The Wolf
Has the wolf appeared to you in your dreams? If so, what color and where did you see them? What kind of environment did they inhabit? Was the wolf with you? Coming towards you? Was it a single wolf, or did you see/sense others nearby?
Dream symbols enchant us with the unknown, with possibilities. We receive direct communication. It’s personal, free, and available to us.
Symbols come to us in the waking world too. When we pay attention and acknowledge them, it seems the outer Universe rushes in to give us more: more understanding, more synchronicities, and more opportunities to receive. The key is to acknowledge our Dreamtime and create practical action.
The wolf showed up for me when I visited the Cattaraugus Reservation in New York for the first time. It’s the home of the Seneca Nation. I met Grandmother Twylah Nietsche, the matriarch at that time, and she often reminded us that her people were from the Wolf Clan, the teachers, and the historians. She shared with us some of her clan’s teachings she titled The Cycles of Truth, one I still refer to today.
I enjoy teaching, the process of taking information and synthesizing it, creating bridges of understanding. Maybe it’s just the thrill of sharing what I have gathered, the hope to inspire, and the desire to expand.
Wolf as the teacher, meeting other teachers who gathered over that weekend sparked a desire to do more teaching. Keep in mind that I had no idea how that would play out. It would take another nine years before I started to teach at a university. You could say offering herbal knowledge to adult ed programs and teaching an herbal intensive became the starting place where I took related action that lead me to University teaching.
From my beginning journey to western New York, researching animal totems, recording nighttime and meditation experiences, and pursuing spiritual truths from several sources deepened my path. I dreamed of wolves too. One dream involved a white wolf who showed me that spirit energy was around at the gathering I attended that day. And the dream included one of my elders at that time who offered her wisdom teachings.
So the message in my latest book, Navigating Your Dream World, asks you to understand and interpret your own dream symbols. The companion journal gives you a place to follow the process and keep a record of each element and what they mean to you. I do recommend Ted Andrews’s book Animal Speak. He brings a multicultural understanding to the critter realms, which I find more comprehensive. When I look up the wolf, for example, I pay attention to what resonates with me. Not everything will, but what does resonate will usually be meaningful for the time period of the dream.
Wolves have been reintroduced into our national parks. The change in ecosystems is truly astounding and highlights the role one critter plays within the whole. A good reminder for us.
Has the wolf appeared to you recently? How so? What message did she have for you? Record your first impressions. Any stories? I enjoy hearing from you. In the meantime, sweet dreaming. Judith
I love what you wrote here and also remember when I first met you.You were finishing high school and I was a teacher already. I did not want to be a teacher then, but that year, my first one as a teacher, changed my mind and started to enjoy being one. You wanted to be a nurse, now I work helping children with cancer. I learned many things about life living with your family, but in a very special way from you. It was your concern about others and the work you did for your community. Thank you dear Judy, I will read your book, as soon as, I present my exam to obtain my Ph degree in Education, hopefully in about three months. Congratulations for your new book and thanks again , it has been a great experience to have you as a “long distance” friend, since I was 18.
Lucy, I can’t thank you enough for being a “long distance” friend. And for your above comments. We both have had interesting journeys. And you are always earning and growing and look at you: a PhD in education. Congratulations. I never thought back then that I would be a writer and author.
I remember our days at OLA. And the warm, welcoming visit with your family. We had some fun times, such good memories. Stay in touch. I still want to get to visit you in Mexico. We’ll see. Good luck.