Woodpecker

So, I've been building relationships with different animals but today I was reminded that I don't have relationships with all of them. I saw a woodpecker today, moved a bit closer to watch him and he wanted none of it. I do have a pretty good relationship with squirrels and so at least I was able to visit them. :)

Stalking Like My Animal

Today instead of "dancing my animal", I "stalked like my animal". I went around town as my fetch/fylgja would. It was a great experience. Much better than just wandering or going for a jog

Celtic Shamanism

I've just made some associations that really work nicely for me. I've been studying shamanism and animism for a while and I've always been interested in Celtic peoples and culture. Now I've remembered one authors connection of the two and made another similar connection. The authors idea was that Cernunos was sort of an archtype for a shaman. I can't remember how he laid out the details but it made sense to me. Of course this doesn't imply that Cernunos wasn't his own being as well, just that he also represented a possible role for humanity. He was an individual and also a symbol of a universal way of living. My connection came through the green man. He is my symbol for a plant spirit shaman. He is one with the plants, literally, and would be able to work with them. So now two paths of shamanry are laid out in a Celtic context: Cernunos and the green man. There is some deep meaning here for me. I now feel my Celtic inspired, but also local and bioregional, shamanism is developing nicely and that I am moving deeper into the great mysteries.

The Call to Adventure

I've been reading a really good book. It is about connecting with our souls. The current section that has been interesting to me is about the call of the soul. About how it calls, why it does, how people sometimes don't heed the call, and so on. It really struck with me because I have felt the call of my soul for sure on multiple occasions. It comes as a great source of inspiriation and joy at all the possibilities that I could be living out. It makes me want to make big changes and go after my deepest desires, desires I don't even consciously know about most of the time. I so love those feelings and how alive I feel when the call comes. Now if I can just go after my soul when it calls instead of reasoning myself back into a life only partially lived, using safety issues, self-doubt and fear of the unknown as chains to keep me living an unhealthy life path.

Spirit

Today I saw a spirit. It was around 5'10", probably male. I only saw the silhouette though. He was walking up behind my wife. I tried to look around her to see who it was and he was gone. Interesting

Tree Revisited

I went back to that tree. This time with an offering. I brought 5 pieces of cereal. I accidentally grabbed five and that is the perfect number for it. I walked sunwise around the tree and left the offerings one at a time. I made a mental speech about how each offering represented an element and how that element interacted with the tree. In hind sight, I didn't need to tell the tree how it uses elements. Doh'! I felt energy from the tree. It appreciated my offerings. I was under its branches but I tried not to invade its space right around it. The grass had died off there making a circle and I wasn't going to break that one.

Tree

I was given a gift by a tree. Perhaps a walnut tree. That is what one person said it was, just want to be sure. It was the gift of its fruit/seed. I felt I was supposed to have it and that it will be the start of a good relationship with that tree. I must now return with something for it. I will bring some dried herbs that it can hopefully draw some nutrients from. Then I will just need to spend a lot of time with it so I can get to know it better. Most of its leaf clusters were in groups of five. Its bark was mostly light gray to tan. There were some brown and dark gray areas. The leaf edges were serrated.