The lure of immortality dances through our lives, weaving delicate patterns that tease us with the possibility. To live forever. And then, of course, we don’t. Honestly, I never expected to live forever. You’re born, crap happens, fun happens, you die. Nope, I never expected to live forever, and I didn’t, either: last February I […]
intuitive
How an Eagle Kachina Accidentally Helped Build a Community
My mom loved Southwest art. My dad loved my mom. I loved them. When the eagle kachina dropped into our lives, I was greedily snatching as much time with them as I could, building memories. One day my dad called and said he’d found an art piece for mom. “Not like yours,” he said wryly. […]
What Made My Deaf Dog Hear Again, Part 2
When my youngest dog, Alki, became deaf, I had to figure out how I could make him comfortable with his handicap. How to make us all comfortable: Alki, my nearly 10-year-old Cavalier; his 12-year-old Cavalier sister, Murphy; Grace the Cat; me; and friends, family, and visiting clients. We’re familiar with handicaps at our house: of […]
What Made My Deaf Dog Hear Again, Part 1
My son is deaf. My youngest dog, my Velcro boy, my goofy sweet Alki, is stone cold deaf. It happened when I wasn’t looking. Somehow, the years between puppyhood and senior dog warped and folded in on themselves, and my little boy aged. It shocks me, really. Just yesterday he was an exuberant, mischievous puppy, […]
The Camperdown Elm: What Are We Doing to Nature?
Copyright (c) 2011 by Danny L. McMillin I’m staring at a Camperdown Elm as I write this. I’m in my car, at Port Gamble, Washington. The dogs and I are going to see our vet (yes, we drive a minimum 5-1/2 hours to see the vet). Every time we do that, we stop at the […]
When Animal Communication Bites
Have you always wanted to talk with an animal? And hear it talk back? It’s easy. Just do it. But be polite, or you’ll find out, like I did, that animal communication can bite. Just like talking with any being out there, from a tree to a hurricane, animal communication is about respecting all life […]
The Guardians of Alki
Yes, I talk with gardens and the beings who look out for them: where I live, I call them the Guardians of Alki, because Alki Beach is our neighborhood, and the names the guardians have historically been assigned are mean and scary and not worthy of us or them. Besides, at the time it didn’t […]
Is It Weather Worker or Weather Talker? How to Work with Weather
I call myself a weather talker, not a weather worker. There is a difference. A weather worker changes the weather, usually because the weather worker wants to. The weather and the land around it, including the guidance forces that created it, are not always consulted. While many of us can change the weather (yes, change […]
What It Means to Talk with All Life
We can all talk with all life, from our food to our cars, animals to plants, businesses to homes, volcanoes to weather systems. Everything you can imagine—and many things you can’t—can speak with us. In fact, they are all already speaking to each other. In fact, the only ones who are not participating in an […]
Talking with Our Businesses: The First Principle
I was surprised when I first spoke intuitively with a business. It just hadn’t occurred to me, even though I knew that everything is alive. Literally. A tricky part is how that reverberates in our lives, or, perhaps, whether we will allow it to. For people the concept that other beings have something to say […]