rainbow dog Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Unsettled

I’m feeling kind of quiet this evening. Karl and I watched one of the movies that received a ton of Academy Award nominations the other day, “The Power of the Dog,” on Netflix. Perhaps it was the movie that left me feeling unsettled and reticent to write much of anything. Or maybe I was headed in that direction even before we watched it.

It’s movies like this that make me feel decidedly pedestrian in my discernment of artistry in film. I guess I have to be satisfied with liking what I like. While I was kept in suspense over where the characters were headed, in the end, I craved more character exposition. There just seemed to be so much more I yearned to know about these people. And perhaps – is that it? Is that what I don’t ‘get’ about some critically acclaimed films? Is engendering the feeling of wanting to know more – or just being free to allow our imaginations to build out the backstories – the mark of a profoundly Oscar-worthy film?

Perhaps.

And maybe that’s why, if I had to pit this against Dune, I’d choose Dune. Then again, there are a number of other films I’ve seen (so far) in the Best Picture category that also captivated me.

Words Unnecessary – Photo: L. Weikel

Look to the Sky

Instead of leaving you guys with a cranky personal grouse over The Power of the Dog, I’d like to offer some photos of a rainbow dog we saw this afternoon as we crested a hill near our home. We were passing by a cemetery that holds special significance to our family. Not because of who’s buried in it, but because of those who tended to its maintenance for several years.

Sadly, it is not maintained the way it used to be. The grass seems to almost be hacked instead of mowed and nothing is trimmed neatly around the gravestones. Many headstones have in fact toppled over. This makes me sad.

Yikes. Yes, I’m noticing the pattern.

There was actually a glimpse of profound beauty as we came upon the cemetery today, though.

Perhaps, as my mother used to say, “Discretion is the better part of valor.” Instead of writing anything else, I’ll just share the rainbow dog and the beauty we witnessed – and call it a day.

Ha – perhaps I just stumbled upon the true power of the dog – the rainbow dog: to transform ‘unsettled’ to ‘awe-filled.’

Rainbow Dog – Photo: L. Weikel

(T+67)

Liminal Cat – Photo: L. Weikel

You Tell Me

Just up the road from the illustrious Woodpecker Condominiums, there’s a barn that both shelters a few horses and is home to at least a couple of cats. One of the horses has already proven to be a bit on of a flaky sort. You tell me whether the cats are of this world or not.

Yeah, yeah, I hear you thinking. What in the heck? Of course they’re ‘of this world.’ What are you talking about, woman? And what in the world does that even mean?!

Well.

Take a look at the photo at the top of this post. You tell me whether it’s photo-shopped or not. I swear it is not. Which begs the question: if it is not photo-shopped, why does it look entirely as if someone lifted a photo of a healthy happy cat and airlifted into a barnyard setting – and placed an aura of gold around said feline? You tell me it doesn’t look like it’s just ‘playing’ at being in this reality. “Yup, I’m here, human. Don’t look away! I might disappear. Heh heh heh.”

This particular four-legged beast has been elusive to my enthusiastic and loving, if prying, eyes for quite some time. Perhaps my affection has been mistaken for stalking as a result of my annoying efforts to snap a shot of it (and steal its soul?). It’s been over a year since I stepped up my walking and added a whole new route to my repertoire. All this time I’ve been thwarted in my efforts to capture this here now gone again tease.

But today was different.

Am I really here? – Photo: L. Weikel

A Game

Today felt different. It felt like this furry phantom was ready to give me proof that it’s a magical cat. A feline from elsewhere, if only just the liminal region of a parallel reality. Either that or it was just messing with my head, playing games with my emotions. Taunting me.

I must admit, I started getting suspicious when it moved not one jot as I kept up an appreciateive chatter while snapping photos. It refused to move. It just sat there, looking at me, turning its head only just slightly enough to maintain eye contact with me as I moved from its left to its right, all the while maintaining that odd projection of placid boredom, with just a hint of amusement on its face.

Playing Coy – Photo: L. Weikel

What Is Real?

There was the appearance of another ‘tell’ that might lend credence to the possibility that I’d entered into the universe of photo-shopped barn cats. A rainbow dog on the horizon that was eminently more visible to the naked eye than to the best close-up efforts of my iPhone.

You tell me. What is real?

Both? Neither? Am I making it all up as I go along?

You bet I am.

And so are you.