Chapter 13 Meeting the Lion - from my book Changes

Chapter 13

Meeting The Lion

For me, I took the Standard class not only because I wanted to learn to make fire with friction, but the Standard was the prerequisite for all the other classes at Trackerschool.  Mostly I was interested in the Philosophy classes.

I wanted to learn how to sense things without seeing them or being told about them.  I wanted to dig more deeply into who I am and understand why I was having so much trouble in my life.  One of my thoughts was, ‘If I only knew who I was, I would be able to deal with the difficult things in my life.’  I felt like an observer in my own life, who didn’t know what to do, and I didn’t know why things happened the way they did.  I wanted answers.  I wanted to understand so I could pull myself up, out of the depression I lived in.

One of the books I read, written by Tom Brown Jr. is called “Awakening Spirits”.  In this book Tom teaches about Grandfather’s philosophy, which is all about living in a balanced way between the physical and the spiritual.  He said that to live in only the physical was to live in a coffin of flesh, unaware of the vast spiritual world around us.

Since I had read “Awakening Spirits” and had not taken the class yet, I decided to try the first meditation he describes in the book.  I was laying down with my little daughter, who wanted me to tell her a story while she went to sleep for a nap.  So while we were laying there on my bed, I began telling her what I was doing as I went into the meditation.  I spoke out loud until she fell asleep, and then I continued on my own silently.

I walked the path of the subconscious, turned right and descended the stairs of the force, and entered through the archway into my own place in the spirit, which Tom calls our Medicine Place.  I led myself through this meditation just as Tom Brown described it in his book.

Each person has a Medicine Place where we are perfectly safe and can do anything we want, and practice anything we want to become good at.

As I passed through the archway I imagined a sweet spot in nature where I laid down and let myself bask in the place I had created in here.  I felt nourished and connected to the earth.  Then, in my meditation in my medicine place, I got up and started walking to explore.

I remembered Tom saying in his book that we could play with wild animals here, or fly with eagles.  As I thought this,  a little lion walked up over a small hill nearby and sat down, waiting for me.

I foolishly thought, ‘What fun is a lion?’ And with a wave of my hand I sent him away.

I thought, ‘I want a horse that can fly!’

Immediately a large white pegasus flew in and landed in front of me.  I climbed on, of course, and we went flying together over the wide landscape.  I could feel the wind in my face, and the muscles of the pegasus working, and I thought for a minute I was having fun, but soon I was bored.  The pegasus was not as fun as I thought it would be.  So we landed, and the lion was there waiting for me.

The pegasus flew off and I approached the lion.  I put my hand on his mane and felt an immediate connection.  He was not little like I had thought, he was a big lion.  His back was as tall as my waist.  His body was warm and he had a thick, beautiful mane.  I wondered if he could fly.  I climbed on his back and he knew what to do.  I could feel him crouch down,  ready the powerful muscles in his body, and sprung high into the air while I held on tightly, my fingers digging deep into his mane.

Flying with the lion was the most wonderful feeling.  There was no anxiousness; no expectation; just being together, flying along effortlessly.  Soon I realized I didn’t even have to hold on, and I could  fly along next to him, on my own.  Then we landed.  I gave him a big hug, said goodbye, and went back through the archway, up the stairs, left along the path, and back to the physical.