To regain balance in your life, you can choose to work with one of your “Animals of the Way or Heart”. Before you begin, you need to know about some of the basic types of balances that there are. To determine what you need, ask the animals, and they will guide you. Sometimes you just need to smooth out the rough edges and right yourself. In other times, you need completeness to finish what you started
Day/Night (Consciousness/Unconsciousness)
Day is the time of activity and wakefulness. Night is the Dreamtime that Day gives fuel to. Day recedes into Night, which gives birth to Day. In the darkness of Night, unconscious notions transforms to conscious choices in the light of Day. Day/Night complements each other.
For example, your “Animal of the Way”, Ferret is helping you to lose weight and exercise more. However, under Ferret’s influence, you are darting about going non-stop in your workouts. Moreover, you eat fast food and rarely rest. What can you do to balance Ferret’s frenetic energy?
You can team Ferret up with Two-toed Sloth, the slowest animal on the earth. Sloth will calm you down and help you focus. Since Sloth is particular in what She eats, She will not hinder your dieting efforts. In fact, Sloth will help you choose more carefully the food you eat. Phlegmatic, Two-toed Sloth looks at life upside-down and counter-balances Ferret’s frantic energy.
Two-toed Sloth and Ferret live in different places and environments. Ferret lives in homes in Europe and North America. Homes are comfortable and safe places, where Ferret can play to his heart’s content. Meanwhile, Sloth lives in trees in the Central American jungles. Rainforests are wild, untamed places full of mystery. In her jungle, Sloth chooses to stay close to her tree. Ferret is Day to Sloth’s Night.
Predator/Prey (Struggle/Wholeness)
Predator/Prey represents the primal forces of procreation and death, which is filled with dynamic tension. From the struggle of opposing forces, a new life emerges. Deal with the duality of birth and death, and you will become whole. Just as an erupting volcano forms a new island in the sea, so does your new wholeness result in increased creativity.
For example, in your weight loss efforts, you team Ferret up with Mouse. Unlike Ferret, Mouse is more methodical and organized. Mouse keeps stores of seeds for hard times. As the prey of many animals, She is always on the lookout for danger. Mouse can help you organize yourself and cache your calories. Mouse warns her Cousins by stamping her foot on the ground or by squealing. She will warn you when you are over doing things.
Ferret and Mouse together provide a synergetic balance. You now have a dynamic, that both animals participate in, to move forward with. Knitted together, Ferret and Mouse will help you become more creative and productive.
Land/Sea (Conflict/Resolution)
Conflict is an inevitable part of life since it shows people what is worth fighting for. When you avoid conflict, you may sacrifice your integrity. Resolution, the end of conflict, is a joining together. In order to complete yourself, you need to resolve your conflicts. The disunion of conflict and the unity of the resolution breaks the self apart and reforms it. The sea erodes the land, and moves soil to another place. Meanwhile, the land builds up in another part of the sea. Land/Sea is a fluid and moving relationship.
To understand Land/Sea, study the relationship between Great Horned Owl and Red-Tailed Hawk. These two fierce predators nest and hunt in the same territories. However, they hunt at different times, Great Horned Owl by night and Red-Tailed Hawk by day. However a conflict usually arises over nests. Great Horned Owl will use Red-Tailed Hawk’s nest. The hawk will choose to move to another location. (However, She will return to the same nest next year to use.) The two predators dance together to produce a whole that satisfies them both. They have a fluid balance with the nexus being nests, which offers a place for both to raise their chicks.
Earth Mother/Sky Father (Female/Male)
Earth Mother/Sky Father balances maleness with femaleness. The male energy of Sky Father and the female energy of Earth Mother work together as one. Sky Father sends rain to Earth Mother, which receives the needed water. In return, Earth Mother nurtures trees, which returns needed oxygen to Sky Father.
In Western Cultures, masculine qualities would be more rational, direct, and assertive. Feminine qualities are creativity, vision, and introspection. Male is looking out; female looking in. With Earth Mother/Sky Father, you move from duality to wholeness.
You can work with animals that have a strong sense of maleness and femaleness. Horses live in harems governed by a stallion. Great white sharks live in matriarchies. Horse lives in open grasslands, eating grass. An apex predator, Shark swims in the oceans. To balance your male and female sides, call upon Horse’s maleness and Shark’s femaleness.
Purchase from Lulu Publishing: "Finding Your Animal Teachers"
Va. Carper
May 7, 2008