Note From Kendra

Dear Friends,

At this time of year, we come together to reflect upon all that we are grateful for in community of family and friends as we celebrate the feast of Thanksgiving. 
 
In this issue of All Things Alchemical we focus on bringing you something you can share with young and old in Inspiration: Kid President giving us 20 things we should say more often.
 
In Health we are making it easy to shop for your feast day with the mindfulness of spreading the good vibe of whole, clean, healthy foods. The ‘Clean 15’ and the ‘Dirty Dozen’ put out by the Environmental Working Group in April is part of a phenomenal article: “EWG’s 2014 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.”
 
I hope you will make time this month to check out My Favorites where we have included a few family-friendly items for you to read or watch. My personal favorite is our movie choice staring Adam Levine, Mark Ruffalo, and Keira Knightley.
 
May you be truly blessed by the gifts of the season of Thanksgiving as I feel blessed to be walking this journey with you. In gratitude.
 

As we express our
gratitude,
we must never
forget that the
highest appreciation
is not to
utter words, but
to live
by them.
-John F. Kennedy

Peace and with love,

Archetype

Monk/Nun
(Celibate) 

The positive aspects of this archetype are fairly obvious: spiritual intensity, devotion, dedication, persistence, and perhaps wisdom. On the shadow side, the role of a religious recluse could be seen as being removed from the real world, overly pious, even privileged in the sense of not having to be concerned about earning a living or raising a family. Yet, historically, monks have been extremely industrious and involved in real-world enterprises, whether draining swamps and planting vineyards in medieval Europe, working the rice fields in Asia, building monasteries, teaching, or copying and preserving texts. Today the Monk archetype may show up in the ability to be single-minded, assiduous, devoted to a spiritual path or to any great achievement that requires intense focus. In this sense, novelists and entrepreneurs can carry the Monk as readily as spiritual adepts.
 
The Celibate reserves his or her energy for work and/or spiritual practice. Yet one can be a Monk, even a religious one, without being celibate, as is the case with some Tibetan lamas, yogis, and Islamic scholars. Then there were Abélard and Heloïse, the twelfth-century Monk and Nun who forsook their vows of celibacy out of passion for each other. Both were superior in their fields-Abélard as lecturer, debater, and philosopher, Heloïse as a radical prioress and founder of convents-and, although their passion caused them great suffering, it does not seem to have hurt their spiritual work.
 
Films: Claude Laydu in Diary of a Country Priest; Audrey Hepburn in The Nun’s Story; Yi Pan-Yong in Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left For the East?; Deborah Kerr in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison; Loretta Young in Come to the Stable; Lilia Skala in Lilies of the Field.  
Television: Derek Jacobi in Brother Cadfael.  
Fiction: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.
Religion/Myth: Friar Tuck (the mythical swordfighting monk of Robin Hood’s Merry Men); Nennius (Welsh monk commonly believed to have compiled the Historia Brittonum, which was used by Geoffrey of Monmouth and others to reconstruct the history of King Arthur); Bernadette Soubiros (nineteenth- century French girl who at the age of fourteen claimed visions of the Virgin Mary).
 

Myss, Caroline.  Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential.  New York: Three Rivers Press, 2002, 2003. 400-401. Print.

Symbology

Squirrel
Contributed by Anne Barton

As is often the case for me, the path to choosing an animal to share this month was a meandering one.  The obvious choice in the month of November is Turkey, which is why I wrote about this animal last year.  When I started to consider other possibilities, the keyword ‘Gathering’ popped out at me.  This seemed a very appropriate word for a month when we celebrate and give thanks surrounded by family, friends, and loved ones.  Even though it’s meant in a different way when associated with Squirrel, it was a start.  What clinched it for me was suddenly recalling an encounter I just had a week ago with a squirrel, and I was with Kendra.  We were walking through a park, cutting through a grove of trees to get to our destination, and a squirrel crossed our path.  My usual encounters with squirrels are fleeting.  They take off up a tree fast when I approach.  But Kendra tried a different approach.  She leaned down and looked at the squirrel, and he walked right up to her and stood on his hind legs not even a foot away.  If she’d had something to eat, I think he would have taken it right from her hand.  Instead, when he realized she didn’t have anything to offer, he promptly turned around and left. That’s what I call a significant animal encounter!  It reminded me of a book I read years ago on Animal Communication.  The author literally had conversations with animals, and once she was stopped in her tracks walking down the street when she heard a voice say, “Hey Lady, got any nuts?”  A squirrel in the tree above was talking to her.  She stopped and decided to have a conversation but quickly found that it was going to be a very singularly focused one.  “Nuts?”  That was the one and only topic this squirrel was interested in! (Straight from the Horses Mouth by Amelia Kincade)
 
Susie Green, in her book Animal Wisdom describes a couple of ways to communicate or engage with animals. One suggestion is to concentrate on just one animal for a period of time, observing and taking notes on its behavior and activity.  Consider why the animal does what it does.  You can start to create a journal that presents the meaning of your encounters with this animal.  Or, has this animal appeared in your dreams?  What was it doing?  She actually gives an example of seeing one squirrel chasing another, up and down a tree or across a field.  This could be interpreted in a number of ways - fighting, aggression - but in fact it’s a mating ritual.  Let’s say you observe this behavior and you are considering asking someone out on a date.  This might be a clue to encourage you in this endeavor.
 
Another way to interact and receive a message from an animal is to notice repeating behavior, something a particular animal does each time you encounter it over a period of time.  Every time I sit on a bench in a park I walk to often, a hummingbird comes and sits on a tree behind me and squeaks.  Until I first encountered this behavior several years ago, I’d never seen a hummingbird sit still on a tree branch, and I didn’t know they make a noise other than the humming of those rapidly flapping wings.  The keyword for Hummingbird is joy, and her presence reminds me to live with an open heart.  That is a message that never grows old!
 
 SQUIRREL/Gathering, Investment in the Future, Change
 
Key points when Squirrel is present:

• Honor your future by readying for change.
• Lighten your load, if necessary, of "things" not of service.
• Place wisdom and caring in an untroubled heart and mind.
• Remember, the Universe provides.

This is the Boy Scout of animals - always prepared!

Reserve for the future, but know that all will be taken care of in its own time. 
Squirrel can be found on all continents except Australia.  This is not an elusive animal but one well known to mankind.  Squirrel is making sure to share its message with us all: that is, the importance of preparing for the future.  Energetic and acrobatic, squirrel advises that we take care of our physical being, so as to be prepared when change occurs.  It takes extra energy to manage change; so we need to ‘be prepared’ like the Boy Scout of the animal kingdom.
 
More specifically, squirrel would have us master the simple skills of life - growing our own food and cooking and preserving food to prepare for changing times.  These are skills that are being lost in the busy, metropolitan world in which we live.  But preparing does not mean hoarding.  Carrying and accumulating too much weighs us down and depletes our energy.  The message of squirrel is to be light and adaptable in order to easily meet the future but also enjoy the now.  And this is not just material ‘heaviness’ but being weighed down by thoughts, worries, pressures, stress and gadgets that have been broken for years.  This ‘medicine’ is also about repurposing or recirculating that which you are ready to let go of.  Find someone who can benefit from anything that is no longer serving you.
 
Squirrel can appear when you are stuck and stagnant, energizing action.  These questions may help you move forward if you find yourself in a place of fear or waiting for something to happen.
 
Have I denied my ability to produce enough space for abundance to enter my life?
Have I denied by connection to the Earth Mother, from whom all things flow?
In moving too fast, have I taken on the erratic nature of squirrel without having any focus?
Am I leaking my energy on worry instead of gathering power through being prepared? 
The greatest wisdom Squirrel has to share is that all will be taken care of in its own time.  Apply this to your fears about the future, and they will vanish.

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