When Hope Flies In: The Return of the Purple Martins

This week I attended a networking gathering put on by the Port of Seattle. Attending this sort of event is not my usual style, however I went for three major reasons.

First, I went as a member of the Alki Wildlife Habitat Project (AWHP), and unofficial photographer. Our hard-working leader, Dolly Vinal, was presenting a certificate of certification of Jack Block Park as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat from the National Wildlife Federation along with a sign for display to the public. Our group has been working on community certification of Alki for five years. We will finally achieve that goal this year; certification of Jack Block Park fits into our future vision of certifying all of the West Seattle peninsula and the Duwamish area specifically.

Second, I went as a shaman. My recent experiences conducting the monthly public Peruvian shamanic despacho ceremonies have raised my awareness of the need for me to begin seriously applying everything I have learned about shamanism toward the goal of reversing global warming and reconnecting people, animals and the natural world. Sometimes that role takes the form of simply showing up with the intention of being available to Spirit and seeing what happens.

Third, I went because I love Jack Block Park, and any excuse to hang out by Puget Sound and watch the marine wildlife is good.

Jack Block Park is perhaps one of the least well-known of the Seattle parks, even in Alki. Located on 15 acres next to Salty’s Restaurant on Harbor Avenue, Jack Block Park contains a walking path, 45 foot high observation tower, a walking pier, and a kicking view of the Seattle skyline and Mt. Rainier (on a good day). And something else few know about, a breeding colony of Purple Martins.

The following information is extracted from the beautiful handout for the presentation at Jack Block Park, designed and written, respectively, by fellow AWHP members Wilda Boyd and Kara Whittaker.

“Purple Martins are a migratory swallow species that breeds in North America and winters in the Amazon basin of South America.

“In Washington, Purple Martins were once locally common near marine shorelines, but their populations have declined steeply over the past 50 years. They are now a Washington State Candidate species, meaning the species may meet the criteria for listing as State Endangered, Threatened, or Sensitive. The primary reasons for their decline are the removal of natural snags and nest cavities and increased competition with exotic bird species for nest cavities…”

“Purple Martin boxes were first erected in West Seattle at Jack Block Park by local volunteers in 1996. The lower Duwamish waterway is home to three nesting colonies which together make up one of the most productive sites in Seattle. A fourth colony site was established this spring with six new gourds at the Seacrest Park Pier, but no new nesting activity has yet occurred there. It is expected that Martin ‘scouts’ will locate these new gourds late this summer and return to nest in them next spring.

“The Seacrest gourds were installed by members of the Alki Wildlife Habitat Project, whose goal is to promote neighborhood involvement in restoring the natural legacy of our community.”

After the certification presentation and some truly mouth-watering food prepared by Blue Willow Catering (so maybe I had a fourth reason for attending!), I decided to break away from the networking and go off and explore the scenery. The hour was getting close to sunset, and the light was perfect for taking some photographs.

I checked out the purple martin gourds, hanging from the walking pier, but they all seemed pretty quiet, no one in attendance. Suddenly, at the end, I spotted a lone martin just sitting on the pole. The angle for the shot was perfect, straight geometric lines of the pier framed the graceful steely curves of artificial lampposts and the natural curves of the gourd houses, and in the background, the one lone purple martin. To me the shot captured the essence of urban conservation—finding ways to balance the wants of our society with the needs of nature.



I returned to the networking group wishing I had been able to see more of the martins. As the sun sank lower I was alerted by Greg Whittaker of Alki Kayak Tours that some purple martins were congregating at the gourds closest to the end of the pier.

I hurried to see, and arrived in time to take some amazing photos of a purple martin family in full feeding swing. With two babies to feed, the parents were quite busy; one would land on the gourd, stuffing the insect it carried into one gaping mouth, while the other parent waited on the sidelines with the next mouthful. I just kept clicking away, hoping to be able to capture some sense of the beauty and grace of the parents as they swept in and out.



Finally satisfied that I had done my best, and with the light fading, I made my way back toward the group.

Along the way I paused for a moment to take in the cloudy sunset illuminating the shorelines of Alki and Seattle, the passing ferry, and the barge moored nearby, and noticed a flying Caspian tern carrying a fish in its beak. Largest tern in the world, its clean, aerodynamic lines enable it to drop like an arrow into the water to catch its dinner, and as it made its way past our urban skyline I felt hope.

Hope that through places like Jack Block Park we will be able to watch future generations of purple martins, as well as other wildlife, raise their families. Hope that we can not only preserve the beauty of the natural world by creating more oasis and corridors for wildlife within our urban landscapes, but that we can increase the presence of wildlife in our neighborhoods and in our hearts. Hope flies.



For more information on how to get your backyard or community certified as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat visit the National Wildlife Foundation website.

Photos by Rose De Dan©2008
Wild Reiki and Shamanic Healing LLC
Website: www.reikishamanic.com
Blog: www.wildreiki.wordpress.com
Animal and Reiki Art: www.cafepress.com/reikishamanic

The Nectar of Joy

Maybe it was the June Peruvian shamanic despacho ceremony, but lately I feel like I am living in synchronicity-land. It was an ayni despacho ceremony, designed to bring one's life into balance and harmony, removing blockages that stand in the way of your manifesting your highest potential. It is said that when you are in balance and harmony with the natural world then the universe actively conspires on your behalf. Based on the following events and a separate set of experiences I shall relate in a later post, it must have been a doozy of a ceremony.

It all started with the article of the day on DailyOm which was Messengers of Direction: Animals in Nature, a topic near and dear to my heart in light of my healing and teaching practice, shamanic and otherwise. I took time to join in the discussion, adding my two cents that I had indeed had wonderful and amazing experiences with animals as teachers and messengers, and referenced my recent article “Animals Healers, the Cats of Kitty Harbor.”

Then, over breakfast, I finished up this great novel I had been reading, “Manless in Montclair,” which concerns a woman who becomes a widow mid-life. She struggles with feelings of aloneness, searching for a man who can give her comfort and love, and who can be a father to her children.

After numerous dating foibles including some classic internet dating experiences, she draws on her background as a publicist and comes up with a very creative and early version of viral marketing combined with the reward system. Whoever circulates her email amongst their friends, resulting in matching her with the man who ultimately becomes her husband, gets a vacation for two to a location of their choice. The campaign snowballs and she finds herself questioning her life, her motivations, and what she really wants.

Without spoiling the end of the book (I hate it when that happens), I think I can safely say that she concludes that it is not the goal that counts, but the people along the way and the joy that the journey brings, a theme that is woven through the book by focus on the word “naches,” the Yiddish word for joy.

I found myself shedding a few tears along her journey, resonating with her process that strongly paralleled my own relationship hurdles. I found myself thinking that I might yet overcome the issues and pitfalls that had marred my search for a romantic partner, and as I reflected upon all that I had learned along my journey I could recognize the gifts woven in amongst the challenges.

Still musing, I stepped outside for a moment to enjoy the sunshine, along with my cat, Kiya. The juvenile starling that had been feeding at the suet feeder flew to a nearby branch and began to berate Kiya for disturbing him, continuing to object as I attempted to reassure him that she meant no harm. I told him that as long as I was there she would behave herself and leave him alone. He was joined by an adult starling who was evidently familiar with me and who simply sat and observed.

As we were all communing I heard a rush of wings and a small blur sped by, a hummingbird questing for flowers. I thought he had gone, but before I could blink he was back, hovering eight inches from my face. I could see the iridescence of his feathers clearly, and the colored patch at his throat designating him a male. I was so delighted that I began speaking out loud to him, telling him how lovely he was. He stayed there for a good bit, perhaps 45 seconds, occasionally making that little “tick” sound that they do, and then just as suddenly as he had arrived, he flew off, leaving me standing there with a smile on my face and joy in my heart.

Returning to the house I wondered at the timing of his appearance, was there some significance? In the Peruvian tradition hummingbird represents strength for the long journey as we reach for our highest potential, but it felt like there was something more.

Opening up my copy of Animal Speak: The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small, I began to read about hummingbird as messenger. I got no farther than the first few words of the keynote “Tireless Joy and the Nectar of Life.” Quickly scanning, my wonder grew, phrases leapt out at me, “Anyone who has ever seen this tiny bird is filled with a sense of wonder and joy,” “associations with relationships, past and future.” I laughed aloud over the description that hummingbirds have knowledge of how to use flowers for healing, in addition to the amusing knowledge that my name is Rose and I am a healer, it seemed a clear enough message that as a healer I could access my own inner joy.

Whatever the ultimate message, the beauty of the journey that took place in the span of an hour or two that day, woven as it was from an article on the internet, a book, and a hummingbird, is one that I shall hold close in my heart. When the going gets tough, as it does from time to time, I will be able to pull out the sunlit memory of my tiny hummingbird messenger and the nectar of joy that I felt in that moment.

Photo by Rose De Dan©2008
Note: The photo that accompanies this article is of honeysuckle in bloom in Schmitz Park, the last old growth forest in Seattle, and a favorite food of hummingbirds and adults who remember the joy of tasting the sweet nectar as a child. It was taken shortly after the despacho ceremony mentioned in this article. Another piece of synchronicity?

Rose De Dan
Wild Reiki and Shamanic Healing LLC
www.reikishamanic.com

Animal Healers and Orcas, the Newsletter

At long last, the June/July 2008 newsletter is out! When you see the incredible content you’ll understand what took me so long.

Don’t miss our inspiring feature article, “Animal Healers, the Cats of Kitty Harbor,” you just never know where you will find your teachers.

Also included in this issue:

• New Custom Healing and Dowsing Pendulums In!

• Celebrate Orca Awareness Month, support the endangered Southern Resident Orca community

• New Peruvian Q'ero Imports include mesa cloths, chumpi belts, and palo santo wood

• Healing Spirits and Animal Communication Workshop offered at East West Bookshop this July

• August 2008 Peruvian Ayni Despacho Ceremony, restore balance and harmony in your life

• Learn to Cook for Your Pet, Free Workshop

• Spirited Living: Shamanic Training for Daily Life starts in October

• Lost Pet Recovery Tip

Thanks for your interest, and best wishes for a great summer!

It Takes A Cat to Create A Village

It is with deep sorrow that I announce the passing of a truly great personality and personal friend, Gracie the cat.

Last night, at about midnight, there came a knock on my door. It was my neighbor Casey, and she was obviously in distress. Apparently Gracie had been found in a neighbor’s yard after having been missing for several days, and she was not looking good. Casey said she did not think Gracie would last the night and asked if I would come and see her. In my official capacity as an animal energy healer I would have done this anyway, but as Gracie and I had shared special moments as friends I immediately replied that I would be there.

While I gathered my mesa and other healing tools together I reflected on our friendship. Gracie had the most open and trusting heart of anyone I had ever met. Everyone, friend or stranger, was greeted with joy by Gracie. Apparently she had never met someone she did not want to know, and in conversation with the neighbors I discovered that she literally knew more people on the block than any of us did (see Gracie the Cat Star). She would run down the sidewalk or cross the street to greet you, meowing in welcome, and when she reached you there would be purring and great affectionate gestures. If you were really open to her, and willing to crouch down a bit to her level, she would make her way into your lap, eventually placing herself across your shoulder, rumbling purr vibrating in your ear. A little kneading to soften you up further, and when you were putty in her capable feline paws, she would drape herself, like a boa, around your neck.

When she was in need of healing she would instigate a variation on this theme (see Gracie the Cat and Fireworks); she would lie in wait outside my house, and when she had my attention she would curl herself up in my arms, tuck her head under my chin, and get as close to my heart chakra as possible. At those times I could feel how open she was; Gracie was 8 lbs. of unconditional love, and my feelings of affection for her would just well up.

As I recalled her energy, her sunny disposition, and the many memories I had of her including my recent pajama-clad photo shoot of Gracie (see Gracie by Morning Light) I felt fear that she might be lost to us. What would we all do without her?

As I entered Casey’s house to see if there was anything I could do to help Gracie I made a deliberate effort to put those fears and memories aside so that I could best be a hollow bone for the healing energy that she would need. At my first sight of her my heart sank into my feet, she could barely raise her head, and she seemed very out of touch with her surroundings. As I knelt by the chair I acknowledged that we might lose her and put that feeling aside.

And then it happened—Gracie broke through my hard-won professional balance. She heard my voice; the voice of the person who had always helped her when she had been sick in the past, and although she was very weak, she began to crawl toward my heart chakra which was level with her on the chair. As I leaned forward to meet her Gracie shoved her face into my chest and wrapped her right paw around my bare arm, claws digging into my skin and leaving marks, and she hung on for dear life like someone drowning, I could feel the tension and the fear in her and there was no purring this time. At her demonstration of complete trust in me I felt my heart break into little pieces, and I had to put that aside, too. Gracie needed me.

As I began to assess her energetically I could feel some strange kind of disturbance in her upper energy field, something like disconnected signals. I dimly registered that information and continued looking for what might be causing the problem. She did not appear to have any external injuries, there was some evidence of what was probably arthritis (Gracie was 13), but nothing jumped out at me for what could cause these symptoms, and it became clear to me that Gracie was not going to be able to tell me, Whatever was going on was causing her ability to communicate to break down.

At this point I needed to open my mesa and turn the session over to the universe. When in doubt my philosophy has always been to get out of the way and let the energy and the client dialogue. It is then that miracles can occur.

It became very clear to me that I could not disengage Gracie to open my mesa in order to open sacred space, thereby create a place for healing between the worlds (consensual reality and the spirit world; this is the realm of the shaman). Gracie made it very clear that physical contact was emotionally important to her, and she wanted to be able to draw on the Reiki energy freely. I had to ask Casey to open my mesa and to distribute the stones in a circle around Gracie and I. It is a tribute to my mesa that it allowed this, as the general rule is that no one handles the mesa except the shaman.

As Casey distributed the stones, and the rest of her family watched quietly, the energy began to build. Search as I might I could not see a thread of possibility that led to Gracie surviving this, but neither could I find certainty that she would not. I set my intention for her highest healing good, allowing the shamanic energy to enfold both of us, opening my feelings, feeding the energy with my love for her, and at the same time attempting to put aside my fear of loss.

I performed a Reiki attunement for her, re-connecting her fully to Source for her highest mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being, and I could gradually feel the tension in her body ease, her fear subside. She entered a trance-like stage of healing where I sensed her soul journeying through the universe. Her breathing slowed, and I wondered if possibly she might choose to use the energy to leave her body permanently. As I had no idea of the outcome I clearly set intent for her to receive whatever she needed. I built a Bridge of Light for her so that whenever it was her time to leave she might do so in as joyful and a painless a fashion as possible, and then be met and guided to wherever she was to go next.

When we finished Gracie was calm, but still clearly not right. Realizing that we had done all that was possible, it was now time to get her to a vet.

As Gracie drove off with her family my heart was heavy with the sense that I might never see her in body again. When I re-entered my house my animals clearly picked up on how I was feeling and decided that it was time to lighten me up. So, at 1:00 a.m. we had a silly play session, re-affirming our connection to one another and joy in life. When I finally crashed for the night all the cats snuggled up with me, blanketing me in care and concern.

I woke up once during the night with the sense that something had happened, but it was not until after noontime that I learned that Gracie had passed. All tests at the Burien emergency clinic showed no elevated levels of anything, however her behaviors indicated neurological compromise, and the conclusion was that Gracie had a brain tumor. With great difficulty her family made the decision to humanely euthanize her.

When Casey called me the next day I heard in her voice that my worst fear was confirmed—Gracie was gone. A part of me was glad that she would not continue to suffer as she clearly had been; another part keened in grief at the thought that she would never wrap her paws around me again. It was as though for me a light had gone out in the world.

Casey shared with me some of Gracie’s early life. Apparently Casey and her then-husband had been looking to adopt from the shelter. Casey said she did not see Gracie because she is short, and Gracie was in a top cage, but her tall husband saw this paw reaching out at them, and suggested they check out the eager cat.

In the petting room Gracie leapt from one lap to the next in a frenzy of affection. She had been found behind a building with her kittens and was about one year-old. The kittens were weaned and Gracie needed some more beings to love. Casey and her husband complied and adopted her.

So, how did an unwanted stray with no place to raise a family maintain an unlimited amount of trust in the goodness of the universe and the kindness of mankind? I have no idea, I only know that Gracie is my hero. As the neighbors and I carried the news of her passing from one house to the next, and stories were shared, I realized that Gracie, a small gray and white tabby of unknown origins, had woven a thread of friendly connection through a block of disconnected people simply through the power of her unconditional love. One little cat created a village.

Good-night, Gracie, may your legacy of love live on.

In memory of Gracie I invite you to post your comments and share your memories of Gracie here, or perhaps you have stories of other animals who have inspired or blessed your life like Gracie blessed ours.

There will be a Peruvian despacho ceremony held at Wild Reiki and Shamanic Healing LLC for all friends of Gracie once her ashes are returned. A death despacho is a beautiful celebration of the life of the individual and all participants get to share in the ceremony and add their prayers and memories. A notice will be sent out at that time.