myths and legends

The Warriors of the Rainbow Prophecy

One day... there would come a time, when the earth being ravaged and polluted, the forests being destroyed, the birds would fall from the air, the waters would be blackened, the fish being poisoned in the streams, and the trees would no longer be, mankind as we would know it would all but cease to exist

This is how the ‘Rainbow prophecy’ begins, as retold by a woman of the Cree Indian nation of America over a century ago.

While Wikipedia would have people believe that the legend originates in a 1962 book titled ‘Warriors of the Rainbow’ by William Willoya and Vinson Brown, the reality is that the prophecy is ancient, passed down as oral history over many generations.   Brown, himself, admitted that his research came from the Hopi prophecies, and the book has been criticised as an attempt to evangelize with the Native American community by relating the prophecy of the Rainbow Warriors to the Second Coming of Christ.
References to a new Era, a Golden Age characterised by harmony, stability and prosperity, do not just belong to the Native Americans, but can be found in myths and legends from all over the world.  It is known as Chryson Genos in Greek mythology, the Kali yuga in Vedic and Hindu culture, and gullaldr in Norse mythology.  One aspect that is common among many legends of the Golden era is the return of beings or gods that will aid in the restoration of the Earth.
In classical Greek mythology the Golden Age was presided over by the leading Titan Cronus. In some version of the myth Astraea, also ruled. She lived with men until the end of the Silver Age, but in the Bronze Age, when men became violent and greedy, fled to the stars, where she appears as the constellation Virgo, holding the scales of Justice, or Libra.
Whether these prophecies are true or not, much of what is spoken about – the era of greed and violence – is a reality throughout much of the world today.  Corruption, greed, poverty, consumerism, power to the few, and injustice are predominant characteristics of our civilization accompanied by a great technological advancement that has become a weapon for mass destruction and a tool for supressing resistance.  Whether beings from the past will interfere or not, one thing is for sure, life cannot continue in this way forever.

Featured Image: A Plains Cree warrior and pipe stem carrier. Painted by Paul Kane at the Fort Pitt region, North Saskatchewan River, Saskatchewan, Canada.(Public Domain/ Wikimedia)
By John Black
References
Cree Indians
Cree Indian Prophecy
Rainbow Prophecy
The Prophecy of the Rainbow Warriors 

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