Confronting Fears
- Have you had a recurring dream or nightmare?
- Has anyone or anything chased you in a dream?
- Has your dream remained vividly there when you awake?
As I became more spiritual and entered the field of Oriental Medicine, I read about animal spirits guides and wanted to discover my own.
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear; I found a woman to help me on my search.
The concept of a recurring dream, especially if it contained an animal, seemed crucial to the process.
Yes, I had one — but a scary one.
From ages 6–11, I would, at times, awaken in fear of the image of a very long nosed wolf looking down at me from a cabinet on the wall. There was no such cabinet in real life, but even awake I could see and experience it and the wolf.
It took great courage to then get out of bed and race down the hall to my parents’ bedroom and squeeze in between them for safety. The wolf chased me the entire way. And, if I looked at my parents’ faces, they were wolves too.
In the morning, I would have a fever and, of course, be kept home from school.
As an adult reliving the tale, I could still feel the terror of the chase. My guide asked me if I felt brave enough to speak with the wolf. I supposed it would be OK. It felt better when I was advised that I could ask the wolf to come down to the floor for the conversation.
To my surprise, as the wolf connected with the floor, it landed as a cub. She seemed as frightened of my adult persona as I had been of hers.
The dialog commenced: Why did you scare me and chase me all those times? The answer felt intuitive: I wasn’t chasing you, I was protecting you.
Wow! I had an animal spirit; I just didn’t know it.
My guide let me know I could ask the wolf cub to return to the cabinet. I decided it might be fun to get to know her better and let her hang out for as long as she wanted.
For the next two days, as I did my everyday thing in NYC, I was aware of the cub running in and out my feet, tugging at my pant legs and being close. Occasionally, I would hear a low growl which caused me to look around and see a questionably dangerous situation. Yes, my cub was watching out for me.
When she went quietly went back to her cabinet, I was left with a sense of safety, peace and love.
I know that if I am in trouble or in doubt, my wolf / cub will be back to protect me.
Don’t be afraid to confront your fears — they may be your best friends.