As the Northeastern United States struggles to put the pieces back together after Hurricane Sandy's wind and waves left her imprint, I am reminded of an hour I spent several summers ago in the company of an aged bird whom I felt had much to share. He looked worse for the wear, and I knew his days were numbered, but I wanted to spend some time with him gleaning what I could about his years of flying and fishing and what all of that gave to him. I sat next to him and he was fine with that. He did not appear to be suffering. Just tired, and ready to go. Once again, an animal was teaching me about death and what a natural thing it is

 I knew this pelican had witnessed many of Nature's phenomena, including storms, very high winds, heat, cold, ocean swells of every calibre. He may have had to deal with hunger and sickness. He clearly had lived a long time for a pelican so I would say, he was successful as the wonderful life form he was. As a baby bird, he had managed to move past that tricky period where he had to learn how to successfully dive and catch his prey. Young pellies don't all make it past that stage. It is harder than it looks to nail a fish from high in the air.

Why am I remembering this wonderful time spent with a wise old bird on the edge of my being very aware of what people are going through up North in the wake of the storm? I think it has to do with the concept of wisdom itself that that bird represented to me, and how life is all about how you live it in the moment, how you respond, what you care about, how do you feel about others, how much do you flow with events, do you understand how everything is connected. How did I get all that from a pelican? That isn't even the half of it. I got that living in the wild is a slippery slope and, if you live long, that is ofttimes the exception and not the rule, but that length of days is not what is important. Did you love your life? Did you learn and grow? Did you ENJOY your every day experiences. If you can say yes to those things then, storms can have their way with you and you will not be deprived of the best life has to offer.

I remember it was hard to get up from sitting next to this bird, but there came a point in which I felt the need to give him some space. The transmission was complete. I walked away and did not see him again but he is with me always. He remains a reminder that life is a gift and that the wrappings of the gift can be strange, and not to be put off by that. We are lucky just to be able to have our experiences and choose how to receive them.

That particular pelican is gone but he lives on in all the other pelicans here. I never tire of watching them do their pelican thing. Every day that I watch them and soar with them is one more day the gift of life registers big time. I hope many of the coastal Northerners look up during these days and weeks ahead and catch a glimpse of a swooping pelican. That one glimpse could make their day.

In the early morning light, after massive fire and flooding damage to a ravaged neighborhood in Queens, in the aftermath of Storm Sandy, people are stumbling around, trying to see what, if anything, is left of their homes and the lives they once knew. Suddenly, in the middle of this nightmarish scenario, a large, overarching and very bright rainbow appeared. As one, people looked up and gasped. And for a moment, all the heaviness was lifted. The rainbow faded, and then the reality of what was in front was back again.

I have seen this phenomenon over and over again of rainbows appearing after devastation. I saw it the evening of 9/11 here on Tybee. A huge double rainbow appeared after Tim Russett's funeral after someone in the service mentioned about how Tim felt about rainbows. Always, to me, a rainbow seems to be saying, "I know things look dark and sorrowful, but there is a bigger picture, and it is all about love."
 
In that shared moment in Queens when all those human hearts simultaneously felt relief for a short time, who knows what was born out of that "time out" that the rainbow provided. Surely, it had to do with feeling the 'something bigger' that loves and supports us, no matter what. For the faithful and the spiritually inclined, it would be called God or Creator, or Source. For atheists, it would probably not be called anything, but would be felt, nonetheless. I don't think it is possible to see a rainbow and not feel uplifted. Enclosed is a double rainbow from my small island from this summer. I too gasped when I first noticed it. I always do.

H.M.S. Bounty and the other tall ships were just in
Savannah last Spring. I was able to sit on the dock next to where I live and watch these regal beauties pass one by one as they left the Savannah Port, after docking here for a week. This picture was one I took from shore of one of our dolphin watching boats next to the Bounty as she set off probably never to return here again, I was thinking at the time. Little did I know how true that was. Since I had a thing for this particular ship for a collection of reasons, it was thrilling to me watch her wave goodbye as she left port. I also got to visit her up close and personally while she was docked.

When I found out that that Hurricane Sandy took the Bounty down into the ocean's depths this very evening, I was and am stunned. This happened about 90 miles North of North Carolina. She was heading South to St. Petersberg, Florida and her generator quit so there was no power to handle the size of the waves. Something about this powerful symbol of beauty and grace not being able to get out of harm's way alerts me to a changing of the guard in some way. This ship, of course, was not the original Bounty but rather the replica built for the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty." Still . . . she was majestic and spoke of another time when man's relationship to the sea was much more intimate. I am very sorry for the lives lost in this incident. My understanding is one is dead, one is missing and 16 were rescued. The captain is the one missing. In days of old, the captain would go down with the ship. From all appearances, the captain and the Bounty are sharing a watery grave.

Up North, many other dramas are unfolding and there is much to love and care about in what masses of people are going through. Still, the Bounty has sunk, and for this moment, that has my full attention.

Hurricane Sandy is swirling away, and her outer bands are creating amazing cloud tendrils from the winds aloft  I find during storm season and all the more so during actual storm events, I look up at the sky frequently. The clouds seem to be like hieroglyphics, speaking in a picture language that my subconscious understands.
 
This photograph to the left immediately communicates to me the open mouth of a Baleen whale. Whales are the largest mammal on the planet, and the Baleen whales live off krill, one of the tiniest ocean dwellers. When I think of the irony of that, I register the equal significance of the great and the small, and the need for both. There is something incredibly humble about the master mammal living off "the small."

Why do we need whales, you might ask. Would we miss them if they were gone? Since most people rarely see them, how would that loss register? You might as well ask me how we would do without air, which we likewise don't see. Whales are ancient (I mean REALLY ancient) beings who carry an intelligence beyond what we imagine or comprehend. We know they are smart but somehow to Westerners, smart seems to usually correlete with producing things, so the true contribution of the whale is anything but obvious.

There was a time when they were a highly sought resource for oil for lamps, baleen for corsets and ambergris for perfume fixative. Currently, there are cultures wanting whale meat as a food source. Because, human nature being what it is, we do not want to consider a resource we are exploiting to be equal to us in intelligence and in the evolutionary role on the planet. Just as in cases of slavery, the enslaved ones, or the ones targeted for our use, must be seen as inferior. Whales can't be that smart, or they would not let themselves be caught, goes one argument. Maybe survival of its body isn't the whale's top value. Maybe it  knows there is something much bigger at stake.

I would like to offer a whole other view, and if you have ever looked in the eye of a whale and seen who is looking back at you, this view will not seem far fetched. I think whales are the primary stewards of our earth. They are the record keepers of much of her history, and they know she is a Being that can only thrive when all the elements that are part of her are in balance. Whales are "doing" so much more than we have any idea of. When the masses come to understand the role they play, it will break many hearts that we did not know who they were sooner. But no matter. The past is the past. We have NOW. Whales are still here. I have a request to make of each of you. Find a picture of the eye of a whale, and gaze into it, without an agenda, for as long as you can. Don't think. Just notice what happens in you as you do this. I would love to hear from you about this particular blog. I honestly feel whales are completely integral to life on this planet. The sooner a much higher percentage of people recognize this piece, the better. Time is of the essence. And thank you for reading this to the end.

Part of the reason I moved here 14 years ago was to explore the possibilities of forming a conscious relationship with weather. Shamans have done this for eons but few cultures understand the potentialities of such things. I have learned much from personal experience and from study, even wrote a short ficitonal piece entitled Talking to Hurricanes in 2000 to share some of my burgeoning awareness.

Much of what I wrote 12 years ago is now manifesting in front of me in the form of Hurricane Sandy and its prospect of roaring into the Northeast U.S. shortly. But, as I indicated in the made up story, something else is happening that will make a huge difference.There are people who are recognizing that weather is us, and we are the weather, and that if we want to affect the weather, we must start from within. Our task has to do with joining forces with others who can accept that hurricanes are the perfect metaphor for polarities and the clashing of opposing forces. As people accept that the intense polarities of the current political climate in this country are being reflected back to us, in some kind of example of hermetic principle ("as above, so below"), that is step one. From there, as I see it, the solution is to go within, find our inner polarities, and join with others in accepting, for all our differences, that we are one. Then the storms can cease and desist, dissipate and return  from whence they came.
 
Many awakening people are responding to this current storm with an awareness of having some power in the situation, but it is an inner power and one of much joining with others of like heart. I wish I had a way of sharing the story I wrote on this site now but at this point, that is not possible, but something even better is happening. In some small but significant way, the story I penned 12 years ago seems to be coming to life. Love and accept your and other's polarities, experience the peace that comes with doing that and stand by to see what happens next.

Remember when you were a kid and you would have staring contests with friends to see who would blink first? Second question - have you ever stared intently into a cat's eyes and not been the first to blink when the cat was profoundly checking you out? I seriously doubt it.

I got my cat Muffin (in picture) as a rescue. She had been a feral cat so had trust issues initially. It took a while to get her to the place where she was comfortable with being approached but from day one, she was very very interested in everything and especially in me as the only human around. She would stare at me relentlessly, from a safe distance. I would lock eyes with her and talk to her but then, I realized, that is me sending to her, and she is trying to send to me, so I need to be quiet and see what she is sending.

That was the beginning of a very humbling connection with this big spirit in a small body. When she looks at me for long long periods of time, I feel like something is stirring me on my insides. I don't get messages from her, I get awareness. She opens me to (best I can tell) what it is like to be in her world. What I feel coming from her is unique to being looked at by her. Best I can describe it, it is like being in the center of a creature who finds the experience of life in a body to be utterly fascinating and who wants to learn as much as she can by closely observing anything and everything. I can always tell when our connection has clicked in properly. At that precise point, she gives me the slow blink acknowledging I am on board.
 
What does she make of me? I think I am very ok in her book. I know she sees the truth of me. She has moved past most of her skittishness and revels in body rubs, especially on her tummy, the vulnerable area. There is nothing sweeter than hard won trust.
 
Every cat, dog, horse, duck, fish, turtle, parakeet I have ever had has offered me a very special highway of communication that is unique to our particular relationship. To each ot these, I say a profound thank you. One thing is for sure, to get the teachings, we humans must come down off our pedestal of thinking we "know" what is going on within the animal.  We don't "know" didley!

So . . . do dolphins believe, you can't have that yummy Whiting fish and eat it too? Nope. That is a human belief, at least in this particular regard. There are two very powerful forces vying within us. They are, the desire to be uniquely ourselves, march to our own drum, express ourselves creatively and fully in a way no one else ever will, and, the desire to belong, be part of a family or group with whom we can share and give and receive pleasure and support. How often does it feel like (again, to humans) that we must choose one over the other as the top priority. If you are too unique, you are a threat and could get ostracized. If you are too allegiant to the group, you could slowly (sometimes without even knowing you are doing it) blur the lines of what makes you like no other. So, what's a human to do?

Here's what I suggest. Watch and learn from our cousins in the sea. I, being an avid watcher and learner in this regard have become very clear about something going on in dolphin societies. I do believe that a huge part of what they are up to with their high intelligence is doing very intricate work in their social interactions within their societies. They have not built any skyscrapers but I think they have pulled off something we humans are still wrangling with. They are 100% loyal to the whole pod, and they are 100% loyal to their own individuality, ALL AT THE SAME TIME!

If you pin me down to what in particular allowed me to arrive at that perspective, I would have to say it is no one thing. When I am with dolphins, I expand my own repertoire of how to know anything, which means, I am pulling information in from all areas of my brain. I am being inductive and deductive and intuitive ALL AT ONCE. Out of that, comes a kind of knowing that is bigger than its parts. I will submit in dolphin section (see 'Energetic Teachings') some examples of what I am talking about.

This is a large topic which I will go into much more detail about in the book I am currently writing (Deep in the Delphic Wave, due out in 2013). For now, I just put this perspective out there as one of many of the pieces of dolphin wisdom I think we humans stand to gain by. I observe that people are aching to fully be themselves at this juncture, and all of the age old fears of that not being acceptible to the 'whole' (whether family or friends or culture) are rising to the surface letting us know, it is time for this dichotomy to heal. And that's the good news!

How is it even possible to look at the sun balanced on the edge of the horizon, and not know you are looking at a consciousness that is looking back at you. This used to be called 'animism', when human attributes are given to parts of nature, but that is just an idea, a name, a theory. Looking at the sun is an experience that stuns and penetrates and haunts. The beauty grabs us and won't let go, but something else is going on. It is called . . communication. Consciousness speaking to consciousness. Awareness . When we hold still while sungazing, something in the area of our heart opens like flower petals as the solar flares have their way with us. Truly, there are no words for these experiences that do justice but I am using words just to point to the fact that something phenomenal is happening when we give the sun our full attention, which we can do at sunset and sunrise. 

Ancient cultures worshipped the sun and considered it a god, many of them. Now, to many, the sun represents a threat due to a thinner ozone layer and climate change. All the more reason, in my book, we accept that the sun is very much our friend and may be doing a little tough love right now to help humans remember we are responsible as caretakers in this most amazing of worlds we live in. The sun is fire, but it is also light, and as we wake up and become enlightened to our part in the whole of Nature, the 'light' part will protect us from the 'fire' part. All that needs to be burned away is our ignorance. A part from that, the fire of the sun is nothing less than an example of what great joy looks and feels like. Even if you are crawling in a parched desert and your life is hanging on by a thread, even then, it is possible for your awareness of who the sun really is to give you peace at the end of your life. A strange thought, I admit, but not one without merit.

The huge surge of energy I feel when a dolphin hurtles into the air next to me is so invigorating. I feel something just came and captured me and threw me up into the air as well. That is a kind of rocket fuel I sometimes feel I could live on all the time. But I cannot. Nor can anyone. Nor are we meant to.

Life is about a huge spectrum of feelings and experiences, and they range far and wide. The uplifting and exciting feelings that make us soar are just the best. Who would argue with that. But there are times when we need to be calm, and still, and go deep into our inner world and be prepared to deal with challenges of an energetic nature. When it is time to cool our jets, our bodies let us know, and so do our emotions. Frequently, at these times, more than anything, we need rest. Not just rest for our bodies, but for our minds and our opinions and our conviction that we know so much. These times of slowing can be very humbling because sometimes, they seem to come out of nowhere. But when we are agitated, or tossing and turning at night or just generally out of sorts, the highest dolphin leap in the world would not help because that is more rocket fuel. What is needed is . . . time out. Even if you think you don't have time for time out, you do. Life will arrange it if you don't.

But here's the thing. What follows rest? Real rest. Restful rest. Well . . you guessed it. More zest. It is a natural rhythm in life. Dolphins take time out to rest though usually we don't see that. All of nature does, but in our driven, hyper society with so much constant stimulation, it is hard to even register when a pulling back is in order. Just think of it this way. Zest is best when it follows rest. There. You got it! And when you are ready, back to the dolphin leaps!

Something happens to me when I follow the path of the sun while kayaking. I go into an altered state in which everything feels timeless and very very vivid. My nervous system opens wide and all defences drop.

Today, in that state, these two dolphins came up. They turned and swam right under my bow and as they did that, I could feel their field of awareness. I would say field of thought, but thought was not involved. It was just this knowing that they knew I had opened completely.
 
In actuality, they are the ones that trained me to do this. It is kind of interesting how you will frequently hear said of people who learn to connect with animals in the wild that it takes time and the animals (or 'beings' as I rather prefer) have to learn to trust you. I think what takes time is for us humans to learn how to drop our defences completely. Especially with dolphins, I feel they are just waiting for all humans to learn this. They are not impatient with us because they have a very full and rich life in the meantime, but I do distincly get that our destiny and theirs is entertwined for the purpose of helping us remember what safety and belonging feels like so that fear may just fly out the window and we can return to honoring all of which we are a part. Sometimes I imagine dolphins might say of different individuals "well, that one got it" and consider it a good day's work. For some reason, they never give up on us.