An Elk Migration - Via Tugboat

So many stories unfolding all at the same time...I'll start with this one.

A few weeks ago Court was called about a once in a lifetime trip on the tugboat as barge man for the conservation authority. The local game warden had long decided it was time to move a herd of elk (part of a larger herd that was transplanted to this peninsula fifteen years ago) that have been feeding for years at the local golf course. The tug and barge would be needed to move a truck full of elk, and several other trucks full of volunteers to a valley some hundred and fifty miles north up the coast.

Several nights have been spent on high alert, waiting for the call. Each time the herd was spooked or the sea conditions were too rough, and the move was cancelled and rescheduled.

As we chatted about this during an early dawn sit in the hot tub yesterday, I suggested that perhaps the elk had some resistance to this move. After all there are grizzly bear and wolves in the new territory, something the elk haven't had to deal with down here. I suggested that a dialogue might be possible with the grizzly and wolves explaining the situation and asking for a remedy. No sooner were the words out of my mouth than I knew I would/could/should be the one to engage in such a dialogue via meditation.

I was guided to sit by my sacred inner fire and send an invitation to Elk, Wolf and Bear to join me at my fire. Elk first came on powerful strong legs. Elk depend for life on their legs. Elk knows why I am here and is in accord with my mission. Bear came up behind me as I sat looking into my inner fire, wrapping around me reminding me of the Bear medicine I carry. We swayed together until Bear pulled away and gifted me a bear bone, and then proceeded to install it in my back. This bone will help me stand straight in my medicine and will dissolve away as I build strength to stand tall. (This is answer to a request for assitance with the old habit of refusing power.)Grizzly Bear will not smell Elk as food until Elk has their legs under them in the new terrain

When I next looked to call Wolf I was surrounded by a family of running Wolves. They carried me through the trails they know so well, sharing smells and Wolfish sensations. I knew their hunger. I asked on behalf of an evolving mankind that they not fill their hunger with the smell of Elk. They too agreed to let Elk get their legs. We agreed this is the way.

I was stopped from saying I’d never talked in this way before by being flooded with remembrances of my relationship with animals in childhood. And then I saw Ama (my inner little girls name) step up and take a bow. Though I have stymied her, she has always served life in this way, always recognized oneness with all life, always willing to send spirit forth to communicate with the other life forms that we share this wonderful Mother with. )

Before I returned to regular consciousness I pledged myself to holding a safe and sacred space for this move of the elk…it felt right to make such a commitment only after I realized that Ama has been, is always, there doing just that. I will remember Ama and I are one.

I shared my meditative journey with Court asking him to pass a message of what I'd done along to the game warden if he could. (He did and the news was well received. This man loves these animals and said..."they need all the help they can get.") We weren't surprised when the call came in to confirm they had the twelve elk penned and waiting for the truck. Court took this shot this morning of the dominant female, the matriarch of the herd. The herd had been penned for twelve hours by the time the boat reached her destination. She had stood momentarilly sniffing the air before bolting down the ramp so fast she's a blur to the camera. The next moment the whole herd was a blur hightailing into the bush after their matriarch.

May the elk flourish in their new home.