Over the past week, I have had a number of people share with me some extraordinary events that have occurred between them and the animal kingdom, things that for the most part are not common everyday happenings or occurrences. Things that make us stop and pay attention. Reactions were varied for the people to the occurrences from, “I was so scared,” to “How cool was that.”
Myself I can not remember a time when I did not notice the world of creatures large and small around me… when most kids were riding bikes and playing with their friends, my parents would more than not, find me playing or napping with my dog in the sun or lying on the ground watching the little peeper toads as they flooded the lawn and begging my father to not cut the grass. As I got older the ventures went to snakes, turtles and whatever other cool creatures I could find in the wilds of my backyard in Detroit. Then I expanded into vacations to the lake… I would disappear for hours into the heart of the woods. (the days when that wasn’t a scary idea) listening to the Owls at nightfall or the Loons awakening in the mists of the morning along the lake front.
The thing is, I had that connection with the animal kingdom and to me it was simply part of who I was. Never thought twice about standing in front of the bears, or watching sitting watching wolves play in a field, or listening to the Coyotes sing and call back to one another during their hunts.
In today’s modern world, that is probably one of the primary reasons for me living where I do. The animals talk to us all if we will listen, they have much to share and teach. They will not, do not fear us unless we give them reason to. It is all about respect, honor and communication with each other. They are a necessary part of the eco system, even if often humans do not want to admit it. They were here before we were in most areas, and we have taken there woods, there forests away from them… much as humans often do. We want to dominate, to own, to rule over… For the animal kingdom it is about co-existence, the circle of life itself.
I was sharing a story with Wolfdancer this morning, and told her about a woman that recently encountered a wolf while she was in the woods of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The woman had told me how scared she had felt because she had always been told Wolves leave humans alone for the most part. She went on to tell me how she stopped and they sat just looking at each other for a short while, and then because she was so scared she stood up and waved her arms in the air and made all kinds of weird noises. I then asked her what the Wolf had done…she replied, “Nothing it just sat there looking at me.”
I laughed and as I told it so did Wolfdancer. She said the same that was in my heart, “The Wolf probably was sitting there thinking how crazy the human looked waving and yelling for no reason. If it had been me I would have just sat on the ground and enjoyed being in the presence of a wolf brother or sister.”
So the point of sharing some ponderings with you all today… is perhaps to awaken some kinship, some curiosity within each of you…maybe not for you to seek out a creature in the wild, but to be more observant of the ones that are in your life. To smile when that dragonfly lands on your hand, or to take a deep breathe in as the butterfly spreads its wings. When the songbird sings for you in the morning, listen to the glorious voice it is sharing…for it is singing of joy and happiness, it sings to tell the Creator God that it is thankful and loves its life. And when a creature walks on your path whether it is in realtime or dream state, don’t wave your arms about screaming at it, rather listen to the lessons it is sharing with you, and gently thank it for blessing your path this day. “For all things are Sacred”
Mitakuye O’yasin,
~ bear Medicinewalker
