Animal Dreams
Indigenous cultures teach us that the animals that roam the earth have a great deal of wisdom to teach us. The greatest gifts come from the animal kingdom and the animal's relationship is familial, sacred and spiritually important.
For the shamans of these indigenous cultures, the animals are spirit helpers guiding their journeys while in trance states. An animal may first appear to the shaman in a dream calling her to her spiritual power and purpose as a healer. The animal gives the shaman otherworldly visions and healing power.
Each animal has their own gift or medicine, and as with other elements in a dream, they are personal. Snakes bring transformation and are an agent of healing. Hawks grant us vision in all time frames. Eagles call for solitary responsibility to lead and be complete in our authenticity.
Animals do not usually curl up and beg to be petted in our dreams. They often are attacking, predatory and vicious. They have their own rules about how to behave. We do not reach even middle ground of understanding them, so focus on the particular animal first.
I had a powerful dream of a dog. It was so vivid upon waking I looked up a shelter I had never been to before and decided the least I could do to honor the dream was to go to the shelter that had the synchronicity I needed to convince me.
Roxy's Story
I found Roxy. A Catahoula Leopard dog (we had a DNA test done). She was the only dog in the shelter I would have considered getting, but I was not convinced. The workers at the shelter explained that she could jump over 6 feet and had been brought back to the shelter multiple times after owners could not keep her contained. I found out later that they had told Andrew she was about to be put to sleep because of her inability to be contained. I didn't know this, so I was ready to leave the shelter and call it a wash.
As I was walking out of the door Roxy was going ballistic in her cage. I laugh now at her dramatic performance in an attempt to communicate with me. I had made it all the way to the shelter and was still going to leave her? That was unacceptable and she made it known by flailing her body and yelping in such a manner that I could not leave her there.
She did jump our fence. She irreverently would wander the golf course. She would open any door she could to jailbreak our other two dogs. She would purposely chew up items in the household that were directly related to what I was participating in that did not include her. For example, when I was running every morning she would gather my running shoes by the front door or in the back yard. When I started writing more with pen and paper she would chew up my pens. She would get on the desk specifically to grab my pens and place them by the front door. If she knew I was leaving she would jump the fence and sit on the yard across the street so when I was backing up I would look in the review mirror and see her staring at me.
The dog is the best known of Hekate's animal companions. Her hell hounds were seen as guarding the gates to the Under World. I was walking through the underworld of my past at the time. The image I have of Hekate's hell hounds is not what I would say Roxy embodies, but she is a soul that demanded freedom. Now, she happily stays close to her tribe due to loyalty and some deep abandonment wounds. They say a rescue dog never forgets the circumstances they come from, which may be true in her case. Andrew tried taking her to his office one day and left her there when he went to lunch. A woman in his office called him at lunch and said Roxy was in his office howling.
She is a clown, like me.
Animals are medicine.
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