|

10 April ~2009

The dogs and I walked the Greenbelt several times after dark this week, during the full moon.  I let them off leash, and they stay busy following scent trails - fox, skunk, raccoon, and who knows what else.  In the past mountain lions and bears have been sighted along the north ridge, which is a good place for them to hide, because of its woodland cover.

Before we climb the ridge I yell 'hey bear' a couple of times, to give the critters a warning  to  clear out before  my  borders  make it up there.

My  dream activity goes way up around the full moon.   That is one of the benefits of being caffeine free - more dreams, including intense ones.   This morning I dreamt that I was in a nature center, being shown around all the fancy and creative displays about nature.  I was being polite, but couldn't wait to take my students outside into some real nature.

Yesterday I dreamt I encountered an angry moose on a trail, and had to get up on a slope, with a tree between me and the moose.  The moose was intent on doing some damage to me.  A  young black horse came running along the slope, stopping a few feet away from me, looking at me.  In dreams emotions are as powerful as the images, and just as I felt anger and aggression from the moose, I felt empathy and friendliness from the horse.

I pay attention to the animals in my dreams, thinking they might hold a cue to the animals that are my totems.  I have had several dreams about wolves.  After one my palms and feet were sore when I awoke.  I had been dreaming that I was running on all fours.  On another I met a beautiful woman with long black hair, and walked past her without looking at her straight on, which is a way to preserve your solitude - something I am a master at.  She stopped and watched me pass, and then said 'are you going to ignore me? '   I returned to her, looking straight into her eyes with an openness that  seems to be reserved for my dreams.  She  invited me to  climb up to a ridge with her.  I glanced away, and when I turned back she had changed into a black wolf, and again asked me to go with her.

That is one thing that camping alone in the wilderness has taught me -  to love the beauty and spirituality of the night, especially out away from artifical lights and noise.  If too much time goes by without getting away, I start to get depressed, and begin to feel my life is going by too fast.  The nightime walks on the Greenbelt were good, but I can't wait to get up there again with just my border collies, to sit beside them and take in the mystery of the night.  I have said before that they understand its ancient rhythms much more than me, and it seems a privilege to be with them up there.

I say up there because we are most comfortable with a ridgetop campsite, where we can walk a few feet and look out over a valley.