Domestic Sheep (Spirit Animals)

We often overlook the value of having animals around us that we are very familiar with.  Sometimes we treat these animals with a certain contempt (familiarity breeds contempt) without realizing that we are doing so.

Picture of Sheep from the Picasa Public sample album – with thanks!

I think that often we treat sheep, cattle, chickens and pigs like that. They are so humbly in service to humans, that we miss the strength and the pride of what they do because of how silently they do support us.

We all know that sheep are used for many products that we also take for granted – wool, mutton, lamb meat, milk/cheese, and hide/leather.  Legends say that Sheep volunteered to be in service to mankind from the beginning of man’s time on Earth.  They did this because they were peaceful, loving, well grounded (close to the Earth) animals. At that time, all the Beings and Angels that looked after the Earth thought that all that loving would rub off on humans.  In many of the pictures of Jesus, one sees him with Sheep or holding Sheep or walking with Sheep.  Again, legends say that Jesus recognized the beauty and service role of Sheep.

Mankind, however, did not acknowledge Sheep as a leader in service.  Instead, man has denigrated Sheep, and has made up all sorts of sayings about them – implying that they are either stupid or boring, or both! 

• Count sheep before you go to sleep.
• Don’t be a sheep and follow
• Black sheep
• Make sheep’s eyes
• Don’t leave the wolf to guard the sheep
• Wolf in sheep’s clothing

Sheep, however, even though known for its peacefulness, was used by our Ancestors as an early alarm  system.  Because sheep are so sensitive to noise and to negative energy, they could determine, by the vibrations in the ground, when large groups of people were approaching a castle or keep.  Their frightened bleats and bunching together for safety, alerted the watchmen that trouble was coming.  

People make fun of the way Sheep move together.  What Sheep is showing is the fascinating ability of herd think, or mind link, something that people simply have not developed.  The herd mind link allows the Sheep to move at a moment’s notice to safety.  They do not stop and say, “Why? Or, why that way? Or, are you sure we really should?”  And, my personal favourite, “What gives you the right to tell me what to do?”

May you be as loved as the Sheep by Great Spirit!

Many blessings,

Judy

Mind at Ease - A Lesson in Buddhism

As I study Buddhism in its several faces, I am constantly in wonder at how simple the concepts are and how difficult it is to embrace the concept and put it to full practice in one’s life.

This simple story will explain what I mean.  It is called “Mind At Ease”, and talks about how we can put our heart at ease.  Does this seem contrary to the title?  Well, Buddhism is a series of koans.  A koan is a paradoxical anecdote or a riddle that has no solution; used in Zen Buddhism to show the inadequacy of logical reasoning.  This definition comes from wordnetweb.princeton.edu. So, here is the story!

                                                   

Sometimes, trying to understand a koan is like trying to catch the Sun! Picture from Microsoft Clip Art

 

 

 

Mind At Ease

It was a dark, snowy and windy night. Hui Ko, the Second Patriarch of Zen Sect in China, went to see Master Bodhidharma. 

Hui Ko asked, "Could you please teach me the supreme Buddhist Dharma?" 

The Master said, "You can't learn the Dharma from others." 

Hui Ko said, "I have trying to search for Dharma myself, but in vain. My heart is unsettled. My mind is ill-at-ease. Master, please pacify my heart for me." 

The Master replied, "Give me your heart and I'll try to calm it down for you." 

After pondering for a long time, Hui Ko said, "I have been searching for my heart, but I cannot find it." 

Bodhidharma said instantly, "Now, I have comforted your heart already." 

Hui Ko was enlightened all of a sudden. It is impossible to show the heart as its existence is only an illusion. The whole process of the creation and cessation of the heart, or the mind, is also an illusion. 

When we are void of the illusion, the 'heart' is not there at all. Without any attachment, the pure Buddha's nature is revealed. The mind is finally at ease. 

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What do you learn from this story?  Is is something that you can share with all of us?

Many blessings,

Judy

Happy Father’s Day - June 16, 2024

 

Picture from Country Living Magazine

The words in the poster say….

Happy Father’s Day to all Dads, the not yet Dads, the stepdads, the Moms who are Dad, the adoptive Dads, the granddads, and the dads who are no longer with us.

       -Unknown

I think the poster covers all the blessings for Dads.

Judy

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.  

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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

Spirit Talks About Catharsis

 

Catharsis is about being able to release pain – emotional pain – by watching someone else’s pain, and being able to recognize the pain and feel it in you, and then release it in yourself.  Many of us do this by crying at movies or even at commercials on TV.  The process, for some people, is quite embarrassing, that is, to be crying at a movie. 

However, Great Spirit and our Angels and Guides reassure us that this is a healing mechanism that humans have so that we do not overload on emotions that we store inside our bodies.  From the time that we are born, it is in our nature to laugh, cry, be sad, celebrate, and all the other emotions that exist.  If we cannot feel great sadness, then there is a good chance that we will not be able to feel great happiness.

Feeling emotional release based on someone else’s experience, real or performed in a movie, is a great confirmation that we are all connected; that there is Oneness.  What I mean is that if we were all separate, we would not feel that tug of pain in a nerve around our heart, or, we would not feel the fear in our solar plexus when we watch that scary movie.  Emotion is an energy that radiates outward until it is absorbed by “something”. Often that something is another being.

The nick name for emotional movies is “tear jerker”.  Literally, the nick name describes the process of the movie pulling the tears that have been locked away, out into the open.  Some spiritual teachers believe that a good tear jerker is as good as a meditation in helping a person release pent up emotion.  In either case, during the movie or during meditation, the person is so absorbed that they are completely in the present moment, and, in the present moment, there is no pain, so the body releases it as tears.

What a beautiful process!  Catharsis!

Blessings,

Judy

Connecting with Meerkat

 Meerkat picture from www.irishviews.com

Is the third time the charm?  I am about to find out as I try again to connect with Meerkat to receive her message.

Meerkat pops up beside me and snuggles in.  She seems to be more comfortable with me than vice versa.  I find her quite comforting.  She sighs, and then begins to speak.

“We are so much like you humans and yet you know very little about us.  I find that rather disturbing.  We have many of your traits – politics, breeding practices, pup and elder care, and survival tactics.  We originally came up from the depths of the Earth.  We are some of the life forms that went underground when there were difficulties in the air and ground, difficulties that have re-emerged.  We have learned to burrow underground and to build safe nests deep enough to avoid having to be poisoned by the air. 

As the food above us died, we moved downward in search of food that we could eat.  We found that others had also moved downward.  We became hunter and prey.  We learned the value of cooperation.  We learned to be respectful of our resources and therefore to adjust our numbers to the food that could support us.  

We watch you now and wonder why you fight against the obvious laws of nature.  We wonder why you are destroying that which gives you life.  There is nothing that you can produce with all of your machines that is as wonderful as what She Who Feeds Us All can provide.  

We have black masks because our eyes are still sensitive to the light.  We find the blackness dulls the glare of the Sun. It seems however, that humans find our mask fearful.  We are part of the issue of fear or darkness that humans have to deal with.  We are therefore, part of your path – just as you are part of our path.  The easiest strategy to cope with fear is to meet it head on, much as we do.  We wish you well.

Blessings,

Judy

Spirit Talks About Purpose

There is a saying that Spirit speaks and that one has to listen to be clear on the message.  This story is about how Spirit speaks to me.

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For the past several weeks, I keep getting PURPOSE as the word of the day, at least once per week.  I wondered why this was coming up for me because I think I live my purpose.  Here is what the word means “something set up as an object or end to be attained” from the Merriam Webster online dictionary.

I found a variety of posters on the subject as well.  Here is one of my favourites.

              

The poster says —- The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.

And, I liked this one as well.

This comes from design.ag/inspiration/typography-showcase.

As I reflected on “purpose”, I began to wonder about all the legends and “how to” articles that suggest different ways of finding one’s purpose.  The Shaman of our Ancestors’ tribes did a rite of passage with each child as they came to puberty to help them find their place in the tribe.

The Mayans had three great wheels that showed the purpose of one’s life.  So, the day that you were born on, became your purpose.  The movement of the wheel indicated the purpose of each day.  Today’s message is (from www.mayanmajix.com) :

Each tribe or nation had and has its own belief system.

I kept hearing “purpose” echoing in my head.  I decided that our purpose is probably quite simple.  It is to help others have their experience as each of us has our own experience.  Our purpose is to grow as much as we can.  

What do you think?

Blessings,

Judy