Wolves & Friends

Osiyo~

~Wolf Credo~
Respect the Elders
Teach the Young
Cooperate with the Pack
Play when you can
Hunt when you must
Rest in between
Share your Affection

Voice your Feelings
Leave your Mark!!!

The Guardian Wolves of Colusa Mountain

You can find me guest blogging for the first time and on some totally rocking blogs in coming days and weeks. Find me today at my friend, and super author Gale Stanley’s playground and, ‘Wake Up Your Wild Side’ as Wolves of Colusa invade Black Wolf Gorge! Drop by and share your thoughts!

Here are some things you may not know about wolves to prepare you for your journey.

~The Wolf ~wa-hya or wa-ya~

Feared and hated by men the world over, the mighty wolf has been plagued by all forms of evil stories, myths and legends. Hunted, trapped and killed to the point of extinction, many of these majestic animals are gone forever -- their breeds and blood lines never to be seen again.

In spite of the many horror stories of wolves hunting, tracking and killing humans, no such event has ever been confirmed. Their eerie and lonely howl, which can make the blood run cold, is merely their form of communication. Each howl, with its tone, depth, length and frequency carries a different message to the pack, or to the partner who is out of sight. They're merely "talking".

If you carry wolf medicine, here are some characteristics that sound familiar to you:

You are fiercely loyal -- to friends, family, ideals and principles. There is no compromise for you.

You are very territorial. You protect all that is yours and your family's at any expense. You are fearless in your protection, but not reckless. You plan your strategy carefully, and wait for the opportune moment for most powerful effect.

You have a strong family structure. There is no doubt who the elders, patriarchs and parents are, or about their roles in the family structure. Disobedience, selfishness and unruly behavior is not tolerated as there are strong boundaries for the young. They are taught well and carefully so that they may assume leadership roles in their own family structures.

You have an unrelenting sense of adventure. You love to explore new things, to stretch out for new horizons. You have a thirst for knowledge and for learning new things. You are eager to share these things which make you a natural teacher. Your adventures may take you away from home and family, but it is important that you have this base of security to return to.

You have an unrelenting need to be alone. You are so busy being the protector, the provider, the teacher, and the trailblazer, that it's very easy for you to become exhausted and burned out. In order to re-charge your spirit, and keep your balance, it is critical that you have time to be alone with your thoughts and your own sense of self. This is one side of your nature that must not be overlooked. Even if you lock yourself in the bathroom for 15 minutes a day, the time alone must be honored if you are to have value to those you care for.

*****

To Native Americans, the wolf is a powerful
spiritual symbol. They are considered to be
teachers or pathfinders. The wolf star was red,
an esteemed color, associated with the wolf by
all tribes. Also known as Sirius, it is the brightest
star in the Northern Sky. The milky way was the
wolf's trail-the route to heaven. In time, the wolf
also became associated among the four seasons
with summer, among the trees with the willow,
and among the great natural forces with the clouds.

The Indians respected the wolf's prowess as
a hunter, his stamina, and the way he moved
silently across the landscape. They were moved
by his howling, which they sometimes regarded
as talking with the spirit world. The wolf appears in
many legends as a messenger, great long distance
traveler and a guide for anyone seeking the spirit
world. He was the forerunner of new ideas who
returned to the clan to teach and share medicine.

Wolf is the Grand teacher. Wolf is the sage,
who after many winters upon the sacred path
and seeking the ways of wisdom, returns to share
new knowledge with the tribe. Wolf is both the
radical and the traditional in the same breath.
When the Wolf walks by you - you will remember.

The old ones tell us stories about our beginnings
and of a time when human kind first came to live
upon this Earth. It was Wolf who taught Humans
the ways of living in harmony. It was Wolf who
taught us how to form community upon this Earth,
for Wolves have an intuitive knowledge of order
through chaos and they possess the ability to
survive change, intact.

Wolf medicine is very ancient and born of living
experience. Wolf will look deep into your heart
and share the greatest of knowledge, but will
demand full participation, and absolute sincerity.
When Wolf has walked by you, the very presence of
the wolf will rekindle old memories within your soul.

Through the friction of experience you rekindle
the emotional fires of the inner soul and question
the manifestations of your own consciousness.
You can own a thing only when you have come to
own the emotional experience of it, and realize
the responsibility for its creation. then you are
free to continue. Wolf medicine can make you whole.

You will return to Wolf many times in your life as
you complete and begin your cycles of experience
and seek the inner truth.

Ghost Wolf
the Wolf Lodge

* I don't know who the authors of the credo, photo, or these legends are, but I give full credit to them. I had no part in creating any of the content other than my welcome introductions.

Dodadagohvi~

What's The Difference??

Osiyo~

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone! I’m weird in that I believe the best Thanksgiving I ever spent was on the vinyl seat of a Grey Hound bus when I was seventeen. I’d taken a weeklong trip into inner Illinois, USA  to visit friends. I started home on a snowy Thanksgiving morning and the bus stopped at a town somewhere between there and Oklahoma. I remember to this day my feast. It consisted of a greasy cheeseburger and soda. Ah, heaven. I just don’t get the week of preparing food that’s scarfed in less than an hour—and I’m left with the cleanup… Huh. What’s that about?

My Canadian author friend, Brenda Nyveld, asked me this year what the difference is between Thanksgiving and all that food, and Christmas with its food and trimmings. I’d never thought about it like that exactly. The food, time devoured, storage, cleanup, is all the same- more so with the added chores of decorating and then taking all the decorations down again, until the next Santa visit. So, what is the difference that makes me anticipate Christmas so much?

To my surprise, the obvious answer came right out in startling clarity.

The gifts and shopping, joy of anticipation—of expected gifts as well as seeing the faces on the ones receiving them.  And for some reason, Christmas Eve is a magical, mysterious night for me. I hate going to bed on that never-ending night. I can sit in a silent room just staring at the lit tree and day dreaming. You spend a month preparing so it’s not a rushed single week of exhaustion that ends in a disastrous mess and nothing to show for it. Maybe that’s a cynical view from one who isn’t a huge foodie who doesn’t eat a lot on normal days. Like I said…weird. My family and I have come to accept that about me. I’m broken when it comes to the ‘dreaded’ November holiday.

Then again, maybe it’s the extra present(s) left under the tree at the end of that magical day… My birthday gift(s). Yep, I’m a Christmas baby. Well, I was supposed to be. Momma used to laugh (how I miss the sound) and tell me that I was late for my birth, and I’ll be late for my own funeral. So, does that mean I’ll die late? Yeah—not in any hurry to see if she’s right about that, but my birthday is the 28^th of December. I feel New Years, with all the sparklies and fireworks, was created to finish off my superb day. Mark your calendars people. I like candles, unicorns, and books, books, books! See, I’m a low maintenance gal.  Email me for the snail-mail address, ‘cause I’m not the least bit shy about asking for stuff!! Hehe

So, now that you know how strange I am…what about you? Which of these mega holidays is your favorite? Why?

Dodadagohvi~

Writing Gimmicks

Osiyo~

I was surfing the sites I like today. Should be writing, but needed to check my social networks and offer comments first. I’ve been waiting for something new for the ole blog to jump into my head, and then I had an epiphany in mid-browse. So here I am, writing as I should be—just on the wrong page and about the wrong content. It still counts, right?

How many of you out there write with music? I know, old subject, and not what I’m blogging about today, regardless of how this reads now. Hear me out before you run for the hills, or Christine Bell’s site (which is way more fun if you have to choose between the two escapes). Music is important to my writing, I’ve discovered. It affects my mood, content mood, sets a scene for me at times, like when one of those hot cowboys serenade! Yeah, I love country music best, though I listen to Katie Perry and other pop musicians. I dig 60’s music. So music is a good part of writing for me for various reasons—including blocking out hubby’s tv.

I also enjoy a writing treat. A snack I can take to the chair with me to keep my energy boosted, and my butt seated. Chocolate is a preferred snack, like the chocolate martini cheesecake I had yesterday during crits. Can you think of a better time to eat chocolate than during crits and revisions? Nope, me neither. And havta have my coffee. 

Add, to my list of writing gimmicks, friends. I have, absolutely NEED, to check in with others throughout the days, just to remind myself I’m not alone in this business. So often as a writer it tosses us into a closed room for hours of self-induced solitary confinement.  That’s where Twitter (find me @CalisaMS), Facebook/calisaselfridge, blogs, eHarlequin, various writing groups I chat with, and here-my blog- comes in. The wonderful people in the same industry boost my enthusiasm. They inspire me, whether through good writing or bad (in my opinion only), to write the best I personally can. To keep trudging forward toward publication. So I must keep them in my writing day.

But the real topic of the day—Scents. It came to me as I was not-writing-when-I-should-be today. I went to a gun and knife show in the city with hubby yesterday and—of course, why the heck not—there was a Scentsy booth smack dab in the middle of the many arms booths. My daughter had gone to a Scentsy party not long ago and gave me some of the Butterscotch. It’s not a candle, just the scented candle wax you put in a cutesy tin with a tea light underneath to melt it. The aroma goes everywhere. Hubby usually asks what I’m burning, or cooking, depending on the length of time it’s been on.

I stumbled across the scent booth at the show and stopped to ‘check it out’. No plain vanilla, my fave scent, but there were a few exotic vanillas I didn’t care for. Then, I dug in a basket and found Lavender Vanilla. I put that one to melt today and it makes me feel relaxed as I write. What a concept. 

So I’m wondering how my Christmas Berry, Cinnamon, Spiced Apple, and the other scents I normally use, affect my writing comfort. I’m now on a mission to try each at different times, maybe one a week, to see if they make me feel differently surrounded by the smells I love. Will my fave vanilla actually cause me to write less, faster, more clear-headed? Will Lavender Vanilla actually induce sleepiness by relaxing me too much? Oh, I hope not because I really like the new scent! Does Apple Spice make me hungry and I’ve just never noticed?

We’ll see what happens over the next month or two. I really enjoy my scents and have a few favorites. 

In the meantime, what does your ‘Writing Gimmicks’ list look like? What smells affect you in one way or another while writing? I really want to know if you out there use or do anything on a strictly routine—have to—basis to help you write.

Dodadagohvi~