MIND-BODY-SPIRIT
Animal Medicine and Holism: The Word ‘Medicine’ and Evolving with the Ancient Animal Language
tle configuration. It’s like learning a new language: when you do, the size of the brain’s hippocampus and cerebral cortex increases with it, strengthening its neuron connections over time. What happens with sentience happens with clairsentience, and it has the aura and upper chakras (throat, third eye, and crown) to work on its behalf. The union of humans and animals has always been a holy, divine, divinatory experience. Ancient Egyptians likewise treated animals as gift-bearers from the gods and proxy humans. Pets were mummified in the same way that people were. Pythagoras believed that animals had the same type of soul as humans do. In non-Western tribes, animals are equal members of clans and sodalities as our brothers, sisters, aunts, and grandmas. Shamans incorporate their skins and skulls as robes and masks, and imagine the spirit of the animal into their healing practices. San cultures in Africa dance in animal form to draw power for rainmaking, capturing game, and healing. For a sim-
BY RUSLANA REMENNIKOVA
The word medicine in its traditional meaning is “to connect” or “a way of life.” Medicus and medicina in Latin means “physician” and “the art of healing,” respectively. In Sioux, Lakota, Cheyenne, Aztec, and Mayan teachings along with other indigenous traditions, medicine people were considered the most spiritual and divine. They healed by invoking gods and spirits, including animals and plants. We all have this medicine within us. It is a matter of awakening the divine spirit within to connect with the outer world. We may not commonly realize it, but animals are as important as any teacher, guide, or mentor that wants to share something with us. In his The Return of the Tower of Babel , author Richard Grossinger wrote, “Some animals — insects, reptiles, mammals — have inborn medical intuitions, whether from DNA, hundredth monkeys, or mor - phic resonance.”
ilar reason, Asian martial-arts forms have animal names and choreographies: hawk, chicken, dove, turtle, monkey, horse, bear eagle, snake. Practitioners of Xing Yi, a style of Chinese martial arts, mimic the way a bird swoops, viper coils, roost- er pecks, turtle snaps. They spread their “wings,” plunge, pounce, shimmy side- to-side, and hop to close gaps. They ruffle their feathers and peck with a five-finger beak. Animal Symbology There are different methods of getting in sync with the animal kingdom. Some people spend many hours perfecting their caws and ribbets , or doing monkey and bear Xing Yi or chi kung sets, while others assimilate animal lessons on the Discov - ery Channel and YouTube. I have my own method, a psychospiritual approach that encourages you to induce a relationship
Animals also have oracular meanings; their presence and relation to your being in the moment has purposeful significance. In a divinatory sense like a Tarot or ora- cle deck, seeing an animal emits a human or angelic frequency , or a way of resonat- ing information to evoke a deep emotion, memory, or image that gently nudges us on our path. It depends on the animal; each has its own cosmic message. We may spend countless hours studying animal lit- erature, classifications, and read numer - ous indigenous stories to better interpret the meaning of an animal. However, this method can lose the background of the an- imal in real time, the action of the animal, and its relationship with your life because of your common and divergent evolutions. Animals and humans share similar DNA, and they should not be discriminated against based on a hierarchical system of
with the spirit of the animal through meditation and introspection. My approach is built on physical observation, empathy, and listen - ing to frequency changes in my body, which I have developed through my personal practice of sound meditation. This approach takes time, practice, and patience, and it works. In the sense that I utilize this approach in my personal interactions, keep the heart (or desire) and mind (the organized faculty of senses) open to learning and accept - ing. However, there are no fixed interpretations in the following ex - amples, and the defining key is for your mind to accept fluidity and the nature of spontaneous change. Be respectful of all traditions and perspectives; each story has wisdom and ancestral density. Though my descriptions of animals emphasize traditional as well as divinatory aspects, the key is not their actual characteristics, which may be common and well known, but the way you receive them like oracle cards. You may see a hummingbird, swan, or bear and look at it as a live form of nature, and that is part of its transmission and divination; but you can also look at it as a figure on a card drawn from a deck, the deck being the world and the reader being you. In that regard, finding a piece of cardboard with a swan image or a part
being more or less intelligent or dominant. We may not share furry or scaly physical properties, but our similarities can be shared in rela- tionships, procreation, and survival mechanisms. My method is to cultivate your understanding of animals so that it helps, heals, and offers holistic support of your evolution and soul’s purpose. You are looking at a somewhat near DNA assemblage to your own. Animals and plants are a part of us, essential to every breath. An animal, a holy being, isn’t any different from our intrinsic connection to angels and our breath. Anima itself means “having breath.” This ap- proach heals our DNA’s electromagnetic field and changes our body’s signal. Spirit and totem animals interact with us on a higher frequen- cy. When you embark on this healing journey, you will find that animals start to naturally gravitate to you. That is normal. They pick up that frequency and are naturally more generous and clairsentient (able to perceive emotions and energy) than us in that regard. It’s why spir - itual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff urged students to practice love first on animals; he thought them more sensitive. Establishing a dialogue with animals changes your internal dialogue with your DNA and its sub -
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PATHWAYS—Winter 24-25—11
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