Even Heaven Falls Apart: Cherokee Cosmology from Creation to 2012 and Beyond

Our traditions tell of the coming of the Cherokee people to North America, of a series of devastations, each of which nearly exterminated humanity, and of the tenacious resolve of the survivors of each catastrophe to build a new world and not repeat the mistakes of the last world. Our traditions tell of the arrival of animal life on this planet, carried on stones crumbling from the edge of the heavenly dome, of its slow but determined migration from the oceans up to the dry land and into the air. Our traditions tell of the arrival of human life on this planet and of its origins elsewhere. Our traditions tell of the harmony that once existed between plants, animals, humans, minerals, and many other unseen levels of life with whom we share this planet. More importantly, these traditions tell how this fabled harmony can once again be restored. Perhaps most importantly, the many levels of our stories are lessons of deep insight into the drives and motivations that propel each one of us, often without our conscious awareness. Much more than a collection of stories to entertain children around the summer camp fires, our traditional stories teach us (and any who have the ears to hear) why the world is the way it is, why the world is not the way it should be, and what we as individuals and as communities can do about it.