A Place Where Three Rivers Meet

Art by Hugh D'Andrade

I watched the movie, "47 Ronin" for the first time today. It is a Japanese tale that was rewritten to include a role for non-Japanese actor, Keanu Reeves. As I watched, I wasn't so much riveted by the samurai true tale it was based on, but the extra storyline of the outsider who was trying to find acceptance and his place in the world, a place where he belongs.

As I watched Kai's (Keanu) struggle to earn acceptance with those around him who he respected, I thought about all the times I went to Native American pow wows thinking I had native ancestry. I hadn't yet learned, thanks to my cousin taking a DNA test, that there is absolutely zero native blood in my people who came before me. I always knew my mom's side was all European, but I had heard all of my life that my paternal grandfather was part Native American. My cousin's mother is sister to my father, so if he has no native genetic markers, then neither do I.

Regardless of my genetic origins, I went to pow wows believing fully that some of my ancestors had been one of them, yet I look entirely white. I have had a deep love for native culture, but was taken back when I experienced the underlying hate of white people. It is understandable, given how many of their people and much of their culture was decimated by the white man. But how can we ever move forward in peace with each other with so much hate and resentment hidden in our hearts passed on from generation to generation?

I was once Facebook friends with a well known Native American author and the hateful things he would say in comments was too much for me. His writings are celebrated by people all over the world, but he didn't practice his own wisdom, which I find tragic. I ended up deleting him as a friend after one of his hateful rants.

I have stopped going to pow wows because they only make me feel like an interloper. I feel like that outcast Keanu portrays in 47 Ronin.

Art by memir/Emir Õzbay

As I watched the movie, I wondered if that is how Keanu often feels in life, out of place and uncertain where he truly belongs. I have this sense of someone who is trying to find his place by exploring his roots, but, similar to the movie, he isn't a pure blood. Kai is a half blood, but Keanu has three distinct ancestral lines coming into him. When you aren't really pure enough, you might genetically be a member of them, but you are also not fully accepted by any of them as part of their people, their tribe.

As I considered which lines were coming into him, I understood he is actually something special because the three lines are one from each of the original tribes created that I learned about when I studied ancient Sumerian text and the creation story. The original line of humans created were dark skinned. A line branched off and  became what was considered the light skinned line. This is the line most people know about and is known through the biblical tale of "Adam and Eve". This was the line that gave birth to twins, Ka'in and Aba'el (aka Cain and Abel).

We all know that Ka'in killed Aba'el. What most people don't know is that Ka'in's punishment was to be genetically altered so that he couldn't grow a proper beard, which would forever mark those from the line of Ka'in. A certain number of generations had a good old fashioned curse placed on them where the sons would kill their fathers. Ka'in was sent to the far east with his sister wife and was the start of the third line of humans.

Keanu is where the three lines meet. His mother is of the light line (Caucasian) and his father was part dark (Native Hawaiian) and part line of Ka'in (Chinese).

I thought to myself, "Keanu is the place where three rivers meet and that makes him special."

I initially thought I would base my next Instagran series of three on these thoughts and set out to see if there was a single word that means "where three rivers meet" and was surprised by what I found.

"Kiana" is the Eskimo word for "place where three rivers meet".

I smiled and considered it was fitting that "kiana" is so close to the name Keanu. I have gotten used to all of the "coincidences" that are really clues, signs and syncs leading me somewhere, but they never cease to make me smile because it helps me know I am following the correct trail.

What is that I hear you thinking? There are others who are places where three rivers meet? Aren't they special to me too? Yes and no. It is lovely to have that genetic unification of the three lines in anyone, but I wasn't guided to them as part of my Scooby Doo adventure, so they are irrelevant to me personally until I am guided there.

All of those animal references I get in dreams makes a little more sense to me now when applying the three lines theory to it . Some people are referred to as cats, some as dogs, and still others are birds. I came across an Egyptian image not long ago that brought this idea home visually. The only thing missing is a cat headed person.

I have no profound conclusions. I just thought it was interesting information I wanted to share.

This is the adult version of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" but more like "If Oktobre Watches a Movie". LOL