I have always related to animals in quite an intense and particular way. And plants and trees too.
That’s not to say I’ve never caused them any harm. I’ve tried to learn how to do better, I’m always learning and trying.
But my attitude and appreciation of non human animals has meant that sometimes I come across as… weird.
Even as I’ve moved in different circles of animal/nature lovers, I’ve had questions that can’t be answered or been told I’m looking at things somehow wrong.
And I’ve sometimes been shamed or dismissed for the size of my feelings, or told its ‘just a lamb. Just a rabbit. Just a tree. Just a snail….’ As if I was making too big a deal of things.
And so I turned the dial down. I studied and appreciated. I adopted a rescue dog. When needed, I’ve stood up for him, even though he’s ‘just a dog.’ But I’ve tried not to talk too much (I’m imagining some of the people who know me well laughing at this point because I have talked quite a lot. Yeah, that was me dialling it down 😆).
Then, starting in 2020, I dived into journeying with different animal familiars over a year, and made an online course where I felt brave enough to start sharing things from my perspective. That was the year I realised that the word describing my way of being in the world is animist. And it was a beautiful feeling of coming home.
And as I’ve been stepping more and more onto this Priestess path and working with Wild Essence I’ve been having new and different reactions to who I am and how I move through the world.
I’ve been seen and valued for this very thing, a part of me that has sometimes lead to me feeling deeply unseen and misunderstood...
I have had a proper bubbly snot cry about it. My beautiful canine friend is ageing, he’s been having some health problems and I leant into the Priestess WhatsApp chat for support.
I was not even thinking I needed to tone down my words or not seem too extreme. Feeling the opposite in fact - valued for my perspective and finding people who draw this aspect of myself out even more. People who enjoy and amplify it.
And it’s one of the most PROFOUND things I’ve ever felt.
And it’s something I would wish for us all.
To find the people who love us for who we are. Who see us. To find places where we can be ourselves and be safe and celebrated.
May you find this too ❤️
My cosy Facebook group, The Village in the Woods, could be a good place to start if this post resonated with you. 🌳 🏡 🌳