monsters Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Chupacabra – Photo: L. Weikel

Dingo Or Chupacabra

The lonely figure loping across the field strikes terror in the hearts of those who catch sight of it. Seeing it directly or out of the corner of the eye, it causes gooseflesh to rise without warning.

Mothers clutch their babies to their breasts, terrified that the beast, be it chupacabra or dingo, might randomly turn its ravenous, amoral gaze in their direction, stealing their child and dooming them to a life of despair and lamentation.

Their blood runs cold. They’re nearly paralyzed with fear. They sense stories of this encounter will be handed down for generations – if they, and their loved ones survive, that is.

Check It Out

While this reaction is understandable, it’s essential to step up, check things out personally, and make sure what’s being seen is real. A lot of times, our minds leap to conclusions, causing us to interpret what we see as something far scarier than it really is. Indeed, our imaginations can run wild if we let them, especially if we’re prey to the stories we’ve heard from others.

But investigation can sometimes feel daunting and scary. If we take a chance and get too close, perhaps it’ll turn on us. Maybe it’ll even savage us!

Yes, it takes courage to stand up to the fear that might overtake us and cause us to either freeze in terror or run the other way.

Not This Time

Not in this case, though. It wouldn’t take a lot of courage to sniff this baby out.

This time it was remarkably easy to stop for a moment, take a breath, and engage in one’s ‘due diligence.’ All you had to do was take a few steps back, shift your perspective, and follow the leash.

Not-quite-so-scary Sheila – Photo: L. Weikel

(T-643)

Silence Abounds

It’s time to step back; it’s time to withdraw into the place where silence monopolizes all conversation, where silence abounds.

Sometimes silence imparts more wisdom and nuance than any number of words could possibly convey, no matter how artfully cobbled together or intricately woven.

Silence is not to be feared. I say that, and I write that; and I know it to be true. Yet no matter how much we may crave it, no matter how earnestly we may seek it out, when it arrives, we sometimes aren’t quite sure what to make of it. Or do with it.

For my part, I intend to revel in it.

Horrors or Riches

I intend to dive into the deep end of the pool of silence I’ve recently found myself encountering.

There very well may be unspeakable horrors waiting just underneath the surface. My toes, as they tread the silence, may graze the skin of these monsters, sensing ever so fleetingly the stubbled, clammy surface of half dead lies, that thing that wants only to consume voraciously, without discrimination, refusing all limits.

And there just as easily – and likely – may be untold riches waiting to be discovered in the silence. The trick is not allowing the monsters to distract or dissuade.

The trick is also never assuming you’ll always recognize the monsters. Or the riches either, for that matter.