Lesley’s Blog

I do a journey with my animals that I call a council of animals. It is a journey where I call in my family animals to sit in circle. I have discovered that my council will not only consist of my two dogs and four cat but it  sometimes will include other animals I know as well. This is a journey I do when I am going to be away for a while, like going to visit my daughter in CA. I like to let my pets know that I am going on a trip. I picture a suitcase, my clothes going in the bag and me walking out the door. I let them know where I’m going to be such as the visit to CA was a picture of my daughter. While I’m away I usually think of my animals daily and check in to see how they are doing. The most common question and the hardest to answer is “When are you coming home?” I do not try to answer this question with a picture of time for animals live in the present moment. I simple picture what I will be doing that day. I have found that by checking in with my pets they are less anxious about my not being at home.

Other times, I do a journey with my family council of animals when one of my animals is going to experience something different than their normal routine. A visit to the veterinarian’s office is a good example. I did this journey this week when Flip, my youngest and disabled cat, was going to the chiropractic veterinarian. Just around Thanksgiving, I noticed a big lump on Flip’s tail. I figured that he gotten stepped on by one of the dogs. Sure enough he was at the bottom of the stairs one morning when both dogs came running down and Elera the Great Dane stepped on his tail. Now that the swelling was down it was time to see the chiropractor.

Flip was born a normal cat and at 3 ½ weeks old distemper hit his litter. The first 1 ½ years were rough but Flip is a smart and able cat who gets around with a few special features in our home. Because distemper effects the nervous system Flips whole body will shake when he is startled or when he experiencing something new. To calm him down I pick him up and hold him close to my heart and breathe deeply.

The journey was done to prepare him before going to the vet and the council of animals was to give him support from his animal family. A nice added bonus to this journey was the arrival of my children’s cats. Orion who lives in CA with my daughter and Huxley who lives in VT with my son and his wife. Orion had a visiting cat in his house and wanted my daughter to know that he did not want a new friend. He likes being an only cat and having my daughter all to himself. Huxley’s family is moving in a few weeks and he wanted to know where his dish and litter box will be located in the new house. Both cats consider themselves part of my family so they came when I called the council. After taking care of everyone’s concerns I started sending pictures to Flip about his trip to the vets. I also asked if anyone wanted to go with him to help support him. Only the dogs wanted to go, both have been in the office and would go in if he need them. Personally, I think they just wanted to go for a ride.

Friday, I brought out the cat carrier and placed in open in my living room Flip walked right over and got in showing me he was ready to go. I told him he would be gong after lunch he came out and waited for lunch.

When it was time to go Flip was in the carrier waiting. He had a great chiropractic experience. The vet said that he has his own body rhythm and she would adjust as his body allowed.  He was calm when coming out of the crate and he loved being adjusted. When he got home he walked out of the crate and hasn’t gone back in it since.

To help your own animal(s) with new experiences picture in your mind what is going to take place and concentrate on sending that picture to your pet. Be calm, send assuring feelings to your pet and they will respond. You may be pleasantly surprised at how your animal reacts.  Just remember that if you are up tight and out of sorts with the experience your animal will reflex your mood.

The time between Thanksgiving and New Years is a blur for most people. For the past few years, I have gone to California after the Thanksgiving holiday to visit my daughter and to rest after a busy camping season. It is also the time of year that my thoughts turn to Winter Solstice. Every year, I tell a story at Spirit Hollow’s Winter Solstice celebration and the past two year I have been asked to tell a solstice story at local churches that hold a winter solstice service. Winter Solstice, the return of the light, is one of my favorite celebrations. I feel the darkness of the long nights closing in around me from Halloween to December 22nd when the light returns. A time when I slow down, I sleep longer and I sit still taking stock of the calmness that darkness brings to me. I feel like my internal clock follows the traditions of old before the Industrial Revolution, before the Bronze Age and before the time of Christianity. In the stories I tell I look to share my experiences of this time and to bring forth the customs and culture of old. In California, I did research at the local library to see if there was a local tale I could tell. The stories I read were interesting but I was not inspired to tell anything I read. That night, I looked at my email online and saw a friend sent me an email entitled “There are no Coincidences” I thought: it’s one of those cute motivational emails about how everything happens for a reason in life. I’ll read it when I get home. At home, I opened the email to find that this was a personnel story of how my friend had traced her ancestor’s roots and found similarities to her life in the customs and beliefs that her ancestors held. There are no coincidences. On the ancestral web link, I read how they celebrated not only the return of the light to Earth but also how they celebrated the night that surrounded them. Here was what I had been searching for. Here was my inspiration for my solstice story. The minute I finished reading this webpage, spirit started gifting me a story. My mind played that story over and over in my head. I had less than a week till the night of telling. At a birthday lunch with my girlfriend, I told her of the story that was gifted by spirit to tell at Winter Solstice. She was horrified that it wasn’t written down or that I had not recorded it so that I could listen to it. Being a singer she works for weeks on a piece before she sings in public, she would never consider singing without having all the elements down pat. As I listened to her growing fearful for me that I would not be prepared for the telling of this story, a calm knowing came over me and I simple said I trust spirit and I trust that the story will be exactly right for telling. Whether I am telling a story or giving a reading to someone about themselves or beloved pet, the preparation is similar. I relax my mind and my body. I breathe in deeply and ask that everything be in the best and highest good for all who are listening. During both times of the telling of the Winter Solstice tale I channeled the spirit of the ancestral storytellers letting them give voice to the celebration of present day. I felt that the tale I told gave those gathered a chance to experience and feel not only the meaning of the return of light but also the meaning of darkness in our lives and upon the Earth. To honor the return of the light, Spirit Hollow lights a large fire as part of the ceremony. People walk by candlelight from the yurt, down a dark path to the fire. I heard a young child say to his mother. “I’m afraid! It’s so dark!” His mother leaned over and reminded him that just as in the story the light will return. In the glow of candlelight I could see his features change as he found comfort in that thought. Walking with more confidence he pointed excitedly at the fire ahead and said “Look I see the light!” At that moment the sky overhead parted leaving a large oval shape of starlight as if to accent the light ahead. It is moments like this that I know why spirit gave me the gift of the tale. I also know that I will write this tale so that I can pay honor to the gift in the years to come. My holiday wish is that all of you have a safe and happy holiday. Thank-you for taking time to read what I write and for being interested in the work I do.

December is a hard time to take a vacation, you never know what the weather will be like for flying. Storms in one part of the country can tie you up where the sun is shining. Jet lag always affects me more flying west to east than it does the other way around. And when you return the hustle and bustle is on for the holiday season. I have been spending my time getting caught up on paperwork for the campground, answering emails from my website and friends and then there is the baking and making of gifts for the holidays.

I will be sharing some of my experience from my trip and wriitng about pets during this time of year. So stay tune for more as find time to write.