Part II of Totem Series, Cont’d from Hawk, tiger & sparrow

 Two Bengal tigers charged me and knocked me to the macadam street, as I placed my arms over my head to prevent lethal contact with my throat and face. I twisted into a fetal position, waiting for the first blow to strike, knowing this could be my end at the “hands” of two large cats I could never have imagined seeing on the streets of Conshohocken, PA in the good old USA.

One opened its jaws and went for my arm that was closest to its head. And then, the most extraordinary thing one could imagine, happened. The tiger “licked‘ me. “Licked” one arm, and then “licked” the other. He nudged the second arm with its head, trying to push it aside to continue licking other parts of my body it could not get to with that rough, yet tender long tongue.

Meanwhile, the second tiger, as ferocious-looking as the first, buried its head in my midsection, and I slowly  began to realize that they were “playing” with me. Playing with their food? I initially thought. But no. I “felt” a kinship to them. They liked me, really liked me.

And, they were acting like “children,”  like little (actually, BIG) “kittens,” greeting me like one of their own, one of the cubs from their original pack. Their long lost brother.

It’s not every day one gets treated like this, I thought. Actually, it’s not even during the day, but at night-time, the period of a tiger’s life when they are most active. They hunt in the night, and prowl around trying their best to avoid their one and only predator, man.

I “played” back, ruffling the hair around the thick neck of the one, while kicking playfully at the other. It was a soft kick, a “play kick.” Was it a male or female? I could not tell, and even now don’t think gender had anything at all to do with the meaning of this dream.

Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you. This occurred in a dream. I believe the tigers were helping to bring me a message. What sort of message, I did not realize all at once. My first impression caused me to focus on the nature of the tiger, a courageous, loyal and “sensuous” animal whose very touch, like many in the “cat” family, exudes sensuality, according to Native American interpretations of the tiger as a dream totem.

I applied this bit of knowledge to my experience with soma therapy, where I felt “cat-like” in my body gyrations, to include some sexy gestures and poses I might have made “under the spell” of a new form of body, mind and spirit therapy. I can only report that it freed me.

I realize I am a sexy animal. Just like the cat, the tiger. I am a sensuous animal full of attraction and a connection to others through the sense of not only touch, but also sight, hearing and smell and taste.

Just like you, if you could ever learn to lower inhibitions through spiritual channels you know down deep inside will never be used against you. Nor “to you” while exposing your “underbelly,” your vulnerability, to the world and those living in it. It provided freedom for me, more than I have had experienced in years, perhaps in a whole lifetime.

But the nocturnal animals were not the only messengers to “contact” me during the course of this Charles Dickens-like time. Later this same day, around 11 a.m. Monday, I will have been greeted by the last spiritual ambassadors, two ordinary sparrows whose message I believe was a simple one: Appreciate your self, your self-worth, and you too can triumph over any thing.

See Part III

 Joy found in everyday ‘Common’ Ground