Jaguar Moon

Animal Spirit Guides, Spirit Guides, The Spirit Guides

On the 17th of July 2014 I had an extraordinary dream that will stay with me forever.  It was the catalyst that changed the landscape of my healing work. As powerful as this dream was, it wasn’t until mid 2016 that I would learn its true power and significance. The dream I had is as follows;

I was out walking in my local neighbourhood with a girlfriend of mine. It was a beautiful spring day. We were pushing my young daughter along in the pram. We stumbled across this amazing property filled with Jacaranda trees in full bloom. A beautiful sea of purple hue surrounded us as we looked on in awe of nature’s sheer beauty. I noticed a wallaby happily eating grass amid the trees. Wallaby and I locked gaze. It was in that moment that something shifted and changed as wallaby became a bridge, portal, facilitator for what was to occur next. The very next instant I noticed a leopard out the corner of my eye. It was massive! There was no time to think. My instinctive nature kicked in and I knew I had to run in fear of my life. My daughter and pram where no longer in this scene, just me and my girlfriend and as bad as this is, the human part of me hoped that the leopard would eat her and not me!  I ran as fast as I could as my girlfriend tiptoed away.  Surely it would get her not me! As I was about the scale over a fence the leopard pounced me and threw me to the ground. I lay there with my back to the solid ground, the leopard over the top of me. I was certain I was going to die. I was convinced that this was the end of me. Suddenly the leopard started to sniff my head, taking in big scary snorting breaths as if it was trying getting my scent. The leopard proceeded to walk the entire periphery of my body sniffing me every few centre meters until it had done a full 360 degrees and was back to my head where it started. Right at that point the leopard and I went from being physical beings to purely vibrating energy with no physicality at all.  Both of our energy fields were vibrating together, distinct and apart and then shortly after this experience we became ONE as our fields morphed together, fused and vibrated as one. I woke suddenly.

Shortly after I woke I was told by spirit that I had worked with this animal spirit before in previous lives. I was given its name. The very next day as I was working with a client in my healing clinic I felt this strange and foreign sensation run up my spine, this was the beginning of our sacred work together.

From then on “leopard” spirit became my most prominent healing and astral guide.  Through “leopard” I was able to bridge to the realm of spirit and take soul flight even more powerfully than I had before. I was already doing soul work by journeying into the soul and spirit of another to find the source of suffering, pain, dysfunction and dis-ease. Yet though “leopard” the journey into the soul to find out why the issues exist became much more powerful, as did finding the means to remove the imprints of disharmony from the luminous energy field, then guiding the body back toward optimal health. Something had profoundly shifted within my work and I became initiated into the realms of Shamanism. It was here I learnt that part of the work of the shaman was so similar to the soul work I had been performing, just with different names and the added oomph of working with power animals and allies.

The “leopard” has been a fierce protector, healer, guide, teacher and faithful servant, although the path has not always been easy. For the first year its personal engagement with me was always benevolent and beneficent. I got used to its powerful medicine and learnt how power animals operated in their role of healing and was taken on endless journeys. I was completely unaware of their extraordinary capabilities and spiritual power. It blew me away that a spirit animal could possess and wield so much power! Then one day, it turned on me. It was unpredictable, elusive, it showed me the shadow side, the darkness, I became fearful of it and thought it had become possessed! This went on for the better half of a year. Throughout this phase I tried to separate myself from it. I took its canvass picture out of my clinic, I tried to disown it, cast it out, fearful that it had not been a wise and transformational ally. After this long trying and testing phase with lots of interesting phenomena, the ‘ah-ha’ moment finally arrived. It was showing me my own shadow, my own distorted view, perception and fear. It was showing me how I externalised my own fear and shadow and unhealthily placed it outside of myself, like so many on the spiritual path do! I shamelessly called it back. I shamelessly and humbly apologised. I wore my ignorance, stubbornness and pride. I surrendered fully to its teachings, both light and dark and opened my heart fully to ALL that it was willing to give and share with me, not just what I wanted to experience or to perceived as ‘truth’. It took several months for the “leopard” to gain my trust again. I needed to open my perception to its full medicine, incorporating both light and dark. I showed my commitment to the path, my commitment to looking at all aspects of myself whilst declaring my sacred love and desire to serve as my sincere offering to forge our future work together.  The love that I have for this animal is magical. The way it works with me and the work it does for my clients is something magical and mystical, something that I alone cannot do. My gratitude feels eternal.  They do however, command a great deal from us, especially if we are willing to wield their full power and potential.

There is one more ‘ah-ha’ to this story. I was just about to be initiated into the medicine of the Talking Stick and it was the day before the initiation. I was driving 80k along a road 15 minutes from my home. I heard the voice of spirit tell me to look to the left.  At 80k’s I saw the most beautiful eagle feather sitting on the side of the road nestled in the grass. I stopped, reversed and picked up this beauty that had been the sacred gift of Eagle spirit.  I was taking a shamanic course to find out more about shamanic communication, my power animal intrigued me. It was ever so  present in my healing work and at times so elusive and complex with me. I didn’t have anyone around me who could offer me the sage wisdom and advice I was seeking, so I searched for it in this course. As I took this initiation into The Talking Stick, initiated by Grandmother Beaver, I was told that the most sacred of items to place on a Talking Stick was an eagle feather. Feeling so blessed and so supported by the findings the day before, I journeyed shamanically with Grandmother Beaver, assisted by eagle – they told me to name my Talking Stick “Jaguar Moon” and that my leopard was in fact a JAGUAR! Jaguar then came and laughed in my face. It actually thought it was hilarious, me thinking it was a leopard all this time and not a jaguar, and there was no way it was going to tell me direct!  Jaguars were not in my realm of thinking, I grew up recognising and knowing big spotty cats as leopards not jaguars.  You see the Jaguar (to me, through my direct experience) is known as one of the tricksters, one of the sacred clowns. They can teach in very complex and convoluted ways. There is not much room for imparting direct knowledge and wisdom, and they certainly do not hand it to you on a plate! One must work for it and earn jaguar medicine.   The trickster is said to be “one of the greatest teachers of the spiritual path” leading you to the ultimate truth, it sets everyone and everything free. It is ingenious, against all odds, sees beyond duality and challenges our beliefs. They can often mock you into the truth, surprise you, tease you and challenge you. They are the redeemers, they hold very high standards and bring fierce and positive change. It is said by Caroline Casey that the trickster is crucial to these times of transition and change as they break away and challenge yet their trick always liberates.  She states “those who survive the journey to the underworld earn the right to be trickster redeemers in the world now, whatever we have survived gives us the right and power to set these things free”. I have definitely survived the underworld journey and have also been accompanied by the goddess Inanna in this realm since 2014. I have survived, emotional, mental and sexual abuse and know how to turn the dark night of the soul into a golden elixir and return to spirit. Because I have traversed this path, and gone into the darkest places that needed the most light, I can lead others through this same process.

Fascinated and intrigued by the Jaguar and its reason for choosing me, I researched the Jaguar Shamans of the past, in particular those of the Northwest Amazon region. Their training was 10 years involving fasting, abstinence, seclusion, taking psychoactives, experience of death and rebirth, dismemberment and reshaping of the inner self, marriage to bird-sprits and warrior ethos. The calling was via sometimes a serious sickness, a dream experience (like mine) or a strong desire to learn. Powers are soul-flight, direct experience of spirits and deities in all levels of the cosmos and transformation into jaguar spirit, acquiring the body of jaguar spirit (I dare say this is the spiritual trans-morphing and soul merge I experienced in my dream), numerous other animal avatars (I also work with Raven, Dolphin, Rabbit, Fox and Eagle to name a few), healing and power. The jaguar shamans attributes are human-animal spirit, multiple perspectives, double vision (physical and spiritual) sends soul at will, global vision. The characteristics of the Jaguar shaman are the hunter of souls, cosmic warrior, mediator with deities, masters of light (crystals) clairvoyance, diviner. What was also interesting to read was that eagles are the shamans avian equivalent of the jaguar. It states in the mysteries of the jaguar shamans that eagle feathers are believed to have the powers to open what is closed and enable clear visions, which is of utmost importance to curing.

The jaguar spirit sought out, hunted and merged with me. I did not seek out or look for jaguar, quite evident as in the aforementioned true story. I personally believe our power animal chooses us, that we do not choose it. And we would rather have the power and wisdom of our true power animal than the idealisation of a false one whose medicine is not available to us! Each animal has their sacred offering and all medicines are needed on the earth right now. The ancient wisdom beckons us back to her, we just have to follow.

Power animals are adept at bridging us to the world of spirit, the unseen and eternal, they bring back healing, magic and power from the spiritual to the physical. It is said that we who work shamanically are only as strong as our helping spirits and allies.  I deem this to be true. They open gateways that allow the unknown to be known. They do lots of the spiritual work for us.

The felines (all cats great and small) are imparting their wisdom and power to us during this time of the great turning. As the Divine Feminine anchors and emits her sacred vibration to help us transition and heal, these spirits become available to us through our acts of sacred service.  Female figures accompanied by felines have been dated back to 8000 BCE. This is not new medicine! Many like me have jaguar medicine in varying degrees. For those of you who do and for anyone who has an interest the following are my favourite attributes of this powerful spirit ally;