Wolf Water

Teachings of my soul-mate

My two greatest teachers in this life were soul-mates I have lived with in other lives. One is my daughter and the other is a wolf-dog. I have written before about my wolf-dog soul-mate Shawnee (here) but that story barely scratched the surface. I could write about her for months. There is so much that she taught me.

Before I continue I should point out that is not her in the above photo. The wolf in the above photo is a European wolf at the Berlin Zoo. I like the photo because it reminds of the many times I watched Shawnee drinking from a river or lake. Shawnee taught me a lot about water.

Before sharing some of the things she taught me during the sixteen and a half years we were together in this life I want to go back to a life in which we were together back in the 1600s. I was a restless, selfish, no-account, son of a bitch white man living in Virginia. I craved adventure and exploration and the search for exotic foreign riches.

Virginia was boring and there were way too many people living there at the time. So I got on my horse and headed west. I decided to explore that mysterious land on the other side of the Appalachian Mountains. Not many white men had gone there yet. It was essentially Indian country.

My horse and I eventually made it to the land now known as Kentucky where I befriended the local Shawnee Indians. All along my journey I was always friendly with the local Indians. I was always peaceful and I sought interaction with them. I would share my knowledge with them and they would share their knowledge with me. I was treated well and I treated them well. But invariably I would fall in love with some gorgeous young Indian girl at which point I would be run out of town, so to speak.

I came to a certain Shawnee encampment where the tribe’s chief took a liking to me and implored me to stay so that I could teach him English. I was treated like some visitor from another planet or something. So I stayed and stayed and stayed — too long for my restless spirit.

It was during my stay with this Shawnee tribe that a dog also took a liking to me. Most Indian tribes had dogs that they lived with. Well one of these Shawnee dogs decided that I was the master she was looking for and she began following me around everywhere that I went. I took a liking to her, too.

The time came for me to move on. I thanked the Shawnee people for their gracious hospitality, got on my horse, and headed out to the north to explore that mysterious land then known as the Great Northwest — now known as the Great Lakes Region.

The dog came with me.

The three of us — the dog, the horse, and me — traveled extensively throughout the region, interacting with the natives and seeing incredible sights all along the way. We eventually made it all the way to an area on the southwest shores of Lake Michigan where there was a white man’s outpost called Ft. Dearborn. It’s an area that is now known as Chicago.

Ever the opportunist, I made friends with the white soldiers as well as the local Indians. I became a trader. I traded with the Indians and the whites. I was the middleman who made a profit on every trade.

In that life I was an expert card player. I was also an expert cheater. I began playing poker with the white soldiers and the white civilians who lived in the tiny white settlement just outside the fort. I began collecting a lot of money and soon became somewhat unpopular.

The Indians loved me because I brought them much sought after goods — which I usually procured with my ill-gotten gains.

My downfall, though, was my out-of-control libido. I had a white girlfriend in the white settlement and I also had an Indian girlfriend among the Indians. The Indians and the whites both wanted to run me out of town, so to speak.

It turned out that the Indians were the most pissed off at me. They attacked the white settlement looking for me. I got on my horse and headed south as fast as I could.

The dog followed me.

The Indians chased us for over three days all the way to the Ohio River. When we got to the river I knew that all we had to do was get to the other side of the river to the land now known as Kentucky and the Shawnee — who I was still friends with — would take me in and protect me. (They happened to be enemies of the tribe that was chasing me.)

But the Indians who were chasing me were catching up and were right behind me. I had to make a decision rapidly. So I decided to leave the horse behind and I jumped into the river hoping to swim to the other side.

The dog jumped in and followed me.

The Ohio River is a pretty big river. It was in the middle of winter and the water was extremely cold. Furthermore, I had been running from the Indians for over three days with almost no rest and no sleep. The dog and I were exhausted.

The Indians arrived on the shore when the dog and I were about a third of the way across the river. They shot some arrows at us but did not hit us.

We kept swimming and swimming but eventually the hypothermia and the exhaustion got the best of us. Before we could make it to Shawnee country we succumbed. The very last thing I saw in that life is what I saw when I opened my eyes under water as I fell to the bottom of the river. I saw the dog also falling to the bottom.

That dog and I drowned together in the Ohio River that day. We never made it to the Shawnee.

Fast forward over four hundred years to my “current” life…

In this life I was again born a white man. I was born in northern Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from Indiana. But there were no Shawnee Indians around. I was born on an army base surrounded by white and a few black people. After over 400 years I finally made it across the river but the Shawnee were gone.

Given my restless nature I did not stay in Kentucky for long. Only six months. Thanks to the army, I traveled all over the country and world for many years. I’ve never been back to Kentucky.

Fast forward almost forty years and I found myself living high up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado with my white wife and our white baby girl. Mysteriously one day a wolf-dog showed up at my back door. I did not name her but her name was Shawnee.

We were finally reunited.

Shawnee and I were married for sixteen and a half years. During that time we were never apart from one another for so much as an entire day. We recognized each other very quickly and knew that we were soul-mates.

During that first year of our intimate relationship I did everything I could to show her how much I loved her. And I tried to show her that we were equals. I wanted to bond with her as intimately as I could.

Once I cooked a meal for the two of us and put it on a large platter. I took it out to the backyard and set it on the ground. I then got on the ground and ate from the same platter as her, with only my mouth just like she ate. We both ate the meal together, our mouths only inches apart. Talk about bonding! You can’t truly say you’ve bonded with a dog unless you have done this.

Another time I was filling her water bowl at home and I decided to have another bonding moment. I got down on my knees as I set the water bowl on the floor. Before Shawnee could approach the water bowl I put my face above it and started to lap up water with my tongue just like a dog. (It doesn’t work very well.)

I then moved back and looked at Shawnee. She looked at me like I was two shrimp, a fish fillet, and a hush puppy short of a seafood platter. What the hell was this human doing?

Slowly, she then moved forward to the water bowl and began drinking. (She was very loud when she drank.) After a very long healthy drink she backed up and looked at me.

That’s when I realized, Oh, it’s my turn.

So I crawled forward and again began lapping up water with my tongue just like she did. Then I stopped and backed up.

Shawnee then moved forward and took another drink.

We shared water together!

Let me tell you, it was one of the most profound spiritual experiences of my life!

Although we both seriously bonded over this, it was probably a more intense experience for me than it was for Shawnee. For animals it is a perfectly natural and instinctual to share water with other animals. Water is one of the basic elements that all life on this planet shares. Animals don’t fight over water like some humans do. They might fight over food but they never fight over water.

There was another animal that was part of the family. She was a kitty cat named Taco. Shawnee and Taco were like sisters. They loved each other very much. They played together and slept together. Each of them had their own dinner bowl but they shared a water bowl. While they never tried to drink from the water bowl at the same time, they shared that water. While Shawnee could lap up an incredible amount of water she always was sure to leave enough for Taco. They shared!

Water is something that all life on this planet has in common. Animals know this and they honor it.

Over the course of the many years that Shawnee and I were married she took me for a walk at least once very single day. One of her favorite places to take me walking was down by the river which was not far from our home. It was a mighty mountain river — the most kayaked river in America.

Many people in our town would take their dogs down to the river, unleash them, and let them play and go swimming in the river. Swimming is a natural and instinctive ability of canines. No one has to teach a dog how to swim.

I would do this but Shawnee vehemently refused to go into the water. She would put her front paws into the river in order to reach out and drink from the river but she would never put her hind feet into the water. At home in the backyard all I had to do was turn on the garden hose and she would go running away. I finally realized that she was deathly afraid of water. It was impossible to give her a bath. She simply would not go into the water.

It took me a few years to connect the dots but I finally realized that it was all because of her soul memory of us dying together in the Ohio River.

Shawnee’s death over nine years ago was probably the most difficult experience of my life. Since then I have rarely gone a day without thinking about her. And quite often she comes to me in spirit form. The feeling of her presence is unmistakable. It is different than me just thinking about her. I know that we will be together again in physical form in some future life and I know that we will be together again in non-physical form before that time. Our love is just too strong for it to end after only a couple of physical lives.

Recently, while in a deep meditative trance I breached the thin veils separating dimensions of time and space and visited a place that felt like home. I was looking for the place where I would be living next in this life. I was able to do this by focusing on and utilizing birdsong. Not many people know this but without birdsong the Universe would collapse.

I found myself walking on a forested path that followed a gurgling mountain stream. There were birds singing in all the trees. I came upon a house and immediately felt that I would be living there at some point in time. The entire area was oozing peace and serenity.

I’ve been back to this place a few times and the most recent time there was a surprise waiting for me. Shawnee was there!

We were both walking down the path towards each other. When we saw each other we ran towards each other and hugged and kissed. It was so wonderful to feel her again.

Then Shawnee walked down from the path to the mountain stream. With her two front paws she stepped into the water and began drinking. After a while she stopped and looked at me then she started drinking again then she stopped and looked at me again.

I realized that she was inviting me to drink with her. So I stepped down to the stream and got down on my knees and leaned over the water. I was not, however, going to put my face down and lap up water with my tongue. Human tongues are not made for that. Instead, I cupped the palms of my hands together and scooped up some water then drank it from my cupped hands.

And that is when I remembered something I learned a long time ago but forgot. This is actually the way human beings were designed to drink water! Native American traditions as well as ancient Hindu traditions have told us this. But modern humans have become so profoundly disconnected from nature, from water, and from our own bodies that we never drink in this natural way anymore. Instead we drink water with only one hand from plastic bottles.

You see, the human body has two very important chakras that are located in the palms of each hand. I know this and I utilize these two chakras on a daily basis but I forgot the importance of using them to drink water. These chakras are used in meditation and healing and formulating and moving energy but they are also used in blessing. When drinking water from our cupped hands those two chakras are blessing and purifying and energizing the water that we are drinking. That’s why we should always drink water from our cupped hands. Even if we are too civilized for this and insist on drinking from a glass we should hold the glass with both of our hands.

When we were done drinking Shawnee and I returned to the path and she began teaching. I learned that when drinking water we should have an empty mind, our focus and attention being exclusively on the water we are drinking. We are made up mostly of water as is the world. When drinking water we are connecting to the oneness of the world.

I also learned that one drop of water can hold more information than ten thousand computers. Another way of looking at that is that one drop of water can connect us to all the information in the infinite field of infinite possibilities and realities. Water is a conduit; a connection to Source. It can connect us to oneness and becoming aware of that and drinking water in a consciously aware natural spiritual way can help us connect to oneness and help heal us of our chronic disconnection.

Shawnee also taught me that connecting to this magic new home in the forest can be facilitated more easily and strongly by water even more so than birdsong. She is so wise.

Shawnee is my best friend, my soul-mate, my guru.

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