Samhain 2022 – The Lives of the Feline Spirit

Julius

I had to help one of my best friends pass over this season. He death was imminent but I was late to see it. No, that is not right. I saw it but had only ever seen him for our 15 years together as a spunky warrior-spirited creature with a tenacious will to live on his own terms and determined to use up all of his 9 lives. Which he did. So I was in classic denial.

Owning the dog’s bed

He did in fact use up almost all 9 of his lives. He was patched up by the vet at great expense to us many times because he always fought bigger cats and took a beating. He wandered relentlessly in his younger years and even survived getting himself locked in a garage. We thought he was dead, but after being close to death by starvation for 10 days he made his way back, skinny as a super model barely able to meow.

He did it his way

Julius had as many names as he had lives. Memorable among others was Axel, because he squatted under cars and Dusty Baker because he rolled in dirt. But the one that stuck at the end of his life was Little Fucker. He was uppity but sweet, full of himself but loved affection. Plus, he just never gave up and was part of our family as we moved through some traumatic times.

Don’t mess with him

We were very close. The first day we brought him and his sister home from the kill shelter he looked up at me, squeezed his cat eyes like they do and emanated love. I knew he said you are mine and that is exactly how it came to be. When it came time for his passing, I was the last in our family to admit he needed help and wasn’t just pushing through to resurrect into another phase in his 15 year strappy cat life. I finally had to accept it.

All bags, boxes and baskets were his

I made the call and found an angel who came to my home to pass him. She was compassionate and had the best drugs. She said we should all go this way. We gave him the first sedative, then she gave him the one that put him into a bliss state. After he was in a dreamstate she put him on my lap and administered the IV. He was gone immediately, out of pain that I didn’t know about. After he passed she kindly observed that he was ready to go – and that I had done the right thing – by his smiley face. This picture is not of that but of how smiley smug he was with his own life. This is what I will remember.

Good life

Namaste all sentient beings.

2 thoughts on “Samhain 2022 – The Lives of the Feline Spirit

  • Understand your grief at your feisty feline companion leaving, Elizabeth… I still miss my dog friend even after 10 years…

    You may not remember me, Eimear O’Neill, but I remember you…. and the Piercing Ectasy article on Patterns of Invocation in Neolithic Art… That had me researching the flint carvings in Ireland in whole new ways. In 2008, I took 28 indigenous wisdom keepers from many traditions to Ireland, for ceremony and sharing the wisdom of the ancestors pre-colonisation. It was life changing for most of us.

    I was sharing your article yet again this morning, with my conceptual artist son when I thought to look you up. I am glad you are doing yoga… I am a hot yoga practitioner myself.. and still writing in a shamanic vein.. I am taking more indigenous wisdom keepers again to Ireland next September if the planet and its human beings are not too crazy…
    I wish you well in your work… did you ever finish a PhD? I seem to remember you were at CIIS and had finished a Masters.. Warmly Eimear

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