On The Farm
Autumn is my favorite season. I initiate it by going to the cider mill and having one donut (cinnamon sugar) and one cup of fresh cider. THEN it’s fall. Autumn is a very sensual time. The colors are brilliant now as the leaves are changing. The dark brings more rest and the cold brings the comfort of quilts, hot soup, sweaters, and the smells of cooking.
Besides the tastes and the colors, I find renewal in the transition time between summer and fall. It orders my life and gives me time to put things in perspective where they belong. I tend to live more cyclically in the transition seasons of spring and fall. Daylight is shorter, so I am more efficient with my tasks. I’m sleeping until it’s light, then Stitch and I mosey out for our walk when the sun has warmed the air.
At the turn of each season, one of the ways that I focus on its gifts is to take time to create a mandala of those things in nature that call to me. The exercise brings me into the present moment creatively and gratefully, and acts like a meditation. Try taking an hour to do this in your own neighborhood. On your walk, collect beautiful leaves, some of the last flowers from your yard, grasses and stems with seeds. Then find a place out of the wind, and create your mandala, thinking of everything you are grateful for when you place each pattern in its kaleidoscopic design. Enjoy the moment of connection with the earth and with nature.
In Memoriam
It is always difficult to lose friends, and some losses are worse than others. I wanted to share a recent loss that was tragic, to bring awareness to the conditions that some animals live in.
My friend, Miriam, lived in Montana. We met over a decade ago when she called for animal communication for her rescue pot-bellied pig, Hammy. Miriam ran a sanctuary for farm animals. Her creativity in caring for these animals was amazing, protecting them from harsh Montana winters and assuring they had every comfort.
Hammy was blind and overweight, unable to move very much. In one communication, Miriam and Hammy decided that a companion pig might be good for him, so Miriam began searching for a ‘service’ pig. She found a piglet at a meat farm nearly 4 hours from the ranch. He volunteered to be a service pig (the alternative was to become dinner) and from the beginning, was the most beautiful pig I’ve ever met. Eyelashes like a Disney character and beautiful long brown fur. He chose his name, STAR. Miriam trained him to be with Hammy and they were a match made in heaven. Hammy’s health improved—he became more active. Star became a friend to every animal in the sanctuary and was curious, intelligent, and funny.
When Star was six, Miriam contracted a fatal illness and became limited in what she could do to care for the animals. Neighbors, friends and volunteers helped, but in the end, she had to re-home all the animals or find sanctuary for them. She was able to place all but Star. Hammy had passed just months previous, and Star was alone. She searched for months until she found a sanctuary that would take him. Miriam arranged to pay for his food and veterinary care from her estate, so the woman who ran the sanctuary would not have to extend her meager budget.
In June, 2023, Miriam passed—a peaceful death with grace. I only learned of Star’s death last week. Apparently, the woman who ran the sanctuary where Star was placed was hoarding for the money. She collected money from several sources, including donations from Miriam’s estate, and neglected the animals under her care. I was heartbroken when I heard that Star, this beautiful animal, whose intelligence and being was always honored and respected, and who brought joy to so many, died in August from neglect. The woman would not allow his veterinarian to come and attend to an illness, even though she would not have to pay for the service.
The saving grace was that Miriam was not aware of Star’s conditions when she died. The meaning for Star’s death is that his is one of some 70 cases that friends of Miriam and Star are collecting to bring the woman to justice. She is being prosecuted for abuse and neglect. I can only think that the woman must have been desperate to cause such suffering for these animals.
When we support a sanctuary, it is SO important that we know the animals will be treated with the respect that is due to all beings. Each time I list a “Cause of the Month”, be assured that that cause is listed nationally as a respectful organization with a consistent history of honoring animals. It is also important that we remember to honor the intelligence and spirit of every animal, especially those in our care. In the words of the BIONEERS (see below), It’s all alive. It’s all connected. It’s all intelligent. It’s all relatives. Thank you for bearing with me.
The Bookshelf
BIONEERS is an innovative nonprofit organization that acts as a hub of social and scientific innovators with practical, visionary solutions for our most pressing environmental and social challenges. Founded in 1990 by Kenny Ausubel and Nina Simons, the organization celebrates the genius of nature and human ingenuity. In 2017, Ausubel and Simons were honored for the work of Bioneers by Japan’s Goi Peace Award, whose past recipients include Bill Gates, Deepak Chopra, and scientist James Lovelock.
The organization has an amazing media production presence. They created an award-winning radio and podcast series, book series, and have had a role in media projects such as Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie ‘The 11th Hour’, and Michael Pollan’s best-selling book, ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’.
I get weekly links to their podcasts on a wide variety of subjects. You can sign up for their podcasts through bioneers.org. Enjoy!
Cause of the Month
When I was growing up in southern Colorado, we would take weekend drives from Colorado Springs to visit my grandfather in La Junta, located in the southeast corner of the state. On the way, we could count herds of pronghorn antelope grazing on the side of the road, and see birds native to the area, as well as grouse, jackrabbits and coyotes.
My parents would drop us off at a prairie dog village to watch them for hours and pick us up later. All of these natives disappeared from the landscape by the time I was in college, only a span of 15 years of development.
So imagine my joy when a colleague, one of the animal chaplains I graduated with and a native of Colorado, told me about the Southern Plains Land Trust, SPLT. The SPLT purchases land for prairie wildlife. It’s that simple. So far, they have protected over 56,000 acres in their preserve network, providing urgently needed refuge to a wide variety of native grassland animals and plants.
The ancient shortgrass prairie in southeast Colorado is a biodiversity hotspot and one of the most threatened ecosystems on Earth. SPLT provides
permanent protection to the land and wildlife by creating landscape-scale preserves. Improving the health of the prairie is critical in mitigating climate change and healing the land to secure the future of native wildlife and plants.
SPLT is a vibrant part of the community in southeast Colorado through re-wilding efforts. They have partnered with neighbors of their Raven’s Nest and Heartland Ranch preserves to replace or modify border fences to be more wildlife-friendly, and have worked to restore prairie streams. On all their projects, they source materials and labor locally whenever possible. As a member of the Global Rewilding Alliance, SPLT is part of a world-wide effort to provide refuge for the wild ones.
Their largest preserve, Heartland Ranch, now extends across almost 70 square miles, making it larger than some countries in the United Nations, some national parks, and all but one of Colorado’s state parks. This preserve was established in 2015 due to the generosity of the Summerlee Foundation, and has been expanded through donations, grants, and carbon offset sales. Great Outdoors Colorado has supported three expansions of Heartland Ranch, and the project won the Starburst Award in 2020 for excellent use of Colorado Lottery funds.
Prairie wildlife needs as much room as we can give them, but in particular, the expanded size of Heartland Ranch is furthering goals for rewilding bison, a vibrant prairie dog ecosystem, refuge for prairie elk, hope for grassland breeding birds, and opportunities to revitalize prairie streams.
Donations to the Southern Plains Land Trust are a good way to offset your carbon footprint when you travel, and you can feel good knowing you are contributing to the natural restoration of a part of this country. Please donate at https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2125714.
The Conscious Canine Club
I am a big fan of Miranda Wimbush. Founder and CEO of The Mindful Canine, Miranda is an intuitive healer for humans and animals, and a holistic canine coach, vet tech, and interspecies mediator for dog people. Based in Nova Scotia, she works individually with dog guardians and dog professionals through individual and group programs to assure the best problem solving and relationship quality with their dogs.
She focuses beautifully on empowering humans to help their canines, and I have experienced that her information is just as valuable and relevant for all species of animal companions.
As an animal communicator, one of the most difficult situations (and it happens more often than you might think) is when an animal’s behavior is ‘mirroring’ what is happening with their person, and I must tell the person to do their inner work to help that relationship.
Miranda has a list of four important things that will keep us centered, grounded and present for our animal friends, especially when they have special needs. With her permission, here are important self-care tips to keep in mind.
Make time in your day to take care of your well-being and balance your energy. Deep breathing, moving your body, and getting out in nature are just some of the ways to balance your nervous system.
Check-in with yourself frequently to ask how you are feeling. This builds self-awareness and makes you feel supported and listened to.
Offer yourself the gift of self-compassion. When things are challenging, instead of criticizing yourself offer yourself support, understanding, and acknowledgment. Just as a good friend would.
Prioritize what is important to you. Before saying “Yes” to doing something for someone else, consider if it really works for you. When you say yes to someone else make sure that you are not saying no to yourself.
You are deserving of your own love, acknowledgment, and support.
You can sign up for Miranda’s Heart Centered Canine Club, which meets at noon eastern time every Wednesday online for pet mindfulness and meditation. Go to mindfulcanine.ca/your-end-of-the-leash
Upcoming Event! Join Us!
One of Miranda Wimbush’s unique talents is that she is able to gather experts from all over the world to focus on aspects of canine care that will empower us as dog lovers. Over the years, she has presented many targeted conferences and webinars online, and has also been a guest speaker for Holistic Actions, among others, in their webinars and summits.
I will be joining Miranda and her full lineup of guest experts at THE EMPOWERED DOG LOVER summit, which will be held online November 6-10, 2023. Recordings will be available for each presentation, as well as free gifts for those who register. My own free gift will be a 3-part support program for compassion fatigue that I developed for veterinarians, their staff, and the staff and volunteers of shelters and sanctuaries.
I hope you will consider joining us in this summit series. EMPOWER YOURSELF to be the person your dog thinks you are!
Sign up to the summit here:
https://event.mindfulcanine.ca/empowereddogloversummitjudyramsey
Upcoming Classes
At this time of year, I am winding down the teaching time, with only the classes listed below in November. December will have the journey circles listed in the next newsletter. HOWEVER, the 2024 classes are listed now on the website, so take a look. We will begin the shamanic practitioner year-long classes in February, 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. Registrations are on the website except for Journey Circle. Once registered, a Zoom invitation will be sent to register to receive the meeting i.d. and passcode. If you have difficulty with a registration, please contact Judy at info@judyramsey.net. All classes and journey circles are recorded for your convenience.
November 2 & 16, 2023
Journeying Circle
If you know how to do shamanic journeying, you know that it is a path of direct revelation. Come join us as we explore different aspects of our life’s path, doing healing for ourselves as well as for the world. Zoom registration required—contact Judy at info@JudyRamsey.net
7pm-8:30pm EDT
Cost is $25 per session or $40 per month to attend
Zoom
November 18-19, 2023
Basic Shamanic Journeying
The shamanic journey is an easy and powerful tool used to access spiritual information. 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. The techniques will 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.
9am-3pm EDT
Cost is $160, $75 for repeating students.
Zoom