fell off. Kirti watched as the small girl astride the huge, black horse clung desperately to the horse's back, her small hands white as they gripped the black mane tightly.

Notes

[1] Blood Spider Orchid

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caladenia_filifera]

[2] Inside the Hidden World of Jaguars

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/12/shrinking-kingdom-of-the-jaguar/]

[3] Panthera

[https://www.panthera.org/]

[4] The Boiling River: Adventure and Discovery in the Amazon

by Andres Ruzo (2016)

[5] The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush

by Tomie dePaola (1996)

[6] The Boiling River, Shanay-Timpishka

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanay-Timpishka#/media/File:R%C3%ADo_Mayantuyacu_Shanay-timpishka.png]

[7] The Boiling River

[http://www.boilingriver.org/]

[8] Mayantuyacu - healing retreat near Pucallpa, Peru

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayantuyacu]

[9] Jaguar Warrior

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar#/media/File:Jaguar_warrior.jpg]

[10] Black Jaguar (Black Panther) at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_panther#/media/File:Jaguar.jpg]