Sassy, The Buddha Shihtziuh

I remember a couple of shih'ztiuhs in Texas. One of them was already very advanced, and came to me regularly for his next level of empowerment. One day his scruffy little girlfriend decided SHE wanted to try that energy work stuff, and asked me for an attunement, which I gave her. She changed so dramatically, and felt so profoundly good about her spiritual work, that she began bugging me to do the same kind of work for her friend Merlin, a cat. I kept telling her that Merlin would have to ask me himself. Finally one evening, Merlin came to me and asked for an attunement. The whole time I worked over him, his little shihtziuh friend "held space" for him energetically - she stood by, watching everything, focusing all the power of her intention on the procedure, for her friend's benefit.

I left the area not too long after that, and returned the next year. When I walked into the house, my human friends who lived there told me that the little female shihtziuh was out on the porch, and I should come see her - she was "different."

There she was, sitting erect, very dignified and serene, on one of the padded deck chairs - she was gazing out over the Blanco River. I tuned-in with her and she said, "I am going to become a Buddha in this lifetime." She gave me a picture-communication of herself teaching groups of human meditators as they sat in a circle around her - she would be monitoring their meditation by tuning-in with their picture-minds, and she would be giving teachings telepathically.

Not An Ordinary Cat: BJ - 1981-2000

In 1981 my son Ben brought home a tiny grey kitten which he and his girlfriend, Jenny, had chosen out of a litter of giveaways in a cardboard box in front of the village grocery store. He told me they had named her BJ, for Ben-Jenny; and he promised he would take care of her. Yes, he did take care of her for a couple of days. Soon he and Jenny broke up - but BJ was our family cat, and that was that.
BJ had to be an outdoor kitty, with a cozy spot in the garage for sleeping, because of my husband's allergies. She was definitely one of us, though. She was a natural cat, but never a wild cat. When my youngest started kindergarten, BJ would run out to the front yard to wait with her for the little school bus. Each morning BJ would climb up the ash tree, go out on its lowest limb, and hop onto Corrie's shoulder to sit and purr until the bus arrived. When Corrie boarded the bus, BJ's "people job" was done, and she went off doing her growing-up-kitty jobs of stalking and climbing and pouncing and bathing and....And at a certain point, she got pregnant. We had intended to get her spayed, but the pregnancy and kittens came first.
Our family arrived home from an outing one afternoon and the children spotted BJ's head sticking out of an open drawer in a desk that was stored in the garage. They ran to see - and sure enough, BJ had had her babies and was washing everyone down. The kids counted, and came running out saying, "BJ had six kittens and a head!" Oh, dear. The head. We had to explain that when a kitten is born dead, the mother cat eats it up. Ah, life!
BJ and her kittens were a joy to watch. I remember working in my front flowerbed as the kittens were playing in the sunlight in front of the garage, pouncing and tumbling around together. One of the kittens stalked up to its mother, pouncing on BJ's relaxed belly. That did it! BJ pulled her baby to her firmly and licked its fur backwards until it squalled. Then she calmly groomed it the right way, purring the whole time, and settling it down.
Sadly, we discovered BJ to be a carrier of distemper. Three of her beautiful kittens developed the disease - so confusing and painful for their devoted mother, and for their human family, too. After BJ's three remaining kittens were weaned and all settled happily with their new human families, we did get BJ spayed.
Life went on - kids going through their growing times, parents going through theirs. By the time BJ was twelve, the two oldest children were off at college, and my husband and I were divorced. I was renting out rooms to make ends meet. One of my renters made a plea for BJ to be allowed to become a house cat. So BJ became an indoor-outdoor cat, and that's when her amazing abilities began to make themselves apparent.
I would be sitting at the piano composing music, and BJ would walk past - and I would notice that I had energy for some new song, a song that seemed to have cats in it. I would follow up on the energy, writing the song and singing it. This interested BJ no end. She would then climb up on my lap and purr; and sometimes, if the song was really right-on, she would hook her claws gently into my shirt right over my heart, put her mouth to my mouth, and sing along with me!
It was right around that time that I was accepted into a workshop at Esalen Institute: advanced shamanic training with Michael Harner and Sandra Ingerman. On opening night, as we all introduced ourselves, I listened with intense interest as Penelope Smith told us that she was an animal communicator. She said, "You people - you shamans - all communicate with your Power Animals. Don't you know you can communicate with your own pets?"
As the week went on I made a point of sitting with Penelope at lunch one day. I said, "You're probably going to think I'm crazy, but I think my cat is giving me ideas for songs," and I told her what was happening with BJ.
Penelope responded, "You're not crazy! My husband writes songs with our cockatiel."
After watching Penelope do a mini-session with a dog for our group, I was deeply motivated to open the ability to communicate with animals for myself. I prayed and asked for this, and I practiced with every animal I met. When I got home, BJ was waiting for me at the top of the stairs. I said out loud to her, "BJ, I think you might need a soul retrieval."
BJ looked straight into my eyes, and sent me these words: "You finally got it!"
After that, the next day, in fact, BJ joined me in my healing practice. She was, it turned out, what some people call a familiar. She worked with me and my clients for years, living to be nearly twenty. She was a master! I often felt myself to be her pupil. She was the only one of my companion animals whom I allowed free access to my human sessions. She came when Spirit moved her, and she pointed out things I would have missed. She occasionally said things which brought tears to my client - in which case, BJ would hop onto that person's lap to purr and be comforting. When that was done, BJ would leave the room.
When Corrie went off to college, Spirit moved me to Portland, Oregon. I drove from Ohio to Oregon with two dogs and three cats. During that first year there I was completely overwhelmed with the Sacred - God was talking with me, all these saints and avatars, buddhas, the works - were teaching me and giving me empowerments day and night. At the end of that time, Spirit told me that I would have to sell my house, and that my animals would find new homes. I was allowed to keep BJ. It all happened miraculously. The house was sold, the dogs and two of the cats willingly went to their next home, in a school for at-risk teens; and BJ and I moved into a little trailer in the backyard garden of a house and mom-pop printing business in the Rose City area of Portland.
There we found we were in a community of kindred spirits - and soon enough we formed an intentional community. BJ and Marble, the orange-and-white cat belonging to Sid and Marilyn Francis, owners of the property, became good friends. Marble was a philosopher, BJ was a healer, and both were a vital part of the mostly human community.
At a certain point I was called by Spirit to move to Texas. A friend offered to take BJ in, since she was too old to move a long distance again, and I didn't know how many more moves Spirit would require of me. (A lot, it turned out!). Eventually I was called back to Portland, and reunited with BJ, and also with Sid and Marilyn and Marble and the little trailer-home. By then, BJ was deaf. Once when a friend's dog came on BJ by surprise, something that never would have happened had she been able to hear, she was terrified and dashed for the trailer and would not come back out. The dog was actually really gentle, and had no intention of harming BJ; but Marble strode up to it, glared into its eyes and slapped its face. I "heard" Marble say, "You should know better than that! You were an old cat in your last life, and you were terrified of dogs!"
We had another intentional community going by then. We called ourselves Mir Cabaaning, from a word that had been given me in a dream. Our core community group was Sid, Marilyn, BJ, Marble, and I. We had many folks who came in for teachings and feasts and events. It was a beautiful spiritual growth cooperative. At each gathering, the cats were welcome and important. Marble turned out to be a philosophical comedian, with a sense of humor similar to the entity Seth (SETH SPEAKS, by Jane Roberts). BJ sometimes gaves teachings and spiritual healings.
BJ was growing old, so old. She was on arthritis medication. She had told me that she would not need a veterinarian's help in dying, as so many pets do nowadays. Although I was experienced with euthanasia, since people called on me to spiritually assist their pets as the veterinarian euthanized them, it was a relief to know that BJ would die on her own. I realized that time was near when she began refusing any food to which I had added the arthritis medication. Three days before she died, I was surrounded by a group of spirits - my relatives - who told me that they would assist BJ in crossing over when she died.
Three nights later, we were having a community meeting. BJ was lying next to the woodstove on a towel. She dragged herself out into the center of the meeting, and everyone was quiet. She looked deep into my eyes, letting me know she had something to tell the group through me. She/I spoke. One woman burst into tears - and BJ dragged herself over to a basket full of prayer cards, and pointed with her nose to the one I should give to the woman. The meeting went on, and I lost track of BJ. Then I heard a loud "Meow!" from the kitchen. It was BJ, asking me to take her back out to our trailer. Then I knew her time was near.
That night I was wakened by a loud "thump!" and turned on the light to see BJ on the floor where she had fallen, taking her last breath. I burst into tears. Then I thought - "Wait! I have to see - all these relatives - I have to see them helping her." I tuned-in clairvoyantly, and there was BJ's spirit, surrounded by all these human spirits - she was being carried by my adopted children's Korean grandpa. I was in awe, watching them start moving up a road of Light. Then a spirit squirrel scurried across in front of them and BJ's spirit leaped out of Grandpa's arms and gave chase! The squirrel led her to a place where she reconnected with my other pets who had crossed over. Then she went on, to her beloved lion-headed Egyptian goddess, Sekhmet.
That morning was a Portland winter morning - pouring down rain. Sid and Marilyn and I buried BJ with loving ceremony out under the great old apple tree, which was a sort of mother-spirit for our community. Oh, it is so sad to bury a loved one in the cold, wet ground, in the pouring rain.
I wrote a letter about BJ's life and passing, and delivered it to all who had helped her during her last years, as a thank-you, as well as mailing it out to family, and to colleagues who had benefited from BJ's teachings. BJ let me know she would be coming back into physical incarnation, to be my cat on earth again, in twelve years' time. In the meantime, her spirit occasionally shows up when I'm doing a healing, to point out something I've missed, or to give a teaching. You know, I still miss her, though. I still miss her. She was, as she told me once, not an ordinary cat.

Texas Cat Poet, Syl E. Vester - 1998

Syl E. Vester is a black-and-white cat of immense imagination. I knew him for a short time while staying in San Marcos, Texas. Syl E. would sometimes come in out of the moonlight with his eyes big and round, his tail standing straight up, and his fur all ruffled - the signs of a powerful poetic encounter with the universe. Syl E. would telepath the poems to me, and I would say them in English while Syl E.'s human companion, Sherry, would write them down for posterity.

Here, then, posterity, are the poems of Syl E. Vester, now residing in San Antonio, Texas.

FOUR POEMS

I AM

I'm ready to be lifted from the casket of embodiment.
I sink my teeth and claws into the vision of a bird
and imediately become what I have eaten.
My whole heart is covered with feathers.
In my center the songs of all the birds that ever were
vibrate the core of the Universe.
I am a cat who knows no boundaries.
I pretend.


THE FIRE OF LIFE

When green things dance in the wind, my fur is ruffled
and smells and scents flow in through my nostrils.
I pounce and slink.
I am the Wildness which dances the Tree Dance.
Perhaps a squirrel will run past me.
Perhaps my waiting will result in food.
A tree invites me.
"Scratch my bark," it says. "Rake me, climb me,
peer from my limb with glittering green eyes."
Waiting for a bird gift from the Gods,
I know this one thing:
To be magnificence itself is to be a cat.


FULL MOON

Out from under the Moon I run, tail straight up for little wiggling spirit things
to climb.
My claws shine like sharpened pearls.
I savor the magic, the airiness.
I'm absolutely terrified and delighted.
There is a great ball shining messages for the world
and I have caught its words in my heart.


DEATH IS LIKE THAT

My mind is at a loss.
Maybe I lost it, maybe I gave it away.
So instead my head is filled with something -
it is a waiting.
The right picture will come soon,
to fill my empty head.
In that moment between the emptiness and the fullness,
I take a bath.
Only the cats know the depths of creativity one enters
in the bath.
Death is like that.

A Visit From The Star Man - 1998

In the beautiful Hill Country of East Central Texas, there's a town called San Marcos, which has an amazing spring (Aquarena Springs) from which pours the beautiful pure clear San Marcos River. That makes San Marcos a special place on this earth - a place that might attract angels and saints and other holy beings.

I was present for such a visitation a few years ago. I was staying in a house with two amazing cats, Syl E. Vester and Allie Cat, and their human. Syl E. and Allie did not get along, as a matter of course. In fact, they often hissed and spat at each other in passing. One day, however, something was different. Sherry, the human companion of these cats, came out to the garden where I was working with some new transplants. She said, "You've got to come inside and see the cats - something is really different."

On the way inside, we passed the garage, where the light was on. That light could not be turned on. No one could turn it on. But it was on now. Later we understood that whenever that light came on, it meant we had a certain starry visitor. That particular day I went in the house and saw, to my great amazement, that Syl E. and Allie were lying side by side, perfectly harmonious and peaceful, and they were gazing at a chair which, to all appearances, was empty.

As soon as I came into the room, Syl E. telepathed to me, "We've been speaking with the Star Man." Both cats then began telling me what the Star Man had said. They were deeply and totally inspired by the message. It was about catnip. The Star Man had told the cats that as human beings begin to vibrate higher and higher, they'll become mentally more like cats, and then catnip will become a very important plant for them. He told them that there will be whole catnip farms devoted to raising special varieties of catnip for all sorts of human needs. The Star Man also told Syl E. and Allie to speak with us about getting a catnip garden started there right away.

The thing about divine inspiration is, it's highly contagious. As the cats revealed the Star Man's message, the energy in the room was amazing! The inspiration passed from Star Man to cats, and from the cats into the humans. We decided to go to "It's About Thyme," a wonderful garden store in the Hill Country - we were all set to buy catnip and build a special garden for it. That's what happened, too.

When the garden was completed later that day, Syl E. was disappointed to see the fencing which kept the catnip safe from visits by wildly rolling drunken cats. I explained to him that the catnip would soon grow right through the fencing, and he could nip off any of it he'd a mind to taste, if it poked through the fence. Syl E., who had a huge imagination, was also disappointed that the garden was just a little patch instead of the acres and acres of catnip the Star Man had inspired a vision of. I let Syl E. know that this was enough catnip for now!

So - the catnip grew and grew. In the end, Syl E. Vester had plenty to get drunk on, although he was still not satisfied with what he considered a puny plot. He had been mightily inspired, and truly yearned for those acres and acres of catnip.

The Star Man dropped by fairly frequently, always invisible to humans - but definitely a strong energetic presence. We always knew when he was around, because of the garage light. Anyone could turn it off, but nobody except the Star Man could make it come on!

There was a community of seekers who grew to love the Star Man because he loved to go on "Joy Rides." We'd pile into a van and follow the Star Man's telepathic/intuitive directions, like "Turn left in 10 miles." Things happened. The Star Man taught us many things about the past and future of the area; he sometimes had us stop and sing or send positive thoughts to a neighborhood or a part of nature. Every time we went on a joy ride - turn here, stop there, turn again here - we would suddenly end up at an I-Hop. Laughing, we'd all go in for pancakes - we and our invisible Star Man. I always thought that perhaps it was the I-Hop design containing all the flags of this world that caused the Star Man to bring us there.

There are endless magical adventures and occurences in life on this planet. There are sacred places all over this earth. There are beings we can touch, beings we see with our inner eyes, beings we can only hear, and those we can sense in other ways. The key to all this exploration is to keep a simple, clear, devoted mind and a pure heart; and to "tune" the inner-hearing / inner-seeing abilities to the highest vibrations, so that the most profound Truth can be experienced.

There's a wisdom-teaching that goes something like this: Pay attention to a little mystery each day and you will always be happy.