Animal Medicine.

Good evening all. Tonight's thoughts are on the healing power of mind, body, and spirit through the lessons of the animal kingdom and their messages on how to heal to anyone astute enough to observe their lessons. When you call upon the power of an animal, you are asking to be drawn into complete harmony with the strength of that animals essence. They are part of the pathway to power. The power lies in the wisdom of one's role in the Great Mystery, and in honoring every living thing as a teacher. This is part of the initiation process of Animal Medicine, and brings great power to the healer.

Every year on my birthday I draw a card to see who will be working with me for the upcoming year. Yesterday I pulled the Jaguar.

Sacred Jaguar teach me
To wear my power lightly,
To walk with impeccability,
To approach life with compassion,
And to live up to the integrity of my human potential.

If Jaguar is roaming your dream/reality today, it's primal roar may be rewarding you for remaining your integrity in some situation where you could have easily misused your authority. You may have been unwilling to pass judgement on another, or to be self serving. Were you especially kind to someone or do a good deed that was unexpected? If so, allow the recognition to fill you with feelings of well-being and continue to serve with compassion and and openhearted integrity. Do not falter in your resolve to be your personal best at all times. Maintain your dignity, devotion, and compassion, holding to forthrightness and honesty, no matter what the contrary influences. Do not feed any self-important need to be an "enlightened one," treating others in a self-righteous manner. Jaguar medicine teaches you that personal integrity allows for mistakes, embraces forgiveness, and humbly makes self-directed corrections, allowing a rebalanced spirit to triumph once again.

May you all come to know your animal totems.

Many Blessings,

Dusio  

Road Rage

Don't worry, not a rant! A story came out this weekend that the NY/NJ Port Authority wants to raise tolls by 50% The toll to get across the George Washington Bridge is already $8.00. They propose raising it to $12. WTF!!!! Happily, the Governors of both NY and NJ reject the proposal. Yay for bipartisanship.

Unfortunately, tolls are nothing new. In fact, they're downright ancient. Romans were the best at road building. They created the first paved roads. They were even smart enough to raise it in the middle so water would flow away from the road and even built gutters to carry it away. There are roads which were so well built they still serve as thoroughfares today. In reading about these marvels, I wondered how quickly folks were charged to use these roads. Apparently it was right from the start. Quoth the holy wiki:

Tolls abounded, especially at bridges. Often they were collected at the city gate. Freight costs were made heavier still by import and export taxes. 

Go figure.  There are also mentions of private citizens having to pay for, or supply labor for the maintenance of a road that crossed or bordered their property. Nice. Guess we still do that today through taxes, another ancient tradition.

Today the family went for a walk down a new trail which had just been paved, connecting an already existing trail with a huge dirt hill and footpath. It was cleared out a bit, graded slightly, and paved over. As we walked along, we passed by another path which hadn't been paved. I stopped while they went on, and found myself standing at a new crossroad. Well, it wasn't exactly new, but with the road freshly graded and paved, it felt newer. The energy was different, as if it hadn't really been imprinted yet. I said a quick prayer to Hecate and Mercury and caught up to the others. I want to go back there and explore the space again and make proper offerings, perhaps on the next dark moon.

Tonight, a Mommy deer and baby deer walked up my driveway and onto my property. Hubby came to get me when he saw them and I went outside. I saw the baby and knelt down with my hands in prayer pose, mostly praying that Diana would give me the Deer equivalent of Parseltongue. Mama deer had jumped over a fence that baby couldn't clear. I waited patiently and the baby deer started to walk over to me. It made me think of a puppy. Then kiddo moved and that was it, the baby deer was back to racing around. Ah well, can't blame a kid for being curious! For all I know, hubby could have scared it. We opened another gate and it went out.

I headed to the back where the Mommy deer was and did the same thing as with the baby. She came out from her hiding place and went towards the open gate but hubby was walking around and he scared her. She ran back to her hiding place and eventually jumped over the back fence. I heard her make the Mama call 3 times, then heard rustling. I will happily believe the two dashed back home together via the path we walked today. Can't wait to see them again, nibbling the grass by my labyrinth!

Were they a response to my prayers at the crossroads? I find it odd that they picked this exact night to walk up my paved driveway instead of their usual route across the grassy front lawn and each of them take an interest in me and only back off when one of the others made a move. I've always taken a keen interest in the animals who inhabit this land (including the bunnies, raccoon and hedgehog!) and am glad it feels like they know me too. I wonder if the bear will stop by for a visit too! ;)

Exploring Etruria

I've been talking a lot about Sicily, but tonight I'm in the mood to pay some attention to another thread of my lineage, my Grandmother's side; That part of my family lived in what was once the southernmost part of Etruria, Naples. The name of the city is interesting. It's from the Greek, Neapoli, meaning New City. The Greeks founded the colony after the Etruscans were too weak to hold it any longer. Modern natives of the city still call themselves by the prehellenic name, Parthenopians, for the city of Parthenope. Wha? Parthenope was one of the Sirens from The Odyssey. She was so distraught that she was unable to entice Odysseus that she threw herself into the sea and her body washed up on the shore of the city, which took her name. There's even a bust of the siren, Parthenope in Naples.
 
I've always just plain known Greek lore. Later, when I was exposed to it, I felt the same way about the Etruscans. Maybe this is why I'm such a Shakespeare buff: He wrote about Greece and Rome, after all, and Etruscans too. I recall a trip with hubby to Penn's museum to view an Etruscan art collection many years ago. I found myself staring at one of the mosaics of a woman, riveted by the familiar pattern of her hair: It looked exactly like mine when I have it loosely pulled back. My fellow curly-girls will understand. When brushed back gently and held in place, my hair looks like waves on the ocean. It was a moment when I truly felt connected to my ancestors in more than theory, or as an amorphous energy I could tap into. Seeing the small things like jewelry, coins, mirrors, household objects, that mosaic... It felt like when we cleared out my Aunt's home after she died: Small snapshots of a person's life which help you to better understand who they were. A real person who led a life not that much unlike my own. This whole post might sound silly, and I am pretty tired tonight (almost posted some Aeneid quotes :P), so maybe I'm not quite able to express the awe and wonder I felt that day to truly Know and internalize something I'd always kinda got in theory. Anyway, on to the practical:

My Grandmother knew how to read the animals. This went far beyond the groundhog seeing its shadow. She could tell the weather by what our cat would do. The next day's temperature was predicted from the color of the sunset. Birds of different types and different singing styles noted at different times of day could yield all sorts if information, as did the appearance of spiders, whom everyone was forbidden to kill -this is also a rule in my house too. I've done a bit of reading on Native American animal lore and it's very different, not just because there are different animals involved, but the whole philosophy. There wasn't really any identifying with a particular animal, they just provide the information. My Grandmother was an Augur, she just didn't know the word for it.

So why don't you kill spiders? In short, they're an omen of prosperity. Killing one will bring rain, both literal as well as wet stuff on your head. Speaking of Spiders, I will be posting about the Tarantella in February.  So what's the post-to-do-list count up to now? I have about 20 listed, I think. Let's set a February angenda: Februus, Parentalia, Whip my Roman Sex Gods/Lupercalia, Black Madonna, Tarantella, Hexing as a necessary art, cleansing spells , Diana as a local Deity syncretized by Rome, Carthage/Dido. There. A plan with plenty of room to just go with what's on my mind at the moment or share something inspired by the day's reading. I'll also take questions if anybody posts one.