Animal Story, Blog, Earthfire Stories, Wolves | April 27, 2010
Watch this video of amazing healing sessions between humans and a resident wolf with a neurological disorder. One of many interactions at Earthfire Institute that deepens our understanding and connection with wildlife.
Blog, Deep Ecology, Ethics & Whole Community | April 22, 2010
I look out at the tall pine tree we planted at the corner of the office cabin, struck by all the movement around it. It stands by itself but is rarely alone, being visited constantly by birds. This time of year in particular it is like a way station, filled with comings and goings; with excited twitterings and meetings and courtings and arguments.
It wasn’t going to live. The tap root had been broken. That’s what two tree specialists told us when we asked why it had been cast aside. But seeing it lying there still alive was hard to bear. We got a truck and people to help load it; took it home; dug a hole; tucked it in firmly and cozily; watered it well. Then we braced it against the winter winds until it could stand on its own. It is now a handsome 20 foot tree. Warmed and nourished by the morning suns it is tipped with inches of soft green growth each spring.
I wonder why it is so extraordinarily full of birds. There are practical explanations of course, all probably true. But maybe there’s more. Does it call the birds…”Come visit?” Or do the birds decide to visit it, in a neighborly fashion?
Perhaps there is more poetry in nature and life than the sometimes dreary pragmatic biological explanations. There must be magic because the fact of life itself is magic. Maybe trees enjoy having life come and visit them, they who cannot move. We enjoy the companionship of other life forms – pets, houseplants. Why shouldn’t we accord that possibility to trees? Who says the birds aren’t coming to visits, bringing vitality and friendliness and news? Especially to one that stands alone, without a forest of companions around it.
Deep Ecology, Ethics & Whole Community, Earthfire Stories | April 21, 2010
Tashi Wangchuck and David Shlim talk about the “Earthfire Experience”, where one sees wildlife as whole beings rather than just fearful or aggressive creatures.
Earthfire Stories, Seen Thru New Eyes, Wellness & Spirtuality | April 20, 2010
Phakchok Rinpoche visited Earthfire Institute in October 2009. The visit changed his perception of wildlife as he met some of Earthfire’s residents and saw them as individuals.
Blog, Deep Ecology, Ethics & Whole Community | April 7, 2010
The first step to changing things is to have a dream.
Muskwa-Ketchika wilderness by Wayne Sawchuck
Every Sunday afternoon a group of us meditate at the yurt to do just that — dream about how we can bring the animals’ voices to humans and find a better way for all of us to live together. We usually have Bluebell the buffalo at the foot of the stairs, MacDougal the Clydesdale and Foffy the mustang running past the window, and Windsong the Elder Wolf inside with us.
Kris spoke into the silence, of a reverie she sometimes has. What would things be like if we lived on another planet where all life was respected; where animals were treated well; trees revered, and people were kind to each other? How would that play out in daily life? We began imagining then what it might it be like on our planet if we built in harmony with the land; if subdivisions were almost invisible. If there was a different way of looking at things. If all life was celebrated and people would WANT to protect all living things instead of having to be convinced to. We would like to develop a full Dream of the Earth.
Would you join us with your ideas, dreams, pieces of dreams, writings you like?
Would you join our meditation circle from afar?
Animal Story, Deep Ecology, Ethics & Whole Community, Foxes, Wellness & Spirtuality | April 2, 2010
We visited Feather the red fox today after the deep snow of the night. She was her usual lovely sweet mischievous self, fur full and glossy. We brought her some guests, as she always likes to greet everybody, her little 
inquisitive black nose sniffing, examining, assessing. They were enchanted by her sweetness, agility, curiosity; by her eagerness to meet them and visit with them.
She is an elderly fox now, with the feel of wisdom that many living creatures seem to gain with age. Jean went to a fur farm some 11 years ago and bought her as a little kit. (It always astounds me that you can go “buy” a wild animal.) That is eleven years of life given to her; eleven years of life for that dancing diminutive piece of vitality. One out of 800 foxes!
So many questions: a Buddhist who visited her wondered aloud – what was her karma that she was picked out of 800 foxes, to come here and have a life? I don’t know, but I do know that she has done a splendid job helping people see the magic of foxes; of balancing the fact that yes they sometimes do eat chickens and cats. That difficult balance we have to find between loving a predator that is part of our family, say a cat, and also loving a predator that is not so close to us emotionally, yet acknowledging their right to live too.
So it comes down to family and tribal loyalty versus the recognition that we are all part of something larger.
Earthfire Institute is a place to experience the profound connection between all life. Our 40-acre wildlife sanctuary, nestled in the Yellowstone-to-Yukon Wildlife Corridor >
It’s Rough Being an AmbassadorIt was just tragic. A bear gets ready for a long lovely winter’s nap, putting on hundreds of pounds in preparation, the weather gets colder, the days shorter, AND he just got his ration of hay for the winter to…
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Earthfire’s Mission in Action by Pat HagerPat Hager used his experience at Earthfire retreat as a stepping stone for volunteering in his area, helping preserve wildlife corridors. A participant at the Connecting with Wildlife Heart to Heart retreat he wrote:
My son Patrick & I attended the June retreat. …
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The Challenge of Meditating with WolvesSometimes when people call us in the morning they comment we seem rushed. This is our current early morning schedule, which starts about 7 am – we are at the moment a two-wolf two-dog cabin.
Every winter Wamaka the wolf loses the…
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