Following a recent gathering at The Clubhouse, I climbed down the stairs, jumped o’er river to call it a night and I spotted two deer en route home. I’m always excited about my Deer encounters and remember gratitude for their gentle reminders that steer Us toward new adventures awaiting around the bend. Deer medicine is especially powerful this time of year, as we approach the Autumn Equinox and Light and Dark become equal, if only briefly.  Isn’t it poignant that Deer’s coat is somewhat akin to the symbolic Yin and Yang and oscillations of Light and Dark energetic vibrations within?  Between Irene and other erratic weather patterns whirling around our waste, perhaps this forthcoming comet Elenin will really wash Us out and clean things up, a la ‘out with the old and in with the new’.  Who knows, maybe even the Man from Ajax will be out of a job, as A New Earth becomes greener from less pollution for Seven Generations to come?

Coincidentally, I remember the story of the Buddha first preaching in a Deer Park.  Wasn’t it the Rat that first arrived to heed the Buddha’s calling and now claims Chinese astrological posterity?  Moreover, I find it synchronous that an Angry Red Squirrel friend got fired up in his recall of some past negative experiences with Rats.  After my friend recapped going Straight Outta Woodland on his apparent Nervous Woodland Creature nemesis, I heard my Chinese acupuncture friend angrily assert, “in West, answer is to kill . . . don’t always have to kill everything!” Although I remained silent, I sent my Angry Red Squirrel friend a telepathic message asking him to consider giving peace a chance vis-a-vis an agreement with Rat consciousness and watching The Rats of Nihm for cinematherapy.  Personally, I’ve come to appreciate Rats–particularly their shrewdness.  And the social scientist geek in me remembers that unlike humans, Rats will learn new pathways to cheese, after discovering that once coveted cheese, regardless of how Gouda it tasted, disappeared from once familiar territory.  Curiously, humans have a tendency to heed the ‘better the Devil you know’ mantra and will continue to go back to the same place, even when no cheese remains, given our propensity to get scaled back in Our Reptilian brain.  Ah, but Deer teaches Us to gently gaze onto demonic energy, while singing the Beatles hit “All You Need Is Love”, in a way that dissolves fear and reminds Us that Great Spirit so desires Us to join Father Sky and Mother Earth on Sacred Mountain and a return to our innocence.

Finally, in the film saga Star Wars, I remember Master Yoda training Luke Skywalker in the Jedi Arts so that Luke is equipped to stand up to the imbalance of the Dark side of the Force.  As such, Yoda teaches, “for my ally is the force and a powerful ally it is . . . life creates it . . . makes it grow . . . it’s energy surrounds Us and binds Us . . . luminous beings are We . . . not this crude matter . . . You must feel the Force around You.”  In the spirit of that, Deer reminds Us that It’s medicine allows for the welcoming of increasing powers of perception, noticing chiaroscuro, detecting subtle movements in border areas and clairaudience . . . so I’ve heard.

I Hopi You are well,

Ari