During the first two nights on Fire Island, a raccoon attacked the garbage pails in our yard and on our deck,
making an epic mess of chicken bones and other food scraps. On the second such assault,
I was awakened by the noise at 5:20 AM, and went down to investigate.
There it was, staring at me, completely nonplussed as it was
using its nimble hands to untie the rope that I’d rigged up to hold the lid on
the pail. I scared it away with a loud shout, though it didn’t exactly look
particularly frightened. Everyone who knows about raccoons knows that they are
persistent and don’t scare easily, so I knew something more was going to be
required to prevent further such events during our month-long stay. And I knew
that the “something” had to include not just physical measures, but more importantly, accepting that the raccoon was bringing me
a message, and that it represented something spiritually.
So, I did my research.
First, I found a close-up of a
raccoon online, which I made into my desktop picture. That way, he would be
present in my consciousness on a daily
basis.
Second, I looked up the spiritual meaning of raccoons, and found this:
“The name ‘raccoon’ is
believed by some to come from the Algonquin
Indian word ‘arckunem,’ meaning ‘hand scratcher.’ One of the most striking
features of the raccoon is the mask that it wears. Although some associate this
with thievery, it actually gives the raccoon a very powerful mystical
symbolism. When we wear a mask we are no longer whom we thought. We make
ourselves one with some other force. We create a doorway in the mind and in the
physical world a threshold that we can cross to new dimensions and new
beingness. This is the magic of raccoon. It knows how to wear masks for a
variety of purposes. Do you need to present a different face to people for
greater success?”
This had a lot of significance for me. For one thing,
during the last 2 Julys here on Fire Island, the spirits of a group of
Algonquin played an important role in our spiritual work (See the FPL post HERE.).
Secondly, masks have
held a negative meaning for me because of my therapeutic work, which to a great
extent has always been about removing
masks, certainly not honoring them as sacred. This was some fodder for
meditation and an opportunity to observe my judgments. I did so, and on the
third night, there was no disturbance from the raccoon. In fact, it is now Day
20 without any garbage mischief from Arckunem!
The work related to the raccoon wasn’t done, though.
Subsequent to the above, during a spiritual gathering here at the beach, we
were asked to help the spirits of a young Algonquin boy and girl. The boy had
died at the hands of wild raccoons, and the girl blamed herself for the event.
We did our work to help them release their anger and guilt, forgive themselves,
each other and the raccoons, and move on.
That agreement was complete, but...
... The Great Spirit said there was more to do.
During Week 3 of the vacation, a screaming bird made its
appearance (though actually we couldn’t see where it was perched as it sent out
its clarion calls.). For two relentless nights, this barker screamed
rhythmically from sunset to sunrise, making sleep a bit of a challenge. The
remedy, or rather the lesson, once again was acceptance, understanding and
being of service, in this case calling for a spiritual gathering at the ocean
itself.
Our task this time was to assist two other Native
American tribes, the Iroquois and the Lenape, the latter being a tribe I had never heard of before, but which it turns out upon doing some research
after the fact, did in fact live on Fire Island, and did battle with the
Iroquois, as well as the White Man. The Lenape, the translation of which means
“original man,” we discovered, are also related to the Algonquin.
We did our work again to bring peace and forgiveness to
all concerned, and lo and behold, no more bird screaming through the night.
And so, there it is, folks, loud and clear (often quite
literally). Whatever plagues you, whatever aggravates you, hassles you,
torments you even, is not in your life randomly, nor meant to cause you
suffering or disruption just for the sake of causing you suffering or
disruption. It is a call, a message, a beacon to guide you in a particular
direction.
That direction is towards acceptance, understanding and service. And you will know that you
are on track if by the time you get to the service part, you are not finding it
to be arduous or “hard,” but you are finding it to be joyful.
Peace.
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