blessed are the animals
They love. They curl up on your lap or by your feet, content in the knowing that yes -- you are there and so are they. They allow us to sit on their backs, bringing to us a freedom with their four-legged speed that no machine can duplicate.
They protect with no strings attached. They try to tend to us whenever we are sick, and they play with us when we need exactly that. They get sick and sometimes just our presence and our touch seems to help greatly. We scold them and sometimes smack them a good one with a rolled-up magazine or newspaper during those house-breaking times. And sometimes we leave them all alone for hours.
Yet...they still love.
The Unconditional Love of an animal is the Magicks at their crest. We, as humans, are not very good at it, if we can love unconditionally at all, which may be for good reasons and may not. We do not know this anymore...one of the things that has been all but lost to us over the milennia. We can certainly strive to revisit the Garden, but there will have to be an animal or animals there to guide us.
I have been asked to address the subject of Familiars here. Familiars, as described by a good friend of mine Rianne, are "Those dear pets of ours that know too darned much but we love them anyway". Rianne should know. A visit to her house over by the greymarshes is an adventure in itself. She and her husband Bill take in strays of every kind and are constantly down at the local animal shelter trying their hardest to make sure that cats and dogs that are slated to be 'put to sleep' get homes.
Their animals love them with such a devotion that cannot be claimed by any words that I am aware of. One of their German Shepherds saved their 2-year-old son from drowning once.
The beat goes on.
What all of this so far has to do with Familiars is everything. They are not talking cats on a television show (although some can communicate very well indeed if we pay attention). One thing that is certain about Familiars is this: they have been around the block a few times. They know when they are comfortable and know exactly how to get their 'masters' to do their bidding.
Not too shabby, I assure you.
I am sure that much research has been done in the area of Familiars. I am also sure that such scientific research has basically drawn many more inconclusive answers as well.
The truth is, you will know when an animal is perhaps more than an animal...that your pet is a Familiar to you. A psychic-kinetic bond exists between Familiar and Companion (to be sure, there is no 'master' relationship here). Unspoken feelings will exist between the two of you (or perhaps more, such as in the case of my friend Rianna).
Familiars protect us, although there are times when we have to do our part in paying attention to them when they are doing this. Your cat suddenly picks her head up and glares at a spot in the room without twitching a whisker for what seems like forever...your dog's ears suddenly perk up, or he growls lowly for no apparent reason whatsoever. Animals can feel spirits. There's no doubt about this. What many of us dismiss as being 'dumb' is much more than that...a part of something that the majority of us lost the abilities to do long ago.
Animals can climb into our very souls, soothing us when we need soothing, alerting us when we need alerting.
Is it dog-smart and people-stupid?
You know that it is smart-smart. You know this deep inside because the animals tell you this.
The work that people are doing with dolphins amazes me. Children and adults who have never laughed and have never moved their limbs without pain wracking through their every fiber are placed in a huge tank with dolphins. And they laugh! They move! They LIVE!
The Magicks still flow with and through the animals of this planet as they did from the beginnining. Why this is so, well....the debates and conjectures go on endlessly. What is left is the proof. The Proof, the Magicks, are irrefutably here.
The Puppy Farms Must STOP!
And so, we are left with another dilema. Our animals are being hurt. Their once joyful,proud fury is steadily being silenced by a human-made juggernaut bent on convincing us that we need things of which we will never have any real use for...from the softly padded office chairs of Madison Avenue to the sweat-filled trenches and byways of the Congo. The rain forests go down and the over-breeding goes up, human encroachment destroying habitats that have been there long before man ever discovered his fingers. Poisons poison, death permeates and we -- WE PAGANS, WICCANS, WITCHES AND WIZARDS AND WARLOCKS AND FAE -- WE are here to at least save what is left and Tend the Magicks. Yes...
WE ARE HERE.NOW.
I have attempted to put together some of the causes that I have been fortunate enough to be involved with and know the good that they do. Some others, I hope, will at least serve to wake us up. Hopefully, we can aim our attention to the Tendings...the giving back to the Magicks -- to THE SOURCE -- long and effectively enough to feed vitality back into them...enough to save our Mother, our Father, and perhaps even ourselves.
Please help. Please -- at least -- visit these sites. Read what they have to say, see what they are doing. And know what you have to know in order to do what you know you need to do.
Awareness, now, just isn't enough.
THE DOG HAUSE CANINE CAPERS AMERICAN HUMANE ASSOCIATION NEWPET.COM
This is one of the most important sites on the WWW! Here you can find out about Spaying & Neutering, Rules Of Thumb and also fing graphics, clip art, petition information, idioma, sounds, Fun facts and quotes.
Another impotant site for us! Dog Rescue Groups, Human Societies, MSPCA, Reporting Animal Abuse, Vetinary Links, Activities With Your Dog, Training, Lost Pets, Guide Dogs and Death Of A Pet (the only site that I have come across that deals with this).
"Protecting Childen & Animals Since 1877"...Protect Your Pet, Legislation Information and Animal Links and more. You should know this one...
This site tells you about the things you need to know before you adopt a pet AND once you bring your new pet home with you. Caring is the main ingredient. Knowing how to take good care of your pet is essential.
