Badger Away!

 

This is post is a copy of what I wrote in my journal after a trip into the mountains in Kananaskis Country several years ago.  

**************************************************

As we drove home from the mountains Thursday, we saw a wide variety of animals and birds.  I was surprised to see a big badger run away from us, and across the road and into the grass. 

Badgers are typically dawn and dusk beings as they are very much a loner type animal.  This badger, however, was on a mission, and ran across a busy two lane highway.  The irony of me writing this story is that one of the characteristics of badger in all the legends is that Badger is the Keeper of Stories.  Before the written word was so prominent, all traditions handed down their history by story telling.  In each family was one member who could recite the family lineage right back to the oldest memories.  We lost our tradition of story telling in the 1700’s with the growth of the Industrial Revolution and its need for written instructions to keep the spread of machines growing.

Back to Badger!  Badger is an underground dweller.  It reminds us to stay grounded.  She also reminds us to dig deeper into the issues that are occurring in our lives because the surface problem is not at the root – the root is generally always hidden beneath the layers – of dirt, or of stories, or of self deception.

Badger likes to be by herself because she is very strong and self confident.  Her questions are:

• Are you lacking confidence in something?
• Are you seeing only the surface of a story?  Do you need to dig deeper?
• Are you using your stories to cause harm?  Are someone else’s stories causing you harm?
• Do you need to tell a story to teach something?
• Does your story need to be told so that you can let go of it?

May Badger come to you in your dreams and give you a way to get to your roots!

Many blessings,

Judy

Welcome June 2024

Picture of Fairy Tree in the meadow in Fish Creek Park – from Caro and used with permission.

 

As we move into the month of June, two things always jump to my mind. One – this is the sacred time of weddings, and two – this is the time of the power of Summer Solstice. What makes June sacred is that the Goddess, Juno (Roman) also called Hera (Greek) is the sacred patron of maidens and women. It is she who blesses unions and blesses the conception of children. In fact Juno blesses all creative acts and her power is strongest in mid summer. She is profoundly feminine, and powerful. Legend has it that Juno causes the wealthy to share their wealth with poorer folks, or for good causes. All the rivers, streams, lakes and oceans are her domain in summer because of the life that is created from the water.

Summer Solstice is a time of gathering of family and tribe. It is a time to celebrate the feminine – the ability to endure and to create. It is a time of healing when we cleanse to make ourselves stronger; when we ask for blessings to prevent tragedy and to protect us and our projects and crops for another year. This is a time of abundance for the first of the harvest – lettuce, green onions, peas, beans, and herbs are now ready.

The full moon in June is called “The Mead Moon” for this is the best time for making dandelion wine and honey wine.   June’s emotions are about loyalty and bonding.  Our Ancestors also knew that June, with its unpredictable weather, is about enduring and continuing.  Healers often pick herbs at this time because the strong summer sun and moon are good vibrations for the harvesting of herbs for cleansing, strengthening, and for protection.

May your June be sunny and happy!

Blessings,

Judy

Snow Leopard Has Messages

"Their big eyes are so well adapted for low-light vision that snow leopards can hunt in near total darkness—but they can still go hungry when humans compete for their prey. Though trophy hunts for wild sheep and goats bring income to local communities, they can deplete food stocks for snow leopards."   Out of the Shadows, photo project by Steve Winter  The Winner of The Best Wild Nature Photo 2008

Snow Leopard has the colour brown, for the Earth, black for the Night and mystery and magic, and white for the Day, and connection to Great Spirit.  The reverence for Snow Leopard is displayed in the many legends around it. 

In  Nepal, in Dolpo, there are stories of great lamas frequently making trips to Tibet in the form of snow leopards, in search of rare medicinal herbs. Other folklore describes the snow leopard as a “fence” for the crops, meaning that in the absence of snow leopards livestock would be free ranging and thus would invade crop fields.

Dr. John Mock, in 2004, went to Pakistan, and investigated some of their myths.  This is one around the Snow Leopard.

Pari are female supernatural denizens of the high mountains. People in Pakistan, Afghanistan, north India and throughout Central Asia are familiar with pari. The Wakhi ethnic population in northern Pakistan, China, Tajikistan and Afghanistan have their own word for pari: mergichan. The mergichan inhabit the mergich realm, which is the realm of the mountains and high pastures. It is a pure, even sacred realm, where the supernatural mountain spirits tend their wild flocks of blue sheep and ibex. The Wakhi word for snow leopard is pes. A pes is a mergich animal found only in mergich areas. It rarely interacts with people, is hard to see, powerful, beautiful, and potentially dangerous. As such, it exemplifies many of the qualities of the mergichan, and so is an appropriate animal shape for them to assume.

If Snow Leopard comes to you, then know it brings several messages, and all of them or some of them may be for you!

1. Living high in the mountains, this animal is at one with Great Spirit and Mother Earth.  Leopard communes with the Wisdom Keepers (in Munay-Ki the mountains are Wisdom Keepers).  She reminds you to open up your intuitive abilities.
2. Snow Leopard moves invisibly and so is able to stalk her prey, as elusive as her prey is.  The message is clear – keep a very low profile as you pursue your goals to avoid drawing attention and competition to what you do.
3. Leopard is a hunter that attacks the neck from the back. As many belief systems say the soul enters and leaves through the back, it is believed that Leopard may consume souls. If Leopard comes to you, know that she is telling you that it is difficult for you to meet people face on, and to ensure your back is covered.  She also cautions about moving up on someone else’s back.  Balance in all things is required.  If you do need to defeat someone, beware of taking on their “stuff”.
4. Leopard medicine is one that requires strong bodies – and quick action.  This may lead to humans with quick, angry tempers.  Leopard cautions that the angry energy must be released. If not released, it will settle into the body causing pain in the bones and limbs…arthritis may result.

May those of you with Leopard medicine find peace.

Many blessings,

Judy

Lessons From The Dragon

Picture of dragon from an email so origin is not known,

The legends of Dragons are about how fearsome they are, how they hunt humans and other animals, and how they must be destroyed.  Over and over, Dragon has been showing up for me in the last several days and nights.  She comes in as a protector, as a guide, and as a teacher.  Dragons, in some cases, are immortal.  In their disgust with the human’s predatorial and aggressive behaviour to dragons and especially to other humans, Dragons shifted to other dimensions or to very hidden caravans below the Earth’s surface.

Now, Dragon and her kind are returning to this plane.  It is time, she indicates, for dragons to re-join humans as humans become more loving and kind.  She says that we have lessons to learn.

• Treasure does not feed your soul.
• What you eat may not appeal or even be acceptable to others.  This is their lesson, not yours.
• We each look the way we look on the surface.  One needs to get to know the being before making judgements about who they are inside.
• All beings have the physics within them to deconstruct and to reconstruct themselves (teleportation).  Most will need help with the mechanics of doing this.
• Telepathy has always been on the planet Earth.  However, due to the toxins in processed foods and in drugs, it has been bred out of most humans.  Only those aboriginals living in isolation are able to comfortably use that part of their brain.
• Dragons are known for their healing skills.  They wish to share this with all of you.

I was surprised at the Dragon’s list of lessons.  And, I am curious to see how Dragon will work with me and with the rest of humanity. 

Many blessings,

Judy

Blue Jay Sings From The Tree Tops

                   

When we were out for our walk at Christmas, my dog and I were regaled by five Blue Jays, sitting at the tops of pine trees and nearby shrubs.  Their song sounded like “get ready, get ready, it’s here”, and it sounded like they were speaking of spring.  Or, maybe they meant that the days were now getting longer.

As we continued our walk, I could see the Sun shining through the trees, and it looked like the Sun had gotten bigger.  I remembered what I read from a mystic’s channelling – to pay attention to the Sun because it knows what it is doing.  And then I remembered that one of the legends about the Blue Jay.  The Blue Jay has its colour from flying back and forth between the Earth and the Heavens and that Creator gave it the colour, blue, to represent all the truth that it carried.

This made me think that Blue Jay was once again carrying the truth of great energies hitting the Earth, and that Blue Jay was telling all humans to prepare for the onslaught of light.

Many blessings,

Judy

A Lonely Crow - Spirit Animal

Picture of 
"Crow In Flight" from Wikipedia

 

We are at the time of year when all of the crows should have flown south - from Alberta - for the winter.  So, I was surprised to see one lonely crow in the park woods on my walk the other morning.  I know it was a crow because of the distinctive "caw" noise.  Thinking about the scene, I then began to wonder if I had actually seen the crow or whether it was a Spirit Crow that was there as the woods were eerily quiet.

Crow makes a wide range of noises, and it is possible to learn their language in our rather primitive human way.  Sometimes the sounds are about danger, others about gossip and where the food is, or where there are other animals that may present some fun! The shiny blackness of Crow's feathers remind us that absolute blackness is the chaos that we - the cosmos - was born out of. And, Crow represents the magic that is present during the day. (Appropriate for me in the woods.) 

What messages does Crow bring?  Messages that really need to be reflected upon.  Here are some of them.

a)   Crow likes to be very high up to observe and watch for danger.  If you see Crow, and she is cawing at you, perhaps you need to be warned of danger ahead.

b)  Crow likes to gather with other crows.  Some liken this to a Council.  Perhaps it is time to turn to your Council of Twelve for guidance.

c)  Various legends of the Gods and Goddesses tell of their use of Crows as spies because Crow has an inherent knowledge of truth.  If Crow appears, it may be that she is saying that you need to look beyond the apparent for the actual Truth.  Shaman say that you need to look for the story behind the story.  

d) Crow therefore is also about integrity.  Is there something that is challenging your truth and integrity?  Do you need to be diligent or discerning in your association with others?

As I look at my Crow experience, I realize that my  message came from Great Spirit, and that Crow was there to remind me that there is much beyond what we know, and that I need to turn more to guidance from Great Spirit, Ancestors, and my Council of Twelve.   I will be spending more time in mediation!

Blessings,

Judy

The Story of Otter Saving The Animals

One of my young friends loves otters!  She identifies with their swimming, their playfulness, and their resourcefulness.

She wanted to know an old story of the otters.  The following Cree legend is for her.

*****

As the story is told, in the days when the earth was new and there were no men but only animals, the sun was far away in the sky. It was so far away that there was no summer. It was so far away that the trees and the grasses did not grow as they should. 

He-Who-Made-the-Animals saw how it was that there was not enough sun to heat the earth, and so he fashioned a snare. The Sun did not see the snare in his path, walked into the snare, and the snare held him fast. 

Then the sun was close to the earth. In fact, the snare held the sun so close to the earth that there was no night. Day after day the sun shown and the earth dried and the grasses withered. There was not enough food or water for the animals and they desperately called a council. 

"Sun," the animals said, "You give too much heat to the earth." 

"Set me free from this snare" the Sun said, "and I will go away." 

"But if you go away, then there will not be enough heat." 

"Set me free," the Sun said, "and I will come to the edge of the earth in the morning and in the evening; then at noon-time I will stand straight above the earth and warm it then." 

The animals sat around the council fire and they said, "Who is going to set the sun free?" 

"I shall not do it," Wildcat said. "Whoever sets the sun free must go so close to the sun that he will be burned to death." 

Lynx said, "Whoever sets the sun free must chew the leather thong that holds him; the sun will burn him to death before he can do it." 

"I shall not do it," said the deer, the wolf and the raccoon. 

"I shall do it," Otter said. "How can you do it?" said the animals. "You are too small, your teeth are for fish, and your fur has already burned away." None of the other animals liked the otter because he played too much. They did not think he was brave. 

"Let him try," Bear said. "He will burn to death, but we will not miss him. He is of no use to us. He looks silly now that his fur is gone." The animals laughed. 

Ignoring the taunts, the otter set off to the place in the sky above the earth where the sun was held by the snare. Otter took many days to get to the sun. The sun burned him. The sun was so bright, Otter had to close his eyes. When he reached the sun, Otter began to chew on the leather thong that held the sun. His skin was burning and blistering, his eyes were hot stones. But Otter did not stop chewing. 

Suddenly he chewed through the leather. The animals saw the sun rise into the sky. The animals felt the cool winds begin to blow on the earth. Otter had freed the sun from the snare. 
Time passed. Otter lay in the center of the council ring. There was no fur at all left on his body. His skin was burned and scorched and his flesh was falling off his bones. His teeth were only blackened stumps. 

He-Who-Made-the-Animals also stood in the center of the council ring. "Otter," he said, "the animals will not forget what you have done for them. I will see that they do not forget," and he gave Otter new strong teeth, tireless muscles, keen eyesight, and a powerful tail to help him in his hunting and in his play. He did not have to give him bravery. But he gave him new fine fur that was like down on his skin, and a second coat of fur to guard the first so that he would not get cold in water or in winter. Then he gave him joy so that he would always be happy in his otter's life, and Otter has so remained until this day.

Many blessings,

Judy

Robin Sings

The Robins returned to our yard and each morning, at about 4:20 AM, they begin singing and sending cheer throughout our yard and surrounding neighbor yards.  Much like the Monks who rise at 4 AM to chant in the day, Robin's music meditation lifts your spirits and lets your imagination soar.  

Robin, legends say, is celebrating that it could steal a fire ember and bring fire to earth.  In the process, its breast feathers were scorched red and its head was blackened with smoke and soot.  So, Robin sings of bravery and of going beyond your self.

Many Blessings,

Judy