I heard recently that humans are more attuned to the scent of spring than sharks are to the scent of blood. In other words, our bodies are hardwired to detect the earth’s early signals of a season’s shift. I’ve noticed my own attunement to spring this year and it’s true, the slightest hint of the scent and I perk up.
It made me wonder about our intuitive capacities to work with the seasons and cycles of our life, whether individually or collectively. Reading the change in seasons and trusting the promise of nature in the physical realm as well as in our own lives feels like wisdom. For me this has encouraged reflection on my own seasons and cycles of life, and how horses have supported me through them.
I returned to being with horses six years ago after my best friend died. In a field standing beside a beautiful bay gelding I finally felt safe enough in my body to feel the deep grief that I’d been holding in for a year since her transition from the physical plane. The horse stood beside me, having no judgment nor fear for the tears that flowed. Open understanding and presence. It was a profound experience for me, one that ultimately led to my herd and business today. I remembered what I’d always loved about being with horses as a child, the open, heart-centered spaciousness that they hold for us to feel and embody our truth moment to moment. Freedom.
In January another best friend died, our beloved dog Ruby Jean. Although she was older it was unexpected, leaving our family devastated. Ruby was my shadow, accompanying me room-to-room, on errands, walks, and trips. A true soul sister. As a reflection of myself it occurred to me recently she also mirrored some of my personal shadows and wounds. I appreciate how the animals in our lives show up for different chapters of our journeys, supporting us as different aspects of self. That feels true of humans, too. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that she joined me when she did, and transitioned to the formlessness to better support me from there, in the process deepening my own relationship with other dimensions, source, and all that we can’t see. See more about my reflections on Ruby’s death and the insights I’m sitting with in Beyond a Body, a recent musing.
A life with animals, or whomever it is we walk with, is a life with joy, love…and loss. Ruby Jean’s transition has given me a new appreciation for grief and how the horses can support us in being with loss, change and the unknown. They’ve given me space to feel what is true, the deep pain and sadness, as well as the love. It’s been clarifying while also sparking curiosity and playfulness about how to evolve sessions for clients to both deepen and simplify experiences with the herd and their wisdom.
As humans we are living in unprecedented times; many of us are grieving the loss of something or someone and feeling a loss of control or certainty. The heartbreak of loss has been sitting with me, challenging me to allow space for it even as I open to participating in joy and life after Ruby Jean.
Our capacity as humans to hold two seemingly opposed feelings at once is incredible (i.e., heartbreak and excitement for the new). Loss and grief is a part of life. A big part of me trusts that heartbreak supports all of us in rebirth, for that’s nature’s promise, rebirth follows death, just as spring follows winter. We are hardwired for the scent of it. And what started a few weeks ago as a foster dog is now settling in to stay with us and our other beloved elder dog Lupo, opening us all up to experiencing love anew, here to support us in this next chapter of our lives, however that may look.
With spring’s arrival it’s time to announce several Circling Center retreats we are hosting with High Low Tarot. We will have two gatherings to deepen our knowing and embodiment of the sun and moon archetypes, explored through astrology, tarot, and presence with horses. Tarot and astrology are tools that support our living with the cycles and seasons of our life and I’m excited to see how these retreats unfold. More info below.
Hope you can join us for Circling Center, an individual Herd Experience, or a Group Herd Experience.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth and the herd