Sadness On Losing Someone

 

Picture Taken by Judy Hirst in Summer of 2022 in Elbow Falls Recreation Area

I know that we have all lost someone and that we all grieve in different ways.  I want to talk about the sadness that we can feel when someone we have had adventures with and laughed with and made plans with, passes suddenly.

My Uncle died several weeks ago.  I didn’t feel grief like I have with other people who have died.  Instead, I felt and still feel this heavy sadness that is like a blanket that I cannot shake off.  It stays with me.  I am doing fun things, liking walking my dog with my friends and out of no where, the weight of the blanket wraps around me and I lose track of the conversation.  I look up to the sky.  I am lost momentarily.  And then someone calls me back.  

Or, I am busing doing household chores, and I stop because I remember a time where we were out to dinner or sitting on the house steps drinking iced tea and telling stories.  Or he was showing me pictures of my cousins, spread out in different places.  

I am sad.  I am sad for me. I am sad for his wife and for my cousins.  I am sad for all the people that knew him and loved him. 

I am sad for all the people that have lost people this year in wars, violence, illness, and accidents.

I know that time will balance out the sadness to memories and the happy times.  Eventually, peace will come.

Blessings,

Judy

Mother Moose - Spirit Animal

Animal mothers always amaze me in that they know who is around them, and if there are people, which people are trustworthy and which are not.

Last weekend, Mother Moose and her young calf were ambling through the bushes, and M. Moose was eating to keep up her strength while the young moose was exploring.  When she saw me, M. Moose turned to face me and assess whether she should flee.  She chose not to.  I wondered how she made these decisions.

Here are some lessons from Mother Moose:

1. Stay close to cover. To be too far out in the open puts the newborn at risk.
2. Don’t walk under rocks or too close to them because the big cat (cougar) hides there.
3. When the new shoots are green, eat your fill. You may not have time to eat later. 
4. Bed down where your back is protected.  You need only fight on one front if you are attacked by wolves.
5. Keep the young fed so they have the strength for the journey.

Many blessings,

Judy

Wolverine Power - Spirit Animal

When I watched the movie “Wolverine”, I realized the significance of the warrior adapting animal characteristics.  Certainly, Logan was a warrior by the nature of his upbringing – parentless and on his own since he was very young.  However, combining Wolverine’s power with his morality and hero complex, a new type of evolution of man is portrayed.  Perhaps this is not so fictional as it seems.  The indigenous people have always believed that one may call on their power animal or spirit animal for help in any situation.

Picture of wolverine from email




Wolverine, a member of the weasel family, was once found through out Europe, Russia, and North America.  It is now only in sparsely populated areas. (The wolverine is distributed primarily in remote reaches of the Northern boreal forests and subarctic and alpine tundra of the Northern hemisphere, with the greatest numbers in Alaska, Canada, the Nordic countries of Europe and throughout western Russia and Siberia. – from Wikipedia)

Although it looks bearish, it has the cunning and speed of the weasel, and, it is extremely strong so it can vanquish animals several times its size.  Its ability to survive comes from its ability to adapt.  Wolverine has been appearing to people in dreams and in pictures with a very clear message.

“It is time to retreat from the mass population of humans.  Seek the quieter, wilder places because this is where you will find the abundance of nature to clear the air of pollution and to purify the water that runs with pesticides and fertilizer.  The chemicals change us all.  It is not the way of the Circle (Great Spirit).  The Circle gives us the gift of our strength, speed, and knowing to use to keep our species going (natural selection).  We gladly lend our strength and knowing to those who call on us because we would like to see humans shed the unnatural ways that man has become.  
Once, the wise ones of the tribes, the Ancestors of us all, spoke together and exchanged information.  They taught one another and helped each other keep the balance.  Man has now broken the balance of the Circle.  When that happens, then the Breaker is punished.  In the case of man, who can tell who the Breaker is?  Each thing that man does causes harm.  We say to you, “Dig in!”  Dig into the earth and see how beautiful it is.  See too, how damaged it is in places.  Fix this!  When others try to force you to bend to their will, call on us.  We will gladly come!  We will share our power, unlike the humans who covet power so much.  We will stand with you.
To find your link to us, meditate on the nature of Wolverine. We are not filled with anger.  We are filled with love.  We will fight though, for what is ours by Nature’s law.  We follow the wisdom of the moon, of nature, of the laws of life.  We feel the pulse of the changes coming.  We will help you.”

Many Blessings,

Judy

Gorilla on Strength -Spirit Animal

Teachers tell us that when animals appear in our dreams, visions, and through pictures in our daily lives, that the animal has a message or wisdom to share.

Gorilla has been showing up to give remarkable demonstrations on strength.  Some of her thoughts are:

• Strength must be both physical and mental.  To achieve your strongest physical capability, you must practice (workout). To achieve your clearest mental state, you must take on challenges.
• Your personality must be clearly defined with a strong sense of goodness and fairness.  Bullies and nasty actions are not accepted.
• Make either your hearing or your sight one of your strongest traits.  Hearing will let you hear those that plan to harm you.
• Strength lies in the loyalty of the tribe to one another and to finding food for the good of all

Gorilla tells us to evaluate where we stand with family, with friends, and with our colleagues at work.  She asks us to measure the worth of sticking with them.

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

Catching The Dream

Great Spirit!

Hear me, your child of many birthing times call to you.

I feel the shifting of the buffalo in dream time. I feel the Earth shudder as the Sun and the Moon call her name.

Great Spirit, am I called to walk with you and learn some wisdom that will help my people?

My tribe is in need of peace and healing.

I see tribes around us fighting, greeding, polluting and killing.

I wish peace for all.

May the smoke of my sage carry my request to you, Great Spirit.

May you bless us all.

Blessings,

Judy

You Have Boundless Energy Within You

 

You have heard the saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going".  It seems that the last several months in Alberta have proved that saying over and over as various things happen to people.  Fires, displacement from homes because of fires, layoffs, tragedies, giving up homes because mortgages cannot be met, facing disease, and the list goes on.  The balance of life seems out of whack. 

I look at the firefighters that have been battling the fires in the North of Alberta, and I say that these men must have found that place inside themselves where nothing is impossible for they are doing the impossible.  They are filled with Purpose.  They have created a change in the way that the fire behaves.  They have fought and prayed, and called on Creator to help them.  They are filled with positivity, with hope, even when everything is black and smoke filled.  Wow.

Many Blessings,

Judy