Eagle Circles The Area

 

The Eagle landed and pulled up a mouse, and then took off over the river.  It circled around my dog and me, twice, and flew away.  In the time that it circled, it cried out several times.  I felt like it was doing a shamanic circle around us and giving us a blessing.  

That night, I dreamt.  I dreamt of being in a circle of animals.  Some were eagles and some were deer and bear, and wolves, and rabbits, and owls and geese, and skunks and otters.  It felt like many of the forest and plains animals were there.  I remember seeing a buffalo and an elk as well.  

The purpose of the circle was to get some agreements on caring for the land.  The idea was that all of the animals were family, and that as a family, they needed to care for the earth that they lived on.  Basically each animal had a circle or patch of land to care for.  I can’t tell you what the rules were, if any, because it did not seem important to me.  I can tell you that while the circle was in session, several very large eagles flew over it and around it as though they were protecting the area.

It made me think of the Ancestors who came west in wagons.  At night, to protect their families and their livestock, the pioneers would circle their wagons to protect their little area.  I feel like Eagle was telling me that it is time to circle the wagons and to protect what is mine, and to keep my family safe.  I am working on that now.

May you work to keep your family safe.

Blessings,

Judy

Teachings From A Holstein Steer

One of my memories of my childhood is a black and white Holstein steer. He was one of Dad’s feeder steers in the corral.  For some reason, Harry, which is what we called him, liked kids.  He would come over and stand beside us, bringing with him a mouthful of hay.  Or, after he’d finished at the water trough, he would come over to have his shoulders rubbed or the spot above his eyes and below his horns rubbed.  

 

Picture of a Holstein bull to approximate the size of the steer.

Dad was worried that he might hurt us because he was so big.  However, he was extremely gentle with us.  My brother and I got to the point where we would get up on his back and talk to him, and get him to walk around the corral.  The other steers just seemed to think he was the oddest thing.  They would stare at him when he was with us kids.  If we were riding Harry near them, they would snort or bellow, and move away.  At one point, my brother and three of his friends were all sitting on Harry’s back. All the boys were ten years old.  

One day, someone left the back gate unchained and when the steers rubbed against it, the gate opened.  The thirty or so steers stampeded to freedom.  They ran out into another big field, and when they saw how green the grass was, they stopped running and began to graze.  After realizing that the steers were out, Dad organized my brother and I in a chute arrangement and Dad and our dog, Flash, headed out to the field to round the steers up.  They came running in as fast as they ran out, and were prepared to run past the gate, over top of my brother and I, and head east.  Harry was running with the rest of them.  When he got to us, he slowed down and stopped with both of us kids in front of him and out of the way of the other cattle.  When the herd passed us, Harry went around us and trotted off after them.  Yes, we eventually got the steers back in several hours.  After all, they would not want to miss their evening feeding.  

What I learned from our time with Harry, through the playing with him, and his affection, are the following ideas:

• It is okay to have interests outside of your friends and family.  New interest broaden your horizons.
• Always protect your friends.
• When people gang up on you, you don’t need to get angry or be afraid; simply stand firm.
• Kindness and affection know no boundaries. Love is permanent in your heart.
• Sometimes you need to break the patterns in order to see how good routine and life, in general, are for you.
• Just because it seems you have a lot in life, it doesn’t mean that you can’t aspire to something else.
• Four legged friends are sometimes truer than two legged friends.
• Friends may pass through your life, however, the memories last a lifetime.

Blessings,

Judy