“Love, love, kiss, kiss!”

Sophia

My Better Endings story for June’s question of ‘Why Am I/ Are You Here?’ is about moving forward with love and an open heart. I look to my pet companions Sophie and Emily for my inspiration, as they give constant, unconditional love without ever having to think about it!

Emily

Emily has her purr mantra that I am blessed to receive on my chest in our favorite chair most mornings and at night before going to dreams.

Sophie has developed a special gift as a Greeter when we go walking in our new community. Sometimes when she sees a person coming in our direction even halfway down a block, Sophie plants herself on the spot, refusing to budge until the person comes closer or until I take her to greet them. She gives them welcoming wet Shorkie kisses. “Love, love, kiss, kiss!” I often say to her while she extends her greeting ritual, especially when there are kids involved. People love it (mostly), usually commenting on how sweet Sophie is. She lifts their spirits with her loving gift, as both Emily and Sophie do for me always.

image from pixabay.com

Sophie and Emily’s unconditional blessings of love which evoke reciprocity while never demanding any return, are my strong waking dream for stepping forward in a new home with Love and an Open Heart. It is a selfless service they naturally share with trust and faith in the basic goodness of life. My next month’s question (re. the yearly Quest of attaining True Happiness) will be to explore ‘How May I Serve Thee?’

I welcome YOUR Story and Comments!

Who Has Your Back?

I live with a wonderful family consisting of Sophie (a Shorkie), Loki (pure white, gold eyes), Emily (petite, orange-white, sensitive) and myself. We, like any family, comprise an archetypal grouping.

Loki sleeps by my head in case I roll onto my back and sleep apnea kicks in; I once woke at 3 AM to Loki snatching lightly at the tip of my nose, waking me from what felt like a near death experience inwardly.  Suddenly my dream had shifted to an empty, chaotic void; I was still conscious and moving in a positive direction but all sense of timespace had vanished and I dimly yet dispassionately knew this might be death; until, Loki brought me back!

Emily comforts me when I am feeling Down. Like my former harlequin calico cat of 20 years, named Ariel, Emily nudges at my blanket for me to form a cave and then she snuggles in beside me. This first happened the night I had returned from a two week trip to Ireland. Ever since, it has been our bonding time, and she always seems to know just when we both need to cuddle.

And then there’s Sophia. Sophie literally has my back. Late at night when all are settled in for the night and then again in the morning before I can crawl out of bed for another round at life, Sophie jumps up onto the mattress and curls up intently to press her own back lightly against mine. During the night, my little Shorkie girl is also a competent watch dog; she lets me know of any odd noises outside the house. To honor her loving service I will sometimes get up to patrol the house thoroughly, defensive tool and phone in hand, prepared to defend the family too if ever needed.

So these are my home family ‘outer’ cast of archetypal allies.  We have each other’s backs, looking out for one another and relying upon one another harmoniously.

Who has your back? We have been exploring this month how a Warrior archetype Ally serves to rally the troops of character types in an ensemble archetype cast, like Dorothy with her archetype Ally cast in the Wizard of Oz. What happens in our unconscious ‘land of Us’ (as used in a recent Jean Houston book) is often mirrored in our outer lives as well. Is there a time or a kind of situation in your life that calls your Inner Warrior forth to stand up for your interests and protect you from harm?

Tell yourself (and us, as you please!) a story of a time in your life when you–as your archetypal Warrior Ally part of Self–stood up for yourself or blazed a pathway to achieve something magnificent in your life or for someone else. Or perhaps there was a time when someone in your outercast of Allies stood up for and protected you?

I welcome your insights and stories!

Chela and Ariel–A Better Endings Pet Reincarnation Story

Ariel

I know that not everyone accepts or is interested in the idea of reincarnation. If not, that is fine, but please humor my story today. I want to tell a true, Better Endings story which I associate with pet reincarnation, but you are welcome to interpret the story however you like.

Chela was an orange tabby/calico cat that I shared my life with for 11 years. Chela was an amazing feline friend. She would ride around the house with me, draped across my shoulders. Outside, we would play a game where I would chase her in a big circle around the back yard; then I would turn around, and Chela would chase me! We were very bonded. Chela relocated with me on my “Big Move” from Buffalo to Arizona (see that story here from Feb.5). She also came with me for my dissertation study year at Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. She was my touchstone there, or should I say a refuge of the Heart.

When I returned from Zuni to Arizona, I spent 6 months as an intern at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Chela couldn’t be with me then, so she stayed with a friend in Phoenix. At night in Flagstaff, though, I would close my eyes while sitting up in bed playing a recorder instrument to the tune of “Greensleeves”. I would imagine that Chela was with me then.

Chela developed a severe arthritic condition in her spine, so I had to let her go when she was only eleven. She appeared to me about a week after her passing. In a dream just before waking, I went to pull an envelope with a picture of her from my chest (heart) pocket. Instead, Chela energetically walked out from the envelope, as if to say, “Don’t remember me as a dead form; I am here with you now; I am still living, as Soul!” Chela then led me to where she was staying on the ‘other side’. She brought me to a beautiful, verdant clearing in a wooded valley, full of trees on the perimeter, and colorful flowers, and animals of all sorts! There was a small, wooden stage in the middle of the clearing.  Chela jumped up onto the stage and addressed her animal friends:

“This is Linda; she’s the one I’ve been telling you about!”

So, I went onto the stage with Chela and said hello to her animal friends.

Around 11 months later, I had another dream one morning. I was returning in the dream from a castle where I had been visiting a friend who had been a mentor for me before she herself had passed on, my philosophy teacher from undergraduate college, Dr. Antoinette Paterson (Toni). She had been the person who had introduced me to Chela one day when I went to her college office for an Independent Study session.

               “So, do you want to see the most beautiful Being in the Universe?” she had asked.

               “Yes!” I answered, and little kitten form Chela, who had been delivered to the Philosophy Dept. office in a box from a student, slept in my arms during our session and came home with me that day.

So, 11 years and 11 months later, in my dream I was leaving this castle area after visiting with Toni, and I saw at the entrance gateway a beautiful little female, fully grown, black-and-white-with-orange-splotches cat. I knelt down with my heart full of gratitude to greet and pet her as we felt like very old friends.

That very morning, I went to my university in Tempe, AZ  (ASU), where I met with my main mentor there, my Ph.D. advisor, Betsy. The first words out of her mouth to me that morning were:

               “Could you possibly take a kitten?”

               “Only if she is black-and-white-with-orange-splotches!” I laughed.

                “One of them is!” Betsy answered.

Ariel (that kitten-cat) was a Harlequin, tortoise shell, Calico. She had Chela’s orange-white tabby stripes etched lightly on her forepaws and temples! Ariel and I were close companion family for 20 years. Whenever I would play “Greensleeves”—as I often did—on the same recorder instrument I had played on in Flagstaff, wherever Ariel was and whatever she was doing, she would jump up onto my chest and purr loudly, rubbing affectionately. I played “Greensleeves” also on the day she departed again; this time, she passed away at home, in my arms. I felt she was graduating from the Physical plane altogether this time, progressing as Soul to become an angelic spirit-form. I have seen her since, but in forms I shall not venture to share here. As I say often to all of my pets now, our love is Forever, “twenty-four seven, times Eternity”!