According to Indian legend, you do not choose an animal guide as your personal spirit guide. The animal chooses you and they decide to whom they will reveal themselves and make their friend. As of right now in my life, I believe that I have been chosen by a spirit animal to help guide and teach me- The Rabbit.

Now I have to be honest- the rabbit was not my first choice. It wasn’t my second choice. I didn’t even consider a rabbit as a choice; it just didn’t cross my mind.  I was hoping for the swan, an owl or the raven – something that focused on my positive traits and something that sounded romantic and mystical. The rabbit was nowhere near what I was imagining.

I began to direct my energy on allowing my spirit animal to find me and I came to this conclusion after many personal questions were answered, dreams were spoken, and encounters occurred.

Each Animal has its own medicine which is unique to that specific creature and its spirit cannot be chosen like the color of your new car. Discovering who your animal guides are is a process of paying attention to the spirits around you and following the signs. It is a process of developing your inner knowledge and spiritual understanding.

According to Manataka, If you want your spirit animal to find you, you should focus on asking for your spirit animal in dream or thought. First, pray about it. Second, be satisfied with whatever happens or does not happen. It if comes, then it comes. If it does not, then it does not.

Animals are wondrous happy creatures. There is no doubt that animals have

beautiful, balanced emotions. They love and defend one another. They feel sorrow and melancholy yet they know nothing about greed, envy, and hate. They live their entire lives without sin.

The Rabbit

Rabbits are regular visitors to the land where Beyond the Rainbow lives, most often between dawn and dusk. They stay close to the edge of the forest, and though deeply absorbed in the process of eating, are always alert. At the sight of a hawk or the sound of a human footstep they disappear into the undergrowth.

An interesting aspect of Rabbit is that different cultures have widely varying understandings of this animal. The Egyptians associated it with being, while in China, where it is one of the astrological animals, it is associated with good fortune and the moon. People born under its sign are believed to be sensitive and artistic.

In many Native American traditions Rabbit is named the Fear Caller. It is believed that it shouts out its fear of the predators who rank it high on their dining list so loudly that it attracts them, and thus brings that which it fears into being.

If we look at this idea with deeper understanding we see how well Rabbit teaches us that we create our lives with our thoughts and feelings. Rabbit experiences fear, projects it outward, and creates in the external world conditions which mirror its inner terrors.

For us humans this is an important lesson. The idea behind repeating affirmations, focusing on positive images, and programming one’s crystals to help realize dreams is that thoughts have energy, and that focused attention on a thought creates a vibration which will help that thought to become reality. This is as true when you think about what you don’t want to happen.

So often, though, our focus on what we don’t want to happen is automatic, instead of deliberate. It’s an undercurrent of consciousness, gathering strength secretly. Thus, it’s important to bring our fears into consciousness and to treat them with the same tenderness we would treat a frightened child.

I mentioned before rabbits’ ability to be alert and aware of its surroundings at all times. For us, this translates into recognizing that we have the power to create with our thoughts, to be conscious of them, to be focused on our dreams, and to not allow ourselves to be distracted from our intentions, especially not to be distracted by fear from realizing our dreams.

I believe I can learn a lot from the Rabbit. :)

American Indians view all things in creation as having spiritual energy. All things are connected and worthy of our respect and reverence. Their way is to seek balance and harmony within the complex tapestry of life called the Great Circle of Life. As they move within the circle, they emphasize these truths:

Everything on earth is alive;

Everything on earth has purpose;

Everything on earth is connected;

Everything on earth is to be embraced.

A principal tenant of their belief is that all things are connected and we are related to all things in the circle.

 We finally had the time, funding and an ideal location to plant our first garden. I have more bruises now from gardening than I ever had playing sports and what have you.  I am a bit clumsy, you see.

Last evening we spent the remainder of our long work day weeding out some of the pesky plants that are quickly finding a home around our precious plants.  One is even covered in thorns, which makes it extremely hard to pull out, even if you are reaching for the root.  Most of the excess weeds are actually pretty in sight and I feel bad pulling them to their death. The had a beautiful purple hue underneath the leaves, which make me think they wish so bad to blend in and be part of that garden. They would look so good next to a row of radishes, yet they don’t know when enough is enough and just begin to quickly take over. 

Besides that, here’s the run down of our progress:

We currently have eight tomato plants that are looking fairly good. I think they require a bit more water than we are giving them so hopefully we can figure out a better watering schedule for all of us. The ground is nearly all clay, which seems to have a different affect on each plant.

 We have two zucchini and two squash plants that have grown amazingly strong and large with a few babies already sprouting out. They are most impressive.

There is one lone artichoke plant that is standing its ground and making itself known to the eight pepper plants that loom around it. The peppers are, no doubt, covering the majority of the square footage yet they don’t seem to be doing as good as they probably could be. There are quite a few holes in the leaves, so I just need to research and find out about their lifestyle and physicalities and such…On a better note,  I think the local toad is taking on the position of resident farmer when we are at work. It is nice to have a helping hand through out the day to control the pests. I think he is getting use to us being around because he is allowing himself to come mingle more and more each day.

The remaining plot is set up with mostly herbs. I know we have one pepper plant that was put in by mistake and two eggplants that are content with their life amongst the herbs. The cilantro that we bought has quadrupled in size! We should be able to start pinching some of the leaves off so be prepared for the salsa of the year. The lavender was not doing good at all so we had to put one of the plants to rest. Hopefully the other lavender plant is able to get its root into the ground. The Rosemary is doing great, or so it seems, and we have some fresh mint just waiting to be planted.  

Oh, and the cantaloupe looks so healthy! They probably sprouted the quickest, especially coming from seed. The carrots were also from seed, and they are still extremely fragile and prone to getting grouped in with the weeds that are taking over. I am hoping we are able to recover and grow at least half of what we planted. 

( Let us know is you would like us to set aside some veggies for you! I know were are going to be smothered in tomatoes and peppers if everything goes well! )

The mosquitoes are getting really bad! I think I probably swat nearly thirty of them just during the short amount of time I was out there! More bug spray please!