Wild Heart.....

Restoring the Balance

As we come into Equinox…equal day/equal night and New Moon

It is a powerful time to change our narratives. People all over the Earth are doing what they can in their way to bring peace and understanding over violence and destruction.

Living with the natural world where I do, I want to explain some old Indigenous teachings from here….

Changing the narrative….”good guiding wolf” instead of “big bad wolf”.

In the Indigenous teachings of this territory on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in Canada, the Wolf and Killer Whale are the BALANCE KEEPERS. Wolf keeps the balance on the land and Killer Whale keeps the balance in the sea….and they are interchangeable. Both kill in order to survive, but often they are scavengers cleaning up dying, weak, diseased individuals and dead carcasses that can lead to disease. Wolves have been chastised for this and often misunderstood by humans, being shot, poisoned, culled and exterminated ruthlessly. In their world, they take what is needed…to exterminate other species would mean their own demise. They are careful that way, the natural world is their supermarket. They do not reproduce when there are too many of them for the territory. But killing of them is still taking place in British Columbia, Canada, where government has killed thousands aerially over the past few years, they say to protect Caribou, but logging, hunting, development, resource extraction and disease are destroying those more than wolves.

According to the old traditional teachings, a Chief is as great as the number of wolves in the territory…the more wolves, the richer and more powerful is the Chief, his or her family, their tribe and the territory. This was easy to understand because the more wolves, the richer the land was to sustain all, a healthy ecosystem. It is taboo to kill a wolf and the Chief’s family was directly connected to the wolves. If a wolf was killed or died, the Chief’s family was in danger. What happened to the wolves happened to the Chief’s family.

The Chief has helpers, “wolves”…members of the tribe who look out for the Chief, consult with and abide by what is needed to care for the land, water and people. When a Chief passes, the “wolves”, the Chief’s helpers, come into the funeral, dressed as wolves, on all fours, and in pitch darkness, take the casket and body away amid the sounds of the wolves howling, the cries of killer whales and the wails of the mourners. Often a killer whale will show up if the body was being transported by boat and accompany the body and spirit of the Chief to its resting place.

These teachings go back over the edge of time and are very important. Much of this has been ignored in the scientific approaches to the effects of what we do to the land, waters and wildlife…the spiritual aspects of our relationship to this planet.

I live on an island where wolves come and keep the balance, the Killer whales pass by and keep things like otters and seals, etc. in check. Following natural law, wolves keep rodents like voles, mice, rats, raccoons, deer and other living beings from overcoming other life here, when those species become too many for their own survival, especially diseased individuals. Wolves and Killer Whales maintain the health and well-being of the lands and waters.

Wolves foraging for shellfish (Chitons)

I look forward to the arrival of the wolf. This isn’t a big island for their survival but one stayed here for two years in my 50 plus years of living here. I love hearing their call, the song of the wolf. It is sometimes a lonely call, sometimes just checking and sometimes just singing for the pure joy of living, like humans, birds and other beings do. The song and sound of being alive, of gratitude.

My time in nature where I live, mostly in the wild, is always teaching me, daily learning lessons of life and that of my fellow brothers and sisters of the wild. What is it we call wild? What is domestic?...domesticated, regulated, conditioned to patterns of daily activities as opposed to living with the unknown?

My universal voice, the “universe” is always there talking to me or guiding when needed or when I acknowledge it which I mostly do unless I am very distracted. That is my “wild” voice, my natural being in sync with all around me and where I understand how it all works and what is going on.

It is fairly spontaneous, guiding me daily, inspiring my creativity, showing me the way, reminding me where my attention needs to be directed. It alerts me to be cautious and guides me on what plants I need for healing and well-being. It is me in unison with the world and cosmos around me. Getting to hear and trust it is the challenge and I question it as well.

And so here, camping on the edge of a big, wild river, amidst ancient intact forests with large and small bear tracks, bull elk and female tracks, deer and more all around, with wild salmon in the river starting to come in to spawn and die, I am aware of all the intricacies of the life surrounding me and listening and watching for the wolves and the killer whales, the balance keepers, that are on the edge of extinction themselves in many areas and hoping humanity will come to its senses, become more balanced, stop being so polarized with hatred, violence and entrenched attitudes and come to appreciate and respect all life with tolerance, a more open mind, gratitude and love for it all.

“Balancing”

Happy Equinox…Equal Day / Equal Night….

New Moon…New Beginnings…

The Balance Point.