Rescuing a stray cat

This stray cat has taken my focus this week away from three new shamanic drums in various stages of completion and my work on an expanded new version of the Journey Oracle cards.  I did not intend to be rescuing a stray cat two weeks ago but this young orange male began coming around our yard and out buildings--complaining loudly of being SO hungry and cold and tired of living rough...and he knew how to come in through the dog door.  Chasing him away felt unkind when three cats were inside being warm and well fed.

 I started feeding him in the laundry shed and began looking for people who know about rescuing a stray cat.  My best first action was to post his picture and request for a new home on Tidelines.com,  the Cortes Island website.  Plus I called the Quadra Cat Rescue on Quadra Island.  What a blessing is a small community with time to take time to care. A neighbor called to say this was "Able" whose owner used to live here.  Apparently Able didn't like his new home and footed it back across island to his old neighborhood.  When Able first appeared I did a Journey Oracle reading about how to help this stray cat and was brought up short by the last line in the story accompanying the Oracle card:  "Do you remember who this is?" At first I thought this question was making a metaphorical connection to an orange cat from my childhood--but as soon as I knew this was Able, I realized I had indeed met him as a kitten from across the road.  Sometimes, maybe most of the time, Oracle cards show us this ordinary reality as well as the other realms.

My neighbor called back to say she had found a young woman friend willing to foster Able until  a permanent home could be found. The QCR lady called to say she likely had a home for Able with a woman whose elderly cat had recently died.  Able is currently with a full tummy receiving cuddles at his foster home while I am sending pictures to help a new owner recognize her cat.  I praise the names of all of you who act toward cats, and dogs, in what must surely be the most profound ways: who give food and shelter, a lap to curl upon and affection--well-- just because it's a kind thing to do.

Meaning of drums in dreams

The meaning of drums in my dreams is children.  Just like cats are the children in my house.  When I dream of children--this is about drums.  Sometimes a small child will appear in a dream and be very round like in a puffy snow suit, with arms and legs sticking out at odd angles.  This means I am dreaming of a drum.

There are two new drums in my house this week.  This 17" frame drum has that "round child" look from my decision to tie in the voice differently with 5 thongs: to anchor the five kinds of time that Martin Prechtel writes about in his eloquent book the  "Disobedience of the Daughter of the Sun."

Sometimes a child in this reality chooses a child from that dream reality.  The 14" drum I built today of Cortes Island deer hide and British Columbia Spruce wood became the dream drum of my cat Mauchica,

                                  

The first drum built is now dry enough to begin to plan how to make the hold-fast in the back that will enable the drummer to ride this good horse into the dreams of the spirit world. Perhaps this drum is the ancient heart of rhythm--it has such a long, resonant tone already--that I think I may set this heart shaped stone in the center of its cedar ring.  

                                  

Even though this drum is only a few days old--already it has an ancient face, as if it has come back from the oldest dreams, to be a child again in this world.

Starting a birthday ritual

My birthday is during this first week of February and I have several ways of making a birthday ritual of the day.  I like to begin with a Journey Oracle reading to ask the oracle cards: what chance do I take this year?  This year I drew card 34 and the answer to this question is “Called to witness.”

What an interesting answer.  When I gaze into the image I see an animal face with the most remarkable eyes.  The right eye, which for me is the eye that sees into this consensual reality, is so direct and unwavering that surely no dishonesty or manipulation could hide from it.  The left eye, which is for me the eye that sees the unseen reality, is intensely direct and engaged, almost to the point of aggression. This image and message means to me that I am being called to witness my own integrity, honesty and plain dealing with all levels of reality this year.  Easy to say but not always easy to accomplish in daily relationships where everyone understands reality shaded by their own perceptions, intentions, hopes and fears.

I asked the Journey Oracle “what is my best alignment to this situation of witnessing my truth?” and was attracted to these statements in the text that accompanies the oracle card.

ALIGNMENT  TO  THE  SITUATION

Your relationship to the prevailing energy is soaring.
Your perception of the situation is visionary. 
The impact of your perception is textured. 
The connection between the core energy pattern and the situation
 is felt as circles and turns.
The momentum of this situation is fed by being in no time.

I am especially drawn to this last sentence, since for me “being in no time” is being mindful according to the Buddhist notion of being completely in the present moment.  When I am in the present moment and not in my inner world of projections, I am in the physical and emotional truth of my experience.

When I turn the text page for the Oracle card over I discover this:

DIVINE  WILL  IS  THESE  QUESTIONS

 Are you ready? 
 Do you realize who you are?

AND  IS  IN  THIS  ANSWER

 Dew

To understand these questions that conclude this part of my birthday ritual, I again look to the Oracle card image.  I see a creature both real and unreal with an expression turned inward. What a beautiful and scary challenge: to be fully the owner of my own truth, and therefore the owner of who I truly am.