Stephanie Marohn's Blog

Hermes

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Stephanie Marohn

: Hermes

I had the feeling that I would need to change Truffles’s name, but I waited to hear from him that he wanted it changed. Last week, I got the message that yes, he wants a new name—something more dignified, something that celebrates who he is in the world.

His new name arrived over the weekend: Hermes. Messenger of the gods, his Roman name is Mercury. I knew that Hermes travels on winged feet, but I didn’t know until I looked up Hermes after receiving the name that he carries the caduceus, the symbol of healing–two snakes entwined around the tree of life staff.

Welcome, Hermes! Thank you for bringing messages and healing.

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YouTube Messengers

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Stephanie Marohn

My publisher asked me to shoot some video of me with the animals, and Saturday was the day. That morning, I told all the animals over breakfast in the barn that the video was to help publicize our book (What the Animals Taught Me) and help us get our permanent sanctuary. I asked whoever wanted to be in the video to show up around 1 pm. That afternoon, just as my wonderful bird-expert nephew-in-law was setting up the camera, the three donkeys came up the hill. Truffles showed up soon after—by himself, which had never happened before. The four sheep travel together. The others were nowhere in sight. If you watch the YouTube (link below), you will see that I call Pegasus, but she doesn’t come. Pegasus and the three sheep took me at my word—they didn’t have to be filmed if they didn’t want to be. The three sheep’s timing emphasized their choice; they materialized out of nowhere as soon as we stopped filming. I am continually amazed by the animals’ telepathic abilities. As for Pegasus, she clearly had other things to do.

Thank you to Truffles and the donkeys for representing all the Messengers.

Here we are on YouTube: Animal Messenger Sanctuary.

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Deer and Coyote

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Stephanie Marohn

Deer Visit

Yesterday I looked up from my writing to see deer crossing the field in front of my house. I leaned out the window and took this picture. They look thinner than they usually do at this time of year. The second one’s ribs are showing. You can see from the picture that the grass has not turned fully green yet, a sign of the dry winter we’ve had here in northern California. Deer don’t graze on grass, but the plants they like are sparser too. Less grass means I’m having to feed the sheep and donkeys more hay than usual for February.

Maybe the drought year is why another animal came by this morning. I had put out hay and everyone had begun eating when the donkeys spooked and ran out of the area where their feeder is into the midst of the sheep bowls. The sheep scattered and then regrouped inside the barn. The donkeys didn’t eat but, ears up in alert mode, kept looking toward the fence dividing our home from the cattle ranch next door. I went to investigate. There, on the other side of the fence and only a little ways up the slope of the cow pasture, stood a coyote. He was probably 30 feet from me, looking past me to the barn and the donkeys. Then his eyes turned to me. We stood looking at each other for a long moment. I forgot to greet him, but went right to silently asking him to find food elsewhere. I was trying not to picture little Beau and Fleur, not wanting to put the image of them in his head. I didn’t run him off, but waited for him to get my message. This is his home too. I saw how unwanted he is—who welcomes a coyote? I wasn’t scared. I knew he wasn’t going to attack me or the animals. Certainly, he wouldn’t take on the donkeys, with their deadly hooves. He looked at me, then turned and moved away, slowly at first, then breaking into a lope and disappearing into the trees. How hard to be a predator…

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All Together

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Stephanie Marohn

From the Tower

I’m sitting in my octagon tower writing room looking out the big window at the vista that stretches all the way to Mount St. Helena, the tallest peak in Napa County. My heart thrills to see the whole sanctuary family together way down the hill, grazing in the meadow around the giant oak there—the three donkeys, Pegasus, and the four sheep. The fact that the sheep have ventured so far means that Chloe, their queen, has recovered from whatever ailed her for a few days. At her advanced age of 12, whenever she shows the least sign of illness, I worry she is on her way out. As with my dream for Pegasus that she have a good amount of time to enjoy a horse companion before she goes, I hoped for Chloe to be able to enjoy her new flock and her new position of leadership for longer. Prayers answered.

Now a new prayer for a missing cat. A neighbor’s Bengal cat Akeru has been gone for three days. In this area, there are coyotes. A lanky shaggy one ran across our hilltop in the middle of the day about a month ago. I prayed that Akeru was just on walkabout, returning to his wild Bengal state for a time. Last night, Akeru and his companion JuJu came to me in my dreams, Akeru limping back from his absence, barbed wire snagged around his back leg. In the dream, I called him into the house and began using wire cutters to carefully snip away the dangerous wire. This morning I walked part of the fence line on the perimeter of the sanctuary, just in case. No Akeru. Sending prayers for his safe return.

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Envisioning

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Stephanie Marohn

I do envisionings instead of New Year’s resolutions. Envisioning feels expansive and opens the way for creative possibilities to flow. In envisioning, instead of trying to push the river, we swim with the universal current. This year, I’m envisioning the Animal Messenger Sanctuary and me finding our forever home. Right now we live on a beautiful hilltop, but it’s a rental with multiple dwellings and we need a permanent place that is solely devoted to the sanctuary so we can implement all our plans for people and animals.

Gabriel the archangel

I am eager to arrive at our new home so I can fulfill two pledges I made to the animals. One was to Pegasus the miniature horse. She has not had a soul companion since the death of her beloved donkey Gabriel five years ago. She likes the donkeys who arrived soon after, but, as I write in my book What the Animals Taught Me, they are not her soul mates. She often grazes alone, which never happened in the days of Gabriel. I promised her that when we find our new home, I will be able to welcome a male miniature horse for her. I am aware of time passing, which is the reason for my eagerness to fulfill my pledge. She is in her mid twenties or older, and I would like her to have a good number of years of enjoying her new companion. I know the right horse for her will arrive but not until we have a larger barn for shelter and a place dedicated to the animals.

Raphael, Sylphide, and Ulysses

My other pledge was to the donkeys Sylphide and Raphael. For the same reasons, I have to wait until we arrive at our new home before I can fulfill this pledge. I promised them that I would try to find their family members and bring them to live with us. Where they were before, there were 7 donkeys living in a bad situation. I could only take two of them (Sylphide gave birth after arriving on the sanctuary, thus Ulysses). One was adopted by a neighbor, one died, and the rest went to other homes. I would at least like to offer a home to the lone donkey if I cannot find the other three.

Envisioning our mystical nature retreat with house, dry barn, plenty of acreage with safe fencing, autonomy, communion, and ample and accessible hay storage! 2012—an auspicious year for arrival.

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Bless the Birds

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Stephanie Marohn

Isis, Queen of Heaven (photo credit: Chuck Fisher)

Yesterday I finally took care of something that came to me back in December. Among the sacred items of a friend of mine who died was a hawk leg—the whole leg, with feathers, claw, and leather ties with beaded ends wrapped around it. When my Gaia circle sisters and I were finding homes for our friend’s sacreds, I agreed to take the hawk leg and figure out what to do with it. It’s not something any of us wanted to keep as a sacred. It came to me to return the hawk leg to the earth, and yesterday was the day. I untied the leather, restoring the leg to its natural state, and then carried it outside to bury it. Dust to dust. As soon as I stepped through the gate into the animal area, where the hawk would have sanctuary company, a hawk began calling overhead and kept calling the entire time I dug the hole, laid the leg in with thanks to the hawk spirit, covered it over, and placed a stone on top. Then the hawk ceased calling. Her sister or brother had come home, whole again.

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Animal Dance

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Stephanie Marohn

Yesterday I was privileged to witness first a sheep dance, then a horse dance. I was putting out hay for the sheep at dinnertime when Truffles and Beau came dancing down the hill to the barn area, either in exultation over dinner or in sheer joy at the new life they have been enjoying on the sanctuary for two weeks now. Their dance was a bouncing pronging on straight legs, as if they were on springs, and included the sound effects of thudding hooves. To me, it was a male sheep happy warrior dance—powerful and impressive. Beau skidded to a stop in front of me and I offered the flake of hay I was holding. He took a delicate bite, looking up at me with soulful dark eyes. Truffles went right to the bowl.

The donkeys were already at the feeder. I went in search of Pegasus, who sometimes comes when I call and sometimes waits for me to come find her so we can run back to the barn together. She wasn’t in her usual evening spots. I finally heard her snort from somewhere in the brush before I saw the top of her head. I thought she would appear soon after, so I waited where I was. No Pegasus. I walked forward calling her. She waited until I saw her, then whinnied, whirled, and took off in a mad dash along the upper hillside. I raced along a parallel path on the lower hillside. She waited for me where the paths converged, then took off again, in the open now, twisting in the air, kicking up her heels, tossing her head—a wild exuberant dance ending at the barn gate. Life is so good!

Pegasus on the hill (Photo credit: Kelly Durkin)

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New Arrivals

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Stephanie Marohn

Here are the latest sanctuary arrivals, enjoying dinner together.

The New Flock

From left: Beau, Chloe, Fleur-de-Lys, and Truffles. Hard to get a picture of faces at dinnertime—I’ll post another when I can get a shot with no food involved!

The integration of this flock was the fastest I’ve ever seen. I think Fleur had a lot to do with that. She joined Chloe first and bonded with her immediately. When her brother, Beau, and their companion Truffles arrived, it was a happy reunion for the three—noses together in long greeting. Fleur kept her allegiance to Chloe, and the other two fell into line, literally—Chloe leading the way to the best grass, with Fleur walking right behind her, followed by Beau, and Truffles bringing up the rear. This is the order they are most often in now, as they move from place to place. Welcome to the sanctuary, Fleur, Beau, and Truffles!

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Gate to the World

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Stephanie Marohn

The Gate to Everywhere

This gate sits on the slope in front of my house, in the field where the animals are often grazing. A little girl who used to live next door and hang out with me and the animals once asked, looking in puzzlement at the gate, “What’s it doing here? It’s a gate to nowhere.” I smiled and suggested, “Or we could look at it as a gate to everywhere.” She liked that idea, and so do I. For me, the gate, relic of fencing, symbolizes the animals’ freedom on our sanctuary. Yes, there is fencing for safety at night and on the perimeter of the property, but the animals roam over many acres during the day. They get to enjoy the feeling of freedom. Don’t we all need that? Sometimes I open the Gate to Everywhere, just to remind myself of possibilities.

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All My Relations

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Stephanie Marohn

Chloe

Poetry on the sanctuary this morning. The quail scratched happily in the driveway where the sheep had left bits of their organic pellets from special treat time yesterday. The covey is huge this year, with at least 50 flowing out from beneath their safe haven in the blackberry brambles—how do quail run so smoothly? Down the slope, Chloe’s new Icelandic flock grazed: Truffles, the large shaggy sheep with a blue-black tongue like a chow; and Beau and Fleur-de-Lys, the twins who follow their wise leader Chloe like little shadows. Pegasus, the white unicorn horse, was on her way down the hill on her morning rounds. The donkeys were still enjoying breakfast in the barn. I was standing by the open gate to the fenced area where the animals spend their nights, smiling at the sight of all the happy beings, when another gift arrived. First one, then two, then three deer walked by, no more than 12 feet from me. Unperturbed by my presence, they turned and looked calmly at me as they passed. Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, all my relations.

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