At a dream tending retreat in Montana last month, a young woman saw a wolf in Yellowstone National Park, and then she dreamed one was following her everywhere. At first he frightened her; and rightly so: wolves are mighty predators whose dangerous nature lives in our ancestral memories and darkly forested faery tales. Yet, as she further observed, Wolf trotted through the rooms of Psyche at her heals, and as she made offerings to him, he turned from "Big Bad" to ally: a warm, furry friend who wanted to play, and serve as a protector and guide to wildness and initiation.
Wolves often grace our dreams and landscapes when we are in liminal spaces--"betwixt and between" realities, life stages, dreamtime and waking. Their senses are as sharp as pine needles, and their heightened awareness mirrors the potentiality of our own gifts of sensitivity.
Wolves are essentially community oriented, and have much to teach us about getting along with one another. They are loyal to their pack. They tend to mate for life. They share sustenance, warmth and space. They also establish hierarchy and dominance, which may or may not be a beneficial way of approaching life. Their presence can alert us to our own baser nature, and remind us that to assert ourselves and feel powerful we do not have to subvert the power of others.
Wolves are kin to dog and can be domesticated, but never fully or mostly: they are wild at heart and haunch. Looking through their piercing blue or almond brown eyes, we feel what it is to run freely on the snowy tundra, to be curled up next to an icy stream, or to howl at a harvest moon.
Legends of men turning into wolves (Werewolves) or women for that matter (She-wolves) abound almost everywhere wolves have had a presence: China, Iceland, Alaska, Haiti, Russia, Lapland, to name but a few. This passage from www.mythicalrealm.com details one such group of stories:
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CROP PHOTO & FLIP![/caption]
In the Folklore of Norseman, there are many legends of warriors called Berserkers. They are band of ancient Norse warriors that are legendary for their savagery and reckless frenzy in battle. Fearing no one, feeling no pain, having superhuman strength and never surrendering are common characteristics. Preparing for battle these warriors would attire themselves in skins from bears or wolfs. The term Berserker translates from old Norse to be "bear skin". There were also warriors who donned the wolf skins known as "ulfheobar" or "ulfhedinn" (wolf-coats) but they were eventually lumped together to be known as Berserkers. The feeling was that once dressed with the skins of an animal, the warrior would take on the characteristics of that animal. Ynglingasaga records this tradition, saying of the warriors of Óðinn that "they went without coats of mail, and acted like mad dogs and wolves". A Byzantine emperor described the Berserkers in battle as being possessed by a ferocity and madness seen only in wild beasts. The term "berserk" was derived from the Beserkers.
(http://www.mythicalrealm.com/legends/werewolf.html#.dpuf)
Why such a plethora of tales of the turning from human to wolf? Can the stories be real? The kinship and closeness between our species and theirs parallels the fear those living in the wild or care-taking livestock have had for them. Perhaps these stories and their dramatic conflicts underscore the tensions we experience with Wolf, who can be best friend or carnivorous foe, protector or destroyer: they bring us closer to our understanding the wilderness, and our own Wolf-like natures. In fact, and science fiction, we may be more like wolves than any other beast.
If you are feeling a bit too domesticated, and are hungering for blood or moon, unleash yourself on the next full one! You might even shed your human clothes and run naked on all fours like wolf through the forest. If that is too edgy or heretical for you, you might begin by sticking your head out the window when nobody is watching and try howling. Or, silently sit back and with the most regal, Wolf-presence, become more alert: ears perked up, nostrils twitching, and intuitive body sensing into all movement across the vast fields of awareness. Watch, listen and learn.
