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Being with the Cat
October, 2006
I started a new adventure last February. As it so often happens this adventure began after reading an SSOA article. Or maybe it was after listening to a CD. I don’t remember now exactly what it was that got me going. Whatever it was I decided that I needed to retrieve the joy once held by my inner little children. I felt like their joy had been lost somewhere along the way to becoming an adult. And so, I set an intention to gather it back, bringing whatever was needed into my life.
Exactly two days after setting this intention, Indika came into my house. Indika was a young kitten, just two or three months old at the time. Someone was moving and could not keep him. I decided that it was OK if the kitten stayed with me for a little while. And, this is where my adventure began.
The kitten’s name had been set by his previous owner. I don’t remember now the exact translation, but it means goddess of ….something. It became increasingly clear in the days that followed, that this was a huge misnomer. This kitten was not goddess of anything. This kitten was definitely a god. This was quite apparent from his growing kahunas that went kabunga when he walked.
I had never really been around cats. Growing up as a child, we did not have any pets. Although I have enjoyed many years communing with the nature kingdoms, I didn’t quite know what to make of this kitten in my house. I don’t think my inner children did either. At least, they didn’t seem to be jumping at the idea of our new guest.
Indika, on the other hand, found great entertainment in me. His favorite game became “Chase the Human.” He would wait until the house was empty except for me, and then he would get this look in his eye. I would start running, and he would start chasing. He seemed to enjoy this game immensely, but my inner children were very set against it.
On one particular day, he chased me into the bedroom. I closed myself inside and sat listening to him making noises that I had never heard come out of a cat before (in my limited experience). As I look back now, I realize how silly this must have all seemed, to have a 2-month-old kittend weighing barely more than 7 pounds scaring a 45-year-old woman weighing much more than the 120 pounds of her young adulthood.
Well, I was in quite a pickle; because I was in the bedroom and my telephone was down the hall in my office. I knew that I was going to have a call in less than an hour. I had to figure out something. So, I did what any ascending human would do. I cleared karma. I think I recalled 15 different ancestors who had some kind of karma with a wild cat kingdom. I brought each ancestor to me and forgave whatever fear or other patterning had caused their unpleasant interaction with the leopard, lion, tiger, or whatever wild cat kingdom was involved. And I did the same for those ancestors that had created an unpleasant circumstance for an animal of like kind.
During the time that had elapsed while I was clearing karma, the noises had stopped. And so I was sure that this was enough to transcend my shaky relationship with Indika. I tiptoed to the door and opened it just a smidgen. Sitting right there, leaning in, was the kitten, looking straight up at me with his fierce 2-month-old eyes. The howling began again, so I quickly closed the door and sat back down on the bed, wondering what I could try next.
At this point, I remembered the Mountain Lions that I had communed with while living in the Arizona desert. They were stately animals that stood in their truth with strength and grace. I connected with them once more and asked them to assess the situation and to perhaps assist in my predicament. Mountain Lion noted that I appeared to have mouse algorithms in my head that made it appear to the kitten that I was a mouse. Perhaps in erasing these algorithms, the situation would ease. And so I thanked them and followed their advice.
Next, I decided to commune with Tiger kingdom. This was not a kingdom that I had never seen in the wild, though I had asked for assistance on a number of occasions. Tiger kingdom showed me how to pull off the human unconscious that had been laid on Indika. Tiger kingdom also advised that Indika had been pulled into a dark dream, and I would need to pull him back into a light earth dream so that I could interact with him in peace. And so I did this.
I felt like these were very helpful things, but the clock was ticking, and I thought I should create a backup plan before attempting to open the door again. There was a laundry basket in the closet. I emptied it and turned it upside down. I thought that I could get Indika under the basket, then I would be able to pull him into the bedroom and finally get to the office and the telephone.
I pushed the upside down basket up against the door, and tilted one side so as to create an entry. I carefully opened the bedroom door. There sat Indika. But, this time, instead of howling, he stood up and quietly walked under the basket, just as if he knew that is what he was supposed to do. And, so I pulled the basked further into the bedroom, went out of the room, and closed the door.
“Finally, I’m safe,” I thought, breathing a deep sigh of relief. But, it wasn’t more than a few moments later when I hear a creaking sound. I jumped up and ran to the bedroom, just in time to see Indika lying on the floor, pulling the door open with his foot. He had managed to get out of the basket and somehow knew what to do to get the door open. Our eyes met, and he looked at me rather confused as to why I did not enjoy each moment of being as he was enjoying being with me. At that moment, I realized that this kitten was a special gift that had much to teach me about being.
After this, our relationship changed. He followed me everywhere each morning as I cleaned the kitchen and completed the laundry. He loved the water and would jump up alongside the bathtub as it was being filled. He enjoyed sitting in and jumping through all the house plants. He preferred eating them than his “cat food”. And he refused to drink his water from a bowl, preferring instead the moving waterfall in the small table fountain.
As he grew older, he let me know that he wanted to spend more time outside. And so I would sit with him each morning. He’d come and snuggle in my lap as I meditated and soaked in the morning sun. Then, he’d jump around in the grass and hide in all the bushes. He even began climbing the nearby trees. He showed me how easy it was to catch the flies that got in the house.
But his best trick of all was invisibility. Sometimes I would look for him everywhere, calling his name over and over. I would look in the front yard and the back. I’d look in the neighbor’s yard on one side and the other. Then, just when he was ready to be seen, he would appear out of nowhere, showing me that I too could choose when to be seen and when to remain hidden.
As he clearly enjoyed being outside more than being inside, I found a way to keep a door ajar with my shoe, then let up the garage door just slightly. This way he could come and go as he pleased. He certainly did not seem like an animal that could be owned. I certainly could not bear the thought of caging him. And so, I allowed him to come and to go as he pleased.
One morning he did not come inside to eat as he usually did. And, he did not come the next morning either. After a few days I knew that he had chosen to see what else was out there in this world. And, when dragonfly lit on a bush in my front yard and offered to me, “Be at peace, for he is at peace,” I knew that I should not continue to look for him.
One evening, I felt a presence that I thought was Indika. As I looked more closely, I saw that it was Tiger kingdom. Tiger was saying thanks for allowing it’s kingdom to walk down its path in freedom. I guess that I had kept the large Tiger kingdom connected to the small kitten’s body. And perhaps this was not wise to do so. Later I heard tiger say that in allowing this cat to express his beingness, his “I am that I am,” then I was honoring all animal kingdoms, and they honored me in the same way.
I do not know if this is the truth or if this is what Tiger has told my inner children. But, I understand that Indika is staying in another house where there are other cats that he can play with. I can understand this as I often get lonely thinking that I am the only one like me for miles around.
I recently returned from Hawaii. While I was there, I was preparing a talk about my adventures with the kitten. I stood on the balcony of the condominium, watching the sun rise. I saw a cat walk across the parking lot, and I heard the Tao speak of beingness. As we allow each other as humans to be in the fullness of our beingness, expressing our truth as we dance or sing or teach or ascend, then life becomes more than just a journey, it becomes a celebration.
Sherry Stapleton has been part of the Spiritual School of Ascension for the past five years. She enjoys her time working with nature and other ascending humans in support of the ascension of the whole. She offers readings as well as herbal tinctures in support of this goal. See Herbs for Ascension for more information. She may be reached at newdream@adelphia.net.
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