The Free Radical

I am extraordinarily blessed!

In late June, earlier this year, I set out in search of magick. I hope that regular readers of the Daily Forest Report have fully realized that I’ve found it. My daily walks are a 5-minute drive from the community where I live. The place where I park my truck each day is only 100 metres from the community where my parents live. This is not some highly remote backcountry location. It’s not off the beaten path at all; it is the beaten path.

In the three and a half months I’ve been doing this I’ve encountered Black Bear, Whitetail Deer, Elk, Coyote, Mule Deer, Eagle, Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Squirrel, Chipmunk, Grouse, Woodpecker, Ground Squirrel, countless foodstuffs and many other creatures… by simply walking the very same path every day. This is remarkable!

This very latest encounter, however, totally blew me away! This particular fellow has been hanging around my forest circuit for months already, posing a bit of a mystery. The mystery begins with an old posting from July. I was very puzzled by the rather loud crashing sounds I was hearing in the swamp below the Mesa. Obviously a very large animal was having some difficulty navigating the forest. Due to the extreme racket, I concluded that it could only be “Bigsquatch.” Without a clear sighting however, the mystery remained unsolved.

More recently, I had been noticing piles of unusual scat along portions of my path. They resembled deer or elk shit– which are exceedingly common– except that the usually very “pelletized” appearance of such was replaced with a more squished-together version. (Sorry, no picture.) That type of scat I have always associated with mountain sheep– except these piles were way too big, and I’ve never seen mountain sheep on this side of the valley. They typically hang on the east side of the valley in the Rocky Mountains… not the west side Purcells around Dutch Creek. I had erroneously concluded that it must’ve been an elk with digestive troubles.

Well, I finally met up with the culprit.

I’m very glad that I didn’t catch a glimpse of him back in July, or I probably would have been convinced that it truly was Bigsquatch! Even my very first thought when I met up with him in the thick of the forest is indicative of how rare an encounter this was. At first glimpse, as he stood directly in front of me on my regular path, that initial thought was “What?!! A buffalo?” It was his unusually dark colour and the general shape of his body that made me think buffalo at first– which is an utter impossibility (bigsquatch is more likely).

No, that’s a young male Moose… pictured from behind. His wide antlers are visible, and as well you can see that the front of his body is proportionately massive compared to his rather petit tush. I could also see them glandular danglies hanging from his jowls. A Moose is quite capable of eluding someone like me– which he’d been doing for months already. Now he had chosen to finally meet up, and I greatly appreciate it.

Moose is one of the most powerful and sacred of all animal totems around these parts. Males in particular are utterly fearless, giving deference only to the largest of grizzlies– whom they can outrun and outswim anyway. Moose is the pre-eminent symbol for the Sacred Feminine. Contact with Moose heralds a deepening of one’s connection to Mother Earth and all of her ambassadors. Bring it on, my love. Bring it on!

Moose chooses to interact especially with individuals who have been born with their third eye open (psychic abilities). Such individuals often go through life never realizing that their psychic eye is already open as they strive for and await that special moment when their gifts “click” on. They’re already fully turned on, but without proper guidance, such individuals will merely conclude that they possess– and have always possessed– an overly active imagination. I am such an individual.

For months already, Woodpecker had been trying to impart a similar message to me personally– encouraging greater self-confidence. Well, finally Moose stepped in to leave absolutely no doubt. I hope that my readers can appreciate the significance of this rare encounter! This moment was for me… but I’m fairly certain that Moose will deliver messages for the wider collective (you) too.

I am so incredibly blessed!