Quiet Powerful Shatia

Have you ever sat in the woods and watched the wildlife? It might have taken a while before you noticed how many creatures were stirring around you. If you had not been quiet, you would have passed them by. But once you noticed them, they made your heart jump with excitement. So, it was with Shatia.

Shatia, a Canadian Lynx, was generally quiet even though she was on the tour path. The Canadian Lynx are not as pretty as some of the other cats; however, what she may have lacked in outer beauty, she more than made up for with her inner beauty.

Shatia, like the other cats, had her favorite volunteers. Most of the time, you wouldn't see her unless you were a favorite, and then you would get excited when she would come out to greet you. Even though she was old and her body was tired, she loved her enrichment. It would take her a few minutes to get up from under the heavy, dense foliage which kept her cool and come to see what you had left.

It was Shatia's grace and inner landscape that had the most affect upon me. She didn't have the WOW factor that some of the other cats have at the sanctuary. But she noticed everything and everyone that passed her way. She made a difference in my life and although she has left her physical body, her spirit remains reminding us to look beyond what the eyes can see. That which has no name is what is real. That was the essence of Shatia.

Satellites Predicting Animal Extinction?

As the end of one world age is quickly coming to an end, the beginning of another world age is beginning. We are completing a long cycle of 5,125 years within a greater cycle of over 26,000 years. What is exciting is to see the advances in technology that will assist us in making different choices that are life-affirming and advance our evolution of consciousness.

One of the main problems in talking with the animals is their concern with competing resources. Humans are competing with the wild animals for the same resources that are either depleting or going extinct. We continue to encroach upon their territory, often leaving them with nowhere to go and nothing to eat. The animal will pay the price as we view them as a threat. In most of the species, the numbers are dwindling at a record pace. What are some of the solutions?

In the following article, using satellite imaging as a potential to identify the impact of the rapidly changing climate temperatures on vast wilderness areas could establish priorities of action before a species goes extinct. What opportunity does this also have to bring, from the human perspective, a spirit of cooperation to work with nature instead of controlling it? What difference would that make in our sharing instead of competing for the same resources? How many animals could we help to survive in addition to ourselves? After all, the satellite is providing information for us from a higher perspective than the one we currently have. What do you think?

Are cats the new lawnmowers?

If you have recently been out to the sanctuary, did you notice the cats eating a lot of grass? I asked a gentleman the other day why he thought Raindance was eating all the grass she could eat. She would sniff of a bunch of new springs and start chewing and then move on to the next new springs. I chuckled at his reply, "She's a lawnmower. How often do you go into their Cat-A-Tat's to mow?"

Although he had a good point, the cats are reminding us that their metabolisms mirror the transitional nature of the season. Our bodies are no different. We have forgotten that spring is the perfect time to detox the waste that we have accumulated through the winter. Everything is budding and growing again, and to assist our bodies in a natural, renewal process, it's the perfect time to especially cleanse our livers. The cats know when they eat anything green, it adds oxygen to the body. This is nature's way of keeping the internal environment healthy. So, the next time you see a cat eating grass, as you creatively think about what kind of lawnmower they remind you of, thank them for reminding us to eat our greens.

Cats Grieving

When a cat passes away at the sanctuary, I am often asked if the other cats grieve. If so, which ones? Animals are sentient beings and have very deep and complex emotional lives. It is incredible the communication that continually occurs between animals. We are seldom aware of this silent world. It is more real than the physical one that our five senses deem as truth and the only reality.

There is constant chatter, even if the cats are living at opposite ends of the sanctuary since they know there is no space or distance as we are all energetically connected. When I first started talking with the cats over two years ago, it was amazing to hear who were the different leaders of the sanctuary. Some of the cats who are best friends don't even live next to each other. How can that be? That is a belief system we have been conditioned to accept because we believe in separation, animals don't. There is only the "One."

When Shadow died, it has been extremely difficult for Sugar and most of the other cats. Shadow was a favorite among the community. He was always ready to talk and listen. He was kind and gentle, and the girls loved him. Animals display grief just like we do. They can quit eating and sometimes give up their will to live because of the close connection. They get depressed and miss their companion or friend. Often times, the spirit stays around before moving on to help comfort those left behind. It is the same with the animals. Sugar feels Shadow's presence and knows he is there, just not in the physical. It can be confusing because the other world is very, very real. I ask everyone who reads this to send Sugar a prayer for comfort and peace. Send her love from your heart and let her know, she is loved, and everything is going to be okay.

Sugar and Shadow Reunited

As love stories are told from the heart, their messages penetrate the depths of our souls. They are spoken in Soul Language, something our heads don't understand. Anncient wisdom explains this more fully by the saying "two becoming as one." We can be so deeply in love and connected with another that when that spirit leaves the physical world, something within us also leaves. To some, this is their idea of a soul mate. Although soul mates are a reality, very seldom do we find them. Most people don't believe the concept of a "soul mate." Sugar would like those people to know she had found hers and when he left his physical body, her heart was broken, and she fell into deep grieving.

It is possible to love someone so much you don't want to live without them. Can animals experience the same? Indeed they can. At the sanctuary, I never thought of Shadow without Sugar coming to mind and vice versa. They were so connected, you could feel the "oneness." There was never any doubt how much love these two cougars felt for one another. You could see the tender care each of them shared. She was the quiet one. Of course, it would have been difficult if both of them talked as much as Shadow. They took turns grooming each other and when they played, there was an air of flirting. Shadow would take the lead, and Sugar looked up to Shadow for cues.

Words cannot express the amount of loss with the physical passing of these two incredible spirits. Sugar couldn't wait to be reunited with her soul mate and left her physical body one month and one day after Shadow left. No matter what the physical ailment was that caused her body to take its last breath, the root cause was a broken heart. She had no will to live. Life wasn't life without Shadow. I know they are both happy to be together again. As I look at their empty Cat-A-Tat, although I am not able to see their physical bodies, I feel the love they shared and know only that love is real, everything else truly is just an illusion. It has truly been an honor and privilege. Thank you Shadow. Thank you Sugar. Your love story will always be in my heart. Let the angels care for these two precious spirits as they continue their love story in the light.

Auroara's Last Wish

"My bones hurt, and my body is extremely tired," Auroara said yesterday as I talked with her. "Do you want help?" "No," she replied. "I am ready to leave my physical body behind. The pain will not go away, and I want to leave." I knew in my heart, she would soon be gone. "Auroara, what has been your life purpose? Have you completed what you came back to do?"

Her voice was now soft as her vital energy was beginning to depart from her body as she responded. "In search of perfection, there is always much suffering. Perfection does not exist. I was born from an intent of breeding for the perfect tiger. I was not born the way they expected me to look. There was damage in the information that tells my body how to form at a deep level. I chose to come anyway allowing my "imperfect" body to awaken awareness within you."

I watched Auroara as she lowered her head. "What becomes of those things that are not perfect? What becomes of them? How quickly you move on to something else. The "imperfect" ones are rejected and forgotten. You are beginning to see with your heart the silent suffering that is endured in your quest to obtain something that does not exist. Know there are others like me whose purpose is to bring awareness that in the process of creating perfection, there is always suffering that never ends. The only thing that is created is silent suffering. As I leave my physical body, I ask you to quit trying to create perfection, for it will never be. Be in harmony with nature, not in control of it."

As I closed my eyes to hold back the tears, my hands crossed my heart as I saw the southern, charming tiger full of energy as she dashed quickly through a dense jungle. Auroara's body was like a young kitten. She was home, and her spirit was free at last.

Inner Lion

As Cameron's nose starts to twitch, his sleepy eyes open, and he lifts his head to further investigate the smells drifting with the breeze. Unconcerned, he falls back to sleep. Observing Cameron sleeping, I can't help but think of his ancestors walking the plains of Africa as fierce predators and as prey. Knowing animals reflect the human condition, I wonder how to cultivate the strength of my "inner lion" without letting it wreck havoc in my life.

Humans are omnivores and have characteristics of both predator and prey. Our society has reinforced and rewarded predatory behavior in school and business. If we don't claw our way to the top, it's a challenge to imagine an alternative because the wisdom of the prey has been suppressed within us. And yet for change to occur, the human psyche has to accept another matrix of wisdom capable of balancing the violent nature of the predator inside.

Bringing our predatory nature back into balance is the challenge of a lifetime. However, when we develop the wisdom of predator and prey, the lion transforms from aggressor to protector, from the murderer of sensitivity to its champion, helping us access the courage to feel and the willingness to act. Cameron is assisting us in reawakening the wisdom of the prey, while demanding that we own our inner lion and putting it to good use because true empowerment depends on finding a balance between the two.

The Power of Man

As Matthew Scully quotes on page 9 in his book, "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy," Such terrifying powers we possess, but what a sorry lot of gods some men are. And the worst of it is not the cruelty but the arrogance, the sheer hubris of those who bring only violence and fear into the animal world, as if it needed any more of either. Their lives entail enough frights and tribulations without the modern fire-makers, now armed with perfected, inescapable weapons, traipsing along for more fun and thrills at their expense even as so many of them die away. It is our fellow creatures' lot in the universe, the place assigned them in creation, to be completely at our mercy, the fiercest wolf or tiger defenseless against the most cowardly man. And to me it has always seemed not only ungenerous and shabby but a kind of supreme snobbery to deal cavalierly with them, as if their little share of the earth's happiness and grief were inconsequential, meaningless, beneath a man's attention, trumped by any and all designs he might have on them, however base, irrational, or wicked."

The cats ask we remember the words Matthew has spoken as we prepare for new leadership in this country. Animals matter, and we need people who understand what it means to be humane.