Asibikaashi

The mountains are back to quiet today

So the elders are spinning stories to children

Those of you about to join the initiates’ circle

Listen, and you’ll hear Asibikaashi say

Take heed, brave ones, accepting the long pipe

When innocence enters the circle of protection

There visit the spirits of evil waiting to see

If some in the circle are called to vision

Asibikaashi warns all

If you vision like the Ojibwe

Evil may find you and pursue you,

If you break circle with the Ojibwe

The terrible Wiindigo will stalk you

I awoke far from the circle of protection

The elders waving healing smoke upon my eyes

Your purity was called to vision

In fear, you broke the sacred circle screaming

The Ojibwe elders said, understand

No one walks away from the dreaming

You disrespected the manidoog spirits, so all elders decree

That you will know when the Wiindigo screams

Asibikaashi, you spinner of bile, this one shall be mine

His dream catchers will bleed my dreams

I hang Spider Woman’s dream catchers

In every window of my soul

I pray every day to the ancestors

These hold the Wiindigo at bay

My vision elder, old as the mountains

Cried the day I walked away

And all he could say

Asibikaashi warns all

If you vision like the Ojibwe

Evil may find you and pursue you,

If you break circle with the Ojibwe

The terrible Wiindigo will stalk you

I’m known as the banished, the unseen, Ojibwe

Haunting the mountains, hunting for salvation

It’s been three moons, and I seem forgiven

So I laughed at Asibikaashi’s warning

And the echo of my spirit said, listen

Your ancestors are all crying

Asibikaashi

His dream catchers are bleeding

Something is screaming

Something evil is coming

Mountains echoing

Forgive me Asibikaashi

Forgive me Asibikaaaaaaaaaaaaa

The mountains are back to quiet today

So the elders are spinning stories to children

© 2026 John Osinga. All rights reserved. St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada.

Dark Folk / Gothic Americana | Mood: Intense / Defiant / Melancholic