Till Dawn...

As night falls the moon begins to cast its shadows throughout the land, I am sitting here in the cool night air with a light breeze passing over my face. What was that? I turn to see something slipping through the trees.

My eyes adjust quickly and I relax, it's just a fox weaving its way through the trees, he appears to be wandering around, checking things out I guess. Suddenly I am joined by my partner, "you made me jump. I did not hear you coming". Once again I turn my attention to the surrounding area I am looking for something to hunt down, I am hungry and in need of food.

I decide to move on, silently and with stealth I move through the trees and out into the open fields. I will check round the edges, see what turns up. I have all the tools I need to help me hunt, I have learnt that even with my eyes closed, if I tune in I can still hunt because my awareness is in tune with my natural world.

It's been several hours now and no luck with the hunt, think I will rest up for a while till dawn and go for one more attempt at finding food. Dawn is not far off now I know this because I can hear my friends calling out far off into the woods.

As I start out to join my friends I am presented with an opportunity to make a kill, I turn and I pounce on it. Success, my tummy full I head for the trees for protection and for rest...

Who am I you ask, why I am your regular Tawny Owl of course.

The Snake

Oct 23 – Nov 22

Most shamans are born under this Native American animal symbol. The Snake is a natural in all matters of spirit. Easily attuned to the ethereal realm the Snake makes an excellent spiritual leader. Also respected for his/her healing capacities, the Snake also excels in medical professions. The Snake's preoccupation with matters intangible often lead others to view them as mysterious, and sometimes frightening. True, the Snake can be secretive, and a bit dark – he/she is also quite sensitive, and caring. In a supportive relationship the cool Snake can be passionate, inspiring, humorous, and helpful. Left to his/her own devices, the Snake can be despondent, violent, and prone to abnormal mood swings.

Wisdom, Healing, Initiation the symbol of eternity

This is a powerful totem, it is the symbol of transformation and healing.
The Snake is wisdom expressed through healing.

It is a protector and guardian totem,
along with its sister totems, the Dragon and the Serpent.

If a snake totem has come into your life, your creative forces are awakening.
Your intuition will sharpen and be more accurate.

Snake energy is the energy of wholeness, cosmic consciousness, and
the ability to experience anything willingly and without resistance.
It is the knowledge that all things are equal in creation.

It also signals a transition in your life.
New opportunities and/or changes.

Snake is fire medicine, the medicine of transmutation.
On a material level, it is vitality; on an emotional level, it is ambition and dreams;
on a mental level, it is intellect and power; on a spiritual level (the highest level),
it is wisdom, understanding and wholeness.

Snake magic is heavy magic.
Become the Magician and transmute the energy and accept the power of the fire.

It's the LAW...

In the early days of becoming aware of my spirituality I was working in a general hospital. One day I walked in on one of our patients a man of 61, he was crying. I made my apologies and went to leave when he called me back.

He shared his story with me, he had died on the operating table and he had an experience of the other side and now here he was experiencing feelings he had no reference too, feelings that left him wondering what was happening to him.

We spent some time together talking, and I shared with him how I understood things, as I left he thanked me, but I was giving myself a hard time. Who am I to give this elder my thoughts on what I think might be happening to him? What right do I have to do that? When, I barely understand myself about my own spirituality. In fact I was questioning my own judgement at that time.

I had gone into the sluice room, while these thoughts were running through my head, then I looked out of the window. Below parked up in a part of the hospital were no cars would have reason to park was a police car and on the roof was the following Got777.

In that moment I understood that what I had shared was OK. Why? Well the German word for GOD is spelt GOTT and 777 represents heaven and because it was on a police car this meant the law.

I felt that I was being told that it was OK to have shared with this elder in the way that I did.

The Mighty Oak...

One day I was repairing a wooden fence for a riding school for children with special needs. And as I walked past a Mighty Oak Tree that was standing all alone in all its grandeur the next field.

I heard quite clearly the words "I need a hug" I responded out load saying, "I shall be back in a bit and I will give you a hug then". I stopped dead in my tracks looking around to see who it was that I had responded to, there was no one there other than this Might Oak Tree.

So I gave it a big hug.

Thailand: The Blue Pitta

I found these to be funny little guys...

I went out at dusk to see if I could find some Blue Pitta's that I had glimpsed earlier in the day. It was coming up to late afternoon when they saw me coming around the head of the trail and they quickly ran off up the trail.

So, I decided to stalked slowly up to a tree on the next bend using it to screen myself from the Pitta's in the hope of getting a better view, and there they were waiting for me at the next bend, some 20 meters away.

Just as I showed my face from behind the tree, they ran off again.

This was repeated several times and always they were waiting for me at the next bend, I found it very amusing indeed and had fun playing this game with them, tough I am sure for them it was not a game or WAS IT.

To read more about my trip follow this link: http://black-woodpecker.blogspot.com/

Important Teachings from a Plant...

As I sat looking at the leaf and trying to identify it, I was unable to find it in the four books that I had on plant identification.

Some books had photos; one was line drawings and the other colour illustrations. Surely it must be in one of these books. As I know from bird guides the pictures can be different from book to book, depending on when the book was run, the colour could be strong at the beginning of the print run and weak at the end of it, or the artist style of drawing is not suited to your eye and so on.

How was I to identify this plant? I know I will do the taste test, so I broke a very small piece of the leaf off and placed it on my bottom lip, within seconds I was having a reaction. It was burning and irritating my skin, I got rid of it straight away. I began to panic, what was this? What was happening to me? My God I hope I am not going to die. Then I began to tune into the plant and I settled down, still very unsure as to what might happen, but none the less I surrendered to the process.

After sometime, which in fact seemed like forever the sensation started to fade and I was feeling OK. It was then that I found the plant in one of the books. It was Lords and Lady’s (Arum maculatum). Since that day I have had no trouble in identifying this plant. I am of course not recommending that you should try this out yourself, in fact DO NOT consume any plant that you have not correctly identified, that was my lesson.

The plant can irritate the skin, mouth, tongue, and throat, resulting in throat swelling, breathing difficulties, burning pain, and stomach upset. The acrid taste and the tingling in the mouth which begins quite quickly, mean that large amounts are rarely ingested.

Click on picture to go The Poison Garden web site.

Three Trees

I was sent this today by a friend so I thought I would share with you. I loved it.

Three Trees

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, 'Someday I hope to be a great treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with an intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty.'

Then the second tree said, 'Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take Kings and Queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. People will feel safe in me because of the strength of my Hull.’

Finally the third tree said, 'I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest Tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill, look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.'

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, 'this looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter, and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree the woodsman said, 'This looks like a strong tree. I will be able to sell it to the shipyard.' The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the men said, 'I don't need anything special from my tree, I'll take this one,' and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for.

The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying Kings had come to an end. The third tree was cut into large pieces, and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.

Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said Peace' and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, God will give you great gifts.

Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined.

We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His Ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.

Paraguay:

It was late when I got off the bus from Asuncion in what was literally a one horse town; there was a motel, a garage and a restaurant/shop. I entered the motel and threw my Bergen (Back Pack) to the floor so I could check in.

I was greeted by a wild roar, my Bergen had landed on the pet Puma. Opps...

Games to Play - Concentric Rings

In nature nothing can move without affecting everything else and in the web of life all things are connected just like in a spider's web. When something gets caught in its web, the whole web vibrates. The spider is so aware of its surroundings that it can detect the smallest of disturbances to its web as an insect becomes trapped.

These disturbances send are sent out like concentric rings, much like dropping a stone into the centre of a still pond. At first there is the splash, then after the initial shock wave after wave spreads out until it fills the entire pond and upon reaching the edge, it starts back again to its source.

So what I would like to do it offer you some activities you can do with children or anyone else for that matter, in exploring the concentric rings of nature.

• First find a pond or something similar, ask your group to face away from the pond. Once they are no longer looking cast a stone into the pond. Now ask them to turn around and get them to tell you where you dropped your stone by investigating the configuration of the rings in the pond.

• Another good activity to do is this. With a friend go out and sit alone in the woods for a while. Find a spot to sit down and wait until the forest calms down and the natural symphony is well established. Then, at a pre-determined time, have your friend or friends enter the forest. Now listen, watch, and experience the concentric rings that are sent out by the natural world in response to your friend's presence. The insects, birds and other wildlife will alert you to their presence.
  

• Next. Seek out a hedgerow with a track running alongside it or a means of easy access along its length. Once again with your friends sit for a while and allow the natural world to settle down. At time which you pre-determined, have your friend or friends move along the length of the track. Now observe how the wildlife moves like a wave from the hedgerow in response to your friends movements.

• Last but not least. Now sit in a favourite spot in the woods and once you have become calm and settled begin to move slowly through the woods and just beware of how the wildlife response less to your presence, than if you had gone through the woods chatting and generally making a noise and being unaware of your surrounds.

Warrior of the Light

"I always believe everything anyone tells me and I'm always disappointed," his companion says.

A Warrior of the Light is not afraid of disappointments because he knows the power of his sword and the strength of his love.

It is important to trust people.

However, he imposes certain limits: It is one thing to accept God's signs and to know that the angels use the mouths of other people to give us advice. It is quite another to be incapable of making decisions and to be always looking for ways of letting others tell us what we should do.

A Warrior trusts other people because, first and fore-most,
he trusts himself.

Holding the Vision

The story goes that "Thomas Edison failed more than 1,000 times when trying to create the light bulb". When asked about it, Edison allegedly said, "I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb."

Even the so called failed attempts at making the light bulb can be seen as lighting the way to another opportunity. Often we are guided to situations where we completely trust, only to discover that, that trust may have been misplaced. However, on closer examination and in your heart of hearts you know the truth and your faith keeps your going.

And you continue to trust...

Animal Tag a Stalking Game...

During the taster day up in London I asked a friend to engage in this game knowing that his level of awareness was extremely high, I felt this would help me to illustrate the game given that I had only a short amount of time left to show the group how it worked.

I took him out of the circle and my brief to him was that I wanted him to be in tunnel vision and to stalk the person in the middle, I told him to stare at this person and to send out the intention of making them his next meal. The person in the middle who was blindfolded was instructed to just respond to her feelings and act accordingly, I call this the raw state when working with others groups who do not have that level of awareness. As I move them through each stage of the game their level of awareness increases, this gives them a physical reference of the internal changes taking place within them.

What unfolded was interesting and opened my mind to other possibilities. The stalk began and I could see and sense that the fox, which was the role that I gave my friend to play was doing a great job of masking his intention while staring at her very intently, this level of awareness is something I would normally introduce much later in the game, with addicts for example.

His movements were very slow and purposeful, the woman in the middle who took on the role of a young deer was responding to his approach, she turned several times and on one occasion she was almost facing him. (I experience this quite a lot with people, even when they cannot hear the fox or wolf approaching they do sense it's approach and turn to face in that direction). Then she turned away from him and I thought, here we go she is about to bolt for it, as would usually happen, but no she stayed. The fox then very gently and slowly reached out and touched her, he was successful, he had made his kill.

When I spoke to my friend afterwards I wanted to ask him about his experience and to get a feel for were he was when in the role, it turns out that he found it very difficult to get into tunnel vision and that he had set up the hunt in the way he would normally do it, this gave me an insight into giving instructions to my fellow professionals. In many aboriginal cultures they ask for the spirit of the animal to give up it's life so that they might live and they believe that the spirit leaves the animal before the kill takes place and after the kill they then honour it, a good example of this can be seen in the BBC Life of Mammals series with the San Bushmen hunting down an Kudu.

It was now clear to me why the deer had responded in the way that she did, on a higher level she was aware of his intent and as in the wild she surrendered to his request and gave up her life so that he may live.

This was a fantastic example of what truly happens when we get into the spiritual aspect of our awareness, when we become one with Mother Earth and connect with Nature in such a way that we are not separate, but in actual fact we are all one.

While all this was going on the Zebra was conforming... (click picture to read more)