Dear
Friends,
In my last newsletter titled "Shamanism
without Borders: the Way
of the Animals," I reflected
on some spiritual lessons
offered to me if I paid meditative
attention to the animals
and plants with whom I share
my daily landscape here on
Rabbits Run Rd.
The response of readers to the issues raised was vigorous, thoughtful, and plentiful.
I cannot answer each email directly but I am prompted to respond through focusing,
in a different way, to our relationship with other Beings and what they might
be gifting us with in the way of spiritual teachings. I'm broadening the scope
of attention beyond the land here and sharing with you three experiences that
have been important to me in pursing this issue of 'shamanism without borders'.
Horses
and Ghosts: When Worlds
Intersect
"Carol, can you please come
help our neighbor? There are
disturbances on her land...
the horses are panicking...
one horse ripped his forelock
while trying to bolt through
the wire fence but he won't
let us get near him."
I received this call about
14 years ago. I had not done
any previous healing work with
animals other than the many
dogs that have been part of
my life. The woman who called
me, however, had experienced
some of my shamanic work with
Spirits of Place and believed
that I could help them. I was
unsure so journeyed on this
and received assurance that
the necessary assistance would
come from my Spirit Helpers.
Upon arriving, I could see
the horses were clearly frightened
so first I needed to introduce
myself and let them know we
had come to help. One male
horse - clearly the leader
of the group - was especially
skittish and it took a while
before he accepted my strokes
and used them to calm himself.
Assessing the situation involved
**seeing
the Ghost (whom I called the
'Lurker' for he seemed to lurk
around the barns and house
bringing actual physical damage),
**contacting his ancestors,
**and being shown the situation
in his village that resulted
in his choice to pursue the
Dark Side as his source of
power both while living and
by his lingering spirit.
Different sites on the land,
including an ancient ceremonial
stone circle, offered us various
images of his relationships while
living and what had prompted
him to choose to use this type
of harmful power. Over the days
we were able to persuade him
to accept healing from an ancestral
shaman and allow his soul to
be taken to Elsewhere and to
Peace.
That healing of his soul and
subsequent departure occurred
one morning - by afternoon a
definitive calmness settled over
the Land and emerged from the
very soil and stones. But our
work was not through until we
did extraction, soul retrieval,
and restoring of power to the
lead horse and I don't think
he would have accepted this healing
until the Lurking Soul was gone.
Raven
Speaks
I
am waiting for my friend, Dan
Jordinelli, to pick me up at
LAX. He calls my cell phone to
report that he is late arriving
because he had stopped to pick
up a baby Raven lying in the
middle of the freeway after being
hit by a car. Stopping LA freeway
traffic long enough to get the
Raven into his car had taken
a while.
Dan pulls up and we head for
his house with the baby Raven
perched between the driver and
passenger seats. During the drive,
Raven and I are looking into
each other's eyes and I'm thinking: "You
are a BIG BIRD-are you going
to cause havoc while Dan is driving
and just why did you show up
today?" I'm aware of experiencing
an uncanny encounter with the
Spirit of Raven.
After
a visit to a vet, Dan places
young Raven into a temporary
enclosure on his deck. Within
thirty minutes, it seems
every Raven in California
has flown to perch in the
trees around Dan, close to
the enclosure, with several
flying around and over our
heads - all of them with
their dark, piercing eyes
intently watching us. Various
stories of Raven's power
and tricky behaviors keep
creeping into my mind - I
find myself both thrilled
and nervous with this experience.
The next morning we drive over to where I am teaching a Spirits of Nature workshop---a
Raven follows our car for almost forty minutes and then flies away. Halfway through
the morning session of the workshop, we all hear a banging on the window and
look over to see this large Raven tapping on the glass and peering into the room.
Dan and I share our experiences with the baby bird and the other Ravens and the
whole group journeys on the questions of:
"What is the meaning of Raven's behavior?" "Is there a message from the Ravens
as we focus on learning about the Spirits of Nature?"
While sharing our journeys, Raven suddenly takes flight and disappears.
Later in the afternoon, while communing with the Tree People on the Land, several
Ravens appear; some of them circle around the Trees while others land and walk
around us. Then once more, off they go in flight and we do not see them again.
Returning home that night, we discover all the Ravens have left Dan's house...
including Baby Raven for we had left open the door to the temporary enclosure
in case Raven recovered enough to take flight.
Wolf
in the Galilee Valley of Israel
Bob and I were making pilgrimage
in the Land of Israel. Earlier
that day, with our Israeli
friends, we had made ceremony: on a high hill above the Sea
of Galilee, we made prayers for the "People, the Animals, the Places, and the
Spirits of this Land"
that they might prosper in peace. We
planted there a beautiful many-colored
Prayer Tree with flags flapping
and blowing our supplications
over Sea and Land.
Our friend from Tel Aviv, Ziva
Garbi, was driving us from
the Galilee to Jerusalem where
we could wander this city of
such immense history.
As she is driving along, my
eyes catch what I think cannot
be: a Wolf dead by the side
of the road. ("Surely it is a dog but it looks like a Wolf," I say to
myself). I ask Ziva to stop immediately and to back up the car because I thought
I had seen a Wolf by the side of the road... having probably been hit by a car.
Ziva's first response: "there are no Wolves in Israel" yet
at the same time, she had come
to expect the unexpected on
our journeys there and she
quickly stopped the car.
We go back to the prostrate
body and sure enough this is
a Wolf now dead. All of us
are stunned: "How could this be?" In
the same moment, we realize
we must tend this Wolf and
not just leaving him there
by the side of the road.
From
our packs we gather our rattles
and drums, collect some of
the yarn we had from our
Prayer Tree ceremony, gather
some flowers in the area,
and return to Wolf. In
tears, we stroked Wolf and
apologized for the taking
of his life and that he should
be left so carelessly by
the side of the road. While
drumming and singing it became
quite clear that Wolf's soul
was wandering around his
body - clearly traumatized
from the violent nature of
his death. Continuing to
stroke him, we called his
Soul from its wanderings
and, with our Power Animals,
escorted his Soul to the
Land of Wolf's Ancestors.
We created a small shrine
there both to honor him and
to alert passerbys that a
precious life had ended here.
Later in the day, Ziva took
us to a Park and told the
Ranger about the Wolf. He
informed "Yes, there are
some wolves returning and
we are tracking them. " He
reassured us that someone
would go to where we had
found the Wolf and give him
a proper burial.
Walk
on the Wild Side - the Gifts and Revelations
In a previous posting on
my website, I spoke of how
the Animals seem to be calling
us with increasing urgency
these days. They are appearing
in our dreams, our journeys,
our newspapers, research, and
hopefully to our consciousness.
And just last week, I came
across an article in which
Cornell University historian
Dominick LaCapra claimed that
the twenty-first century will
be the century of the animal.
He was referring to the fact
that research into animal intelligence
and animal emotions has become
an established agenda in disciplines
of evolution, ethology, psychology,
anthropology, history, philosophy,
and religious studies.
Furthermore, it seems that
the research in these areas
are challenging many of our
basic assumptions about animals----and
we are discovering that animals
are more similar than dissimilar
to us... that in many areas
such as cognition, empathy,
fairness, and moral behavior
it is more a difference in
degree than in kind. I am fascinated
by the studies being undertaken
and partly because they are
validating many of the teachings
embedded in our Ancestors'
stories about our interrelationship
with other Beings.
So many of these stories have
as their narrative line how
one of the animals taught human
certain behaviors that would
prosper the people's survival
and other behaviors that would
restore balance when disharmony
occurred. These range from
Bear teaching how to make poultices,
to Buffalo teaching the importance
of using all and wasting nothing
to learning from Squirrels
how to store the seeds to observing
how Wolves practice adoption
procedures.
These are not anthropomorphic
projections which has always
been the accepted way to cast
dispersions on some forms of
interpretation of animal behavior.
Recent research has turned
the discussion upside down
and we now have to make sure
we are not missing some important
similarities.
Collaboration:
Borders and Boundaries
The reason I shared these
three stories, however, is
because they speak about
our partnership with the
animals... and not just in
the "ordinary world" but
in nonordinary reality too. And I am sure the Ravens were expressing their gratitude
for rescuing of their young in addition to reminding all of us in the workshop: "don't
forget about us... don't
forget about us."
When we refer to shamanism
without borders, there is
often the assumption that
we must move out beyond our
usual boundaries... I'd like
to suggest that if we pay
attention, we will discover
the animals, too, are moving
beyond their usual boundaries
and coming to us. Buried
deep in their memories are
times when the humans and
the animals walked together
- each recognizing necessary
territorial spaces yet these
are not the same as shutting
them out of our lives.
Perhaps they too recognize
that Earth herself is in
trouble which means all of
us are in trouble and by
working together we can find
solutions before it's too
late. In the stories above
they are reminding us: care
for the dying and care for
their souls; tend the sick
and relieve their suffering;
protect the young and gather
them into your care.
When a new focus e.g. shamanism
without borders, develops
among us, it's important
to make sure we don't create
other borders within the
mind. In these cases, it
is not a matter of going-out
but of allowing to come to
us and seeing what is already
here-calling to us. From
this perspective, perhaps
the news informing us that
more and more animals are
encroaching on human territory
(bears, coyote, deer, lions,
etc.) is not that they come
to take from us; perhaps
they are coming to seek,
to offer, some new, yet very
old, collaboration with us.
Here in Santa Cruz, we are
seeing the return of Mountain
Lions, Bear, and Bobcats
- their return is greeted
with voices of alarm by some. We
need to make sure that Voices
of Joy are also heard and
that we make every attempt
to speak with these Beings
and learn how we can collaborate.
The shamanic community has
a major role to play in such
collaboration because we
can speak with these animals;
we can speak with their Ancestors;
and we can discover and share
with others what changes
among us will contribute
to a world where every being
knows they have Home and
this IS Home.
Painful
Lessons at Home
Look around us... look
around us... who is there?
And do they know their
welcome. I am pained by
my own lessons in this
regard yet to share is
to learn together. In the
Spring a landscape crew
pruned our favorite rose
bushes so severely they
were not recovering. Meanwhile
what little shoots appeared
were being nibbled by rabbits
and deer.
I created a very small
plastic netting enclosure
for them... to give them
a chance to recover.
To my horror two days ago,
while cleaning the garden,
I discovered two baby rabbits
and one baby bird had gotten
caught in the netting and
died.
While
freeing their bodies I imagined
I could hear their squeals
of pain as they struggled
for freedom and wondered
what message they were sending
to the other of their kin!
We quickly tore away the
netting and I mused on the
sequence of events: a human
pruned the rose bushes too
severely; another human,
caring for the roses, created
a plastic barrier to protect
them. The result: the roses
still haven't gotten reestablished,
and three wildlife kin have
been killed.
This is but a variation on what can happen, with the best of intentions, when
we create inflexible boundaries and barriers. I have a sore place in my heart
for these little ones... and I am growing a new chamber in my heart from which
to love, tend, and speak for our Kin - whether of land, water or air.
Blessings,
Carol
Workshops in Santa Cruz
June and July
full description of each workshop
is available at www.shamaniccircles.org and www.shamanicvisions.com.
Registration forms and coordinator
contact information are also
available online. If you are
interested, please contact
Pirkko, our coordinator.
**Scholarships are available
for those needing financial support.
July
23 - 26 Buffalo and BearMedicine
for our Present Age (see
description)
We will soon be posting materials
(stories, reflections, songs, & information)
related to the themes of these
workshops. I invite you to bookmark
the workshop web pages and return
to peruse these materials.
More Information
- Complete information about workshops
can be found at Carol's
website or will be sent
to you upon request.
- These workshops welcome
commuters as well as residential
participants.
- Partial scholarships are
available and can be applied
for when registering.
To
register for one or more
workshops with Carol, contact
the Coordinator for
Shamanic Visions:
Pirkko
Miller at Pirkko@embarqmail.com
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P.S. We invite you to visit
our Home
Page to see if there are
other shamanic activities listed
there in which you might be
interested.
Or if you wish to join in
a Circle, check our Global
Circles web page to see
if there is one in your area.
If not, then please start one
because Circles can be powerful
places of support for each
of us on the shamanic path. |