On The Farm
With cooler weather arriving, we’re finally able to do the gardening without being eaten alive. Preparing to winterize the trees and the tiny house—ladybugs have taken over! We dehydrated apple slices—LOTS of them, and will start on the pears soon. I’m going to plant garlic for the first time this year—can hardly wait to see what happens.
Beautiful harvest moon this month. I hope you got to see it. What a powerful moon for transformation. Fall is my favorite season and the time of year when I consider transformation, being reminded by all the colors of the leaves that our transformations can be a brilliant time in our lives. October was a month dedicated to the improvement of my environment (I painted the bedroom and purged stuff), my physical condition (I lost 12 pounds and purged stuff), and my spiritual practice (I developed a closer relationship with my trees and guides and purged stuff).
In this month’s video blog, I share my grief altar as a celebration of life. I hope you will consider that kind of support for your own grief. The dahlia was a surprise gift from its caretaker in our county park, who did not want it to be thrown out when it fell from its stem.
Honoring Your Grief
One of the most joyful experiences I ever had was in Peru on the Days of the Dead (in Peru, 2 days). A friend and I were walking in Pisaq at night after dinner and heard music and laughter. We followed it and found ourselves in the graveyard! Children were laughing, dogs were barking, people were singing—music everywhere, guitars, trumpets, bands. Food—oh my gosh, so much food! and beer flowing freely. Flowers at all the graves. Families staying overnight with their dearly departed, celebrating their lives. Later, I saw the movie, COCO, and recalled the beauty and joy of that night.
The Detroit Institute of Arts has an exhibit, El Día de Muertos, running until November 7. Artists developed ofrendas, offerings, to important people, and one I was intrigued with, to animals.
We receive so many gifts in the moment from those we love—human, animal, nature spirits. Every minute of life is precious, and Days of the Dead reminds us of that. I hope you enjoy the video blog this month.
The Scholarship Fund
The scholarship fund for students of animal communication and shamanic healing for animals is still going strong. If you had a good experience with a class yourself, or benefitted from communication with your animal friends, please consider a donation. Students from the world over are studying with me to benefit animals in their region. So many animals are affected, so many rescues are healing from trauma.
We moved from the Go Fund Me site to the website for donations. That way, more of the donation goes for students with a nominal fee instead of a big one for the transaction. You can now donate directly through my website at judyramsey.net and the donation button is on the bottom of each page.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for giving to the cause.
Classes and Further Support
The 2022 class schedule will be announced in next month’s newsletter. Basic Animal Communication will be held in March and May of 2022. Two new shamanic classes will be presented: Shapeshifting (I’m SO excited about this one), and Ancestors. Stay tuned. When I get the dates, everything will be up on the website calendar. Hope to see you in class!