On The Farm
IN MEMORIAM. It’s never easy to lose a beloved animal companion. Charlie, my soul cat, passed from this world gently and quickly. At age 18, he was the last of the barn cats, the end of an era. He came to us about 10 years ago as a feral cat who was eating the cat food in the barn. I surprised him one evening coming into the barn. He zipped out the back door, but paused to look at me. I invited him to stay with us and be part of our family. He locked eyes with me and zipped back into the barn to finish, never missing a meal since.
Charlie was generous of spirit. When Sammy, the feral Siamese, couldn’t hunt because of illness, Charlie caught a mouse, carried it through the barn, and set it in front of Sammy as a gift. Charlie was always low man on the totem pole—he never aspired to be the alpha, too much work. Instead, he took care of all of us, humans, cats, and even Stitch the dog.
Charlie woke up purring every day. Every morning, his purr was so loud, you could hear it in the next room. His little chirps and squeaks before being fed were so joyful, so excited to have a meal. I brought the last two cats in for the winter two years ago, and Charlie decided that was where he belonged anyway. He always took good care of himself.
I’d like to give you the blessing that I begin my days with now. Gifts that Charlie gave to me, and I will share with you. If you have a beloved animal companion, here or gone, and want to do your own blessing, the instructions are on my website, https://JudyRamsey.net, under free resources, Balance. Otherwise, please feel free to use Charlie’s.
May I wake up purring each morning,
appreciating what the day brings before it unfolds.
May I be courageous,
my heart trusting that whatever happens,
I’ll be present with both the gifts and the lessons.
May I be generous of spirit,
forgiving myself and others, listening as a part of All That Is,
being present with life evolving.
May I care for myself fully,
so my love is unconditional, my vibration is strong,
and my life is full.
Thank you, Charlie, for your teaching and your gifts.
Free Online Workshop!
On Saturday, April 6 at noon eastern time, Sarah Bowen, Amanda Ree and myself will be doing a free live program on Insights Through Animal Mindfulness. If you would like to meet my co-conspirators, and have some fun for about 45 minutes, just go to my Facebook page. Hope to see you there!
Learn some tools and skills:
*Insights into the spiritual lives of animals
*Interspecies mindfulness practices to bolster your essential understanding
*Tips for getting to the natural root of animal behaviors
*Q & A
This summer, our same trio is co-teaching an in-person 5-day immersive retreat in New York for animal lovers! We’ll share more about what awaits you at the Animal Mindfulness Training Retreat at the Omega Institute.
Play Is Serious Stuff!
Years ago, studying for my masters degree, I did a paper on PLAY and its significance for child development. However, we need play for development throughout our lives, even into older age. It is a primary builder of new neural patterns in the brain, and recent research is showing that it is as essential to mental health as sleep. Play researcher, Stuart Brown, says, “The opposite of play isn’t work; it’s depression.” Brown interviewed Nobel laureates, finding that “…most of them didn’t separate work and play. Their labs were their playgrounds.”
Animal behaviorist, Marc Bekoff, believes that adult play can provide a safe arena for someone to deal with uncertainty and surprise. Since most playful adult animals, including humans, live in cooperative social groups, play is important for building and maintaining relationships. Before wolves are accepted into a pack, they have to demonstrate that they know how to play. This keeps rough play from turning into a real fight, and indicates they can track their playmate’s emotional state. Social play is always cooperative; the goal is not to win, but to keep the game going. If you don’t want your playmate to quit, you have to take turns.
Sadie Dingfelder, a journalist specializing in animal behavior and neuroscience, feels that play is all about looking at a tough world with creativity and optimism. It gives us the ability to cooperate and get along with people different from us. “The next time I’m caught playing,” she says, “I know exactly what I’ll say: I am not wasting time or acting immature. I’m goofing off for the benefit of all humanity. You’re welcome.”
What are ways that you bring play into your life? How often do you wish you could play more, be more creative in your life with your choices, or take the time to freely express yourself with dance, singing, motion? Now is a good time to begin a different pattern. Spring is coming—a renewal and a different feeling. As if you need a reason.
Launch Your Own Seed Balls
The Bookshelf
I rarely promote a magazine, but I think that Spirituality and Health deserves mention. I first found this magazine, because Sandra Ingerman was named spiritual practitioner of the year in it some years ago. With Sandra as one of my primary mentors, I had to see what kind of journal this was. I was pleasantly surprised to find articles on spirituality and well-being that grabbed my attention with amazing artwork. Each article was exactly the right length to keep my attention. AND, the price was right, too. I have had a subscription for many years. Rev. Sarah Bowen, my teacher and mentor for the chaplaincy training, is one of their regular authors, focusing on animal-human relationships.
The magazine originated in Traverse City, Michigan, in 1998. Their mission is to explore the rituals, practices, beliefs, and ideas that enhance the health of our bodies, minds, communities, and the earth that supports us. It is now a complete resource that includes print, website articles and library, podcasts and events. The editors draw from many wisdom traditions of faith, holistic medicine, nutrition and wellness practices, creativity, social justice, the human body and the environment. I think you will thoroughly enjoy every print issue as I do, or exploration of the topics on their website.
You can subscribe online for whichever format best suits your lifestyle, at spiritualityhealth.com/subscription.
Upcoming Classes
The 2024 classes are listed now on the website, so take a look. We will begin the shamanic practitioner year-long training in April, including setting sacred space and protection for yourself, working with your ancestors, and shamanic gardening to help you manifest your best life. FUN!
Find full descriptions and costs of the classes and events on the website - www.JudyRamsey.net. Registrations are on the website. Once registered, a Zoom invitation will be sent to register to receive the meeting i.d. and passcode. If you want to attend a journey circle, please contact Judy at info@judyramsey.net. All classes and journey circles are recorded for your convenience.
April 3-May 8, 2024
Medicine For the Earth/Healing With Spiritual Light
Explore the depth of your own inner light and its connection with All That Is. Learn how to transform the energy behind toxic thoughts and achieve balance in yourself and harmony in your world. You will connect with nature, spirit allies, and the elements to learn how to transform and heal yourself, your community and your environment. Suggested reading: Medicine for the Earth: How to Transform Personal and Environmental Toxins by Sandra Ingerman. Journeying skills are not required. All levels and traditions are welcome. The class will be taught online via ZOOM.
Six weekly sessions on Wednesdays, 7pm-9pm EST. Ends May 8
$390 per person/$175 for repeat students
April 13, 2024
Shamanic Personal Safety: Creating Sacred Protected Space
Learn techniques for energy hygiene when doing shamanic work and why it is so important. Be able to set protected space for yourself in practice.
$80 per person. 9am-4pm EST
May 4-5, 2024
Ancestors: The Power Within - Ancestors can be powerful allies in your practice, and healing our ancestral lines can help us heal ourselves and our families. Explore your heritage, deepen your connection with the grandmothers and grandfathers in ceremony, in initiation and in the shamanic journey. Prerequisite: basic journeying skills. The class will be taught online via ZOOM.
$160 per person, $80 for repeating students. 9am-4pm EDT each day
May 21-July 30, 2024
Shamanic Healing for Animals I —Working with animals of all species, explore unique perspectives for animal healing that draw upon core shamanic practices. Students will develop a toolkit of techniques within a supportive, interactive, and experiential learning framework of instruction from a professional animal communicator who also practices shamanism. Prerequisite: journeying basics. Knowledge of animal communication not necessary. The class is taught via ZOOM.
$400 per person, $200 for repeating students. 7pm-9pm EDT. No class on June 18 or 25.
May 25-26, 2024
Basic Journeying: The Art of Shamanism for Practical and Visionary Purposes in Daily Life —The shamanic journey is an easy and powerful tool we can use to access spiritual information. In this class you will meet and begin to develop a relationship with a compassionate spirit or power animal who is coming forward to help you at this time in your life. You will learn techniques to help you develop a self-directed practice of empowerment, allowing you to move safely, intentionally through the world in a balanced way.This class is a prerequisite to ongoing and more advanced shamanic studies. The class will be taught online via ZOOM.
$160 per person, $80 for repeating students. 9am-3pm EDT each day