Willow and The Otters

Do you believe in "magick"?, Maybe if you are reading this blog you do.

As I have said elsewhere, I study the Celtic Shamanic path with The Way of The Buzzard Mystery School and one of their courses is on Tree Spirit Medicine. Now I know quite a bit about trees anyway but i am learning a lot more - for instance, I knew that aspirin was first obtained from the Willow tree.

But, I didn't know that the spirit of Willow could heal the emotions!

And another course I am doing is on Animal Spirit Medicine. Now for a bit of irony - last week Viv and I went down to the New Forest. Mainly to visit the wildlife park. Turns out it's more of a zoo than a wildlife park which is a shame but it's main reason for being was that it started out as an Otter sanctuary back in the mid 20th century when we humans had almost murdered all the Otters in the UK. Now Otters love to play - they will play with anything! They also love to eat and to sleep a lot. So, wonderful little creatures that were fun to watch.

The Spirit message from Otter is be more playful, lighten up, chill out. And on that note I will now tell a story about what happened to me just a few days later back in Oxfordshire. Those who know me will be aware that I can take things a bit seriously and I can get depressed by world events etc. I was feeling a bit emotional and grumpy one day so I decided to visit an old Willow that I had discovered some weeks earlier by a well hidden secluded stream. I have already shared this story (and yes, it is true) on the Buzzard Facebook group - so here it is for you guys.

"I decided to visit a Willow tree for my sit spot today and I asked Willow for help and advice on my emotional state (my psychotherapist says I'm emotionally imbalanced). My issues are around anger and intolerance plus I struggle to find awe, joy and excitement in everyday life. Well, the sit became totally awesome after about 30 minutes as I sat gazing at the Willow reflections in the stream - I actually felt excitement and joy all at once.

The reason? As I sat silently, partially hidden by the Willow, I sensed a disturbance to my left where the water of the stream began churning. Then two wild otters appeared! I had no idea there were otters in this stream but there they were. One jumped onto the bank with a crayfish in its mouth and proceeded to munch away. Then its mate saw me and gave a warning call. They both shot off down stream. Wow."

PS - I had absolutely no idea there were any Otters living in this stream before I went there.

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