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Andrew Ramer wrote the following at the First Midwest Gay Men's Spirituality Gathering in November 1992 (which turned out to be the last one too ~ oh well!). We focalisers of this Faerie Spirit Gathering read this piece at our first planning circle as a grounding for tapping into the energies overlighting this 3rd incarnation of the FSG. It turned out to be the very inspiration that moved us forward into the Gathering's intention and focus. We hope that you too will be inspired by Andrew's amazing story. And if you know Andrew, please invite him to the Gathering!

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Andrew Ramer

A STORY
OF OUR PEOPLE

There are many stories of our people. Our people have many different names. Sometimes we are called the Man-Woman People, and sometimes we are called the Not Man-Not Woman People. Because of our connection to the air, we are sometimes called the People With Wings, or the Fairy People. And because of our connection to the Earth, we are called the Fruit People and the Faggot People, which means the Bundle of Sticks Tied Together People. We have been called the Fixes the Hair People and the Makes Beautiful Lodges People. Sometimes we are called the Like-That People, the Happy People or the Strange People. But of all the names we have called ourselves and been called, my favorite is the Walks Between People.

After Father Earth had made all the different people, he looked around at all of them in their different places, all doing their different things and making their different kinds of beauty, and he was very happy. He was happy about everything that they were doing. Until he saw that every people was staying in its own place, keeping its own kind of beauty. This made him sad. This made him very sad. And he wondered who would connect them, who would bring their beauty from one place to another, so that everyone could know all the different kinds of beauty.

This troubled Father Earth. He did not know what to do about it. So he asked Grandmother Sun. She thought about it, and she thought about it, and she thought. She got so tired thinking that she fell asleep. And while she was sleeping, she dreamed. And in her dream, a new kind of people appeared, the Walks Between People - the People who walk between women and men, who walk between night and day, who walk between the sky and the earth, who walk between the living and the dead, connecting them, carrying their beauty from place to place.

When Grandmother Sun awoke, the Walks Between People were being born among all the other people. This made her very happy. For whenever we appear among the different people, we connect them. And wherever we appear among the different people, we find each other and we carry their beauty back and forth and back and forth. Now, by our love. all the different people can see all the beauty that there is. And this makes Father Earth happy. This makes him very happy. For we are a connecting people. And we are also a mysterious people. No one knows where we come from, or where we will appear. And they never will. Yes, we are a Mysterious People, and whenever they see us, we remind all the other people of the Great Mystery. Which is a good thing. A very good thing.

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