Story Of Ulysses

Mukunda died in my arms last night. (1/6/10).

In this moment, I feel a separation from my beloved dog. I feel his presence in another dimension, but he is no longer tangibly at my side, or lying at my feet.

We no longer will take our walks by the river at all times of day and night.

His incessant ball playing, barking for attention, his boring stare right into my soul, is now a facet of my memory.

Ulysses, my other dog, the Golden Child, or Bird Man, was cool with the whole experience. Keeping Mukunda home to die was good for Ulysses and also good for Tom and me.

We barely slept the last week and often, I thought Mukunda was in labor. He breathed himself into the next realm of his journey.

Dear Angels, thank you for helping me mid-wife my old dog into your arms. I knew you would be there when the timing was right.

And you were.

Thank you.

I spent the last several hours with Ulysses, and just returned from a romp in the park. I asked him to be "good" around the dogs we were without a doubt going to encounter.

He gave me a side long look which told me to shove it.

Ulysses does not like other dogs, except for a select few small dogs. And Mukunda. He adored Mukunda and still does.

Ulysses has a quiet, constant awareness about him. He is awake and tuned in. He is honest about who he is.
If he chooses not to like other dogs, he has a reason. Before I'd say he was just stubborn. But he has a natural wisdom which I trust and surrender to.

When we returned to the house in the dark, the neighboring German Shepard was lurking in the woods and Ulysses went after him. I thought, "How did Ulysses "See" that dog?"

That alone was a miracle of the Dog's ability to see, sense and smell.

Ulysses, in his exquisite skill to be who he is, a Zen Master, as our meditation group calls him, trusts the information he receives, and acts on it.

He wasn't wishy-washy about whether or not to go after the German Shepard.

Thankfully, neither dog was injured. I had a long talk with the neighbor about "Dogs will be dogs and they will work it out...(or not!)"

More and more I look to Ulysses to see what he is processing. He is quiet and patient, and always communicating.

Mostly what he communicates is Pure Love. Even the dog fight was his way to protect his territory and what he thinks is my territory, too.

I have to respect that.

Please pray for Ulysses. This evening (last evening by the time you read this), I took him to my favorite Vet of all time, Frank Abel, who found a tumor near his Penis that Frank had never seen before in all his years of practicing as a Veterinarian.

I want you all to send healing prayers to Ulysses, as we do our own praying, healing and meditation for him, and also for ourselves.

There is something reassuring to me that Frank Abel never saw a tumor like this before. Perhaps it's a blood collection that gathered after
Ulysses' strenuous dog fight the other day 11/11/10, or the mile long swim he insisted on taking that very day in cold Conestoga River water.

Ulysses is back to eating and drinking water again. He also is urinating. I am not convinced he is ready to go, although if he is, I will let him go.

These animals have a life of their own. Yes, Ulysses is a Zen Master, and yes, he loves us dearly.

But get him near a body of water or another dog and pure instinct takes over.

The Mechano-Magic is working to help bring peace to Ulysses tonight. The prayerful touch up and down his spine seems to be exactly what he wants and needs. The pure and simple act of doing the Mechano-Magic has released the feeling I had earlier after initially hearing the news and feeling Frank Abel's concern over Uly's state of health.

The Mechano-Magic healed my mother of Lymphoma many years ago. If this is Lymphoma, I will draw the energy of my mother to Ulysses and ask for her help and her healing.

Yet even in Death, there is also great healing.

Thank you one and all for your prayers of healing for Ulysses The Dog. I felt a shift in my thinking during morning meditation yesterday, and as the day progressed, I felt so much loving, prayerful thoughts coming our way. Thank you all for that.

Once again, I am astounded by the slowing down of time when presented with the opportunity to send (and receive) healing energy.

The object of my contemplation today and yesterday is the healing of Ulysses, resulting in feelings of self-awareness, peacefulness, compassion and a sense of heightened spiritual perception.

Breathing with Ulysses reminds me of the word "prana," a sanskrit word meaning vital energy or life force.

In Hindu or Taoist traditions, the breath is a metaphor for spirit and soul. Thus by regulating the breath, your spirituality deepens. Furthermore, Buddhist breathing exercises help the practitioner gain greater control over mental and emotional states.

In Eastern Traditions, developing consciousness and mental control all begins with the breath, leading to greater and ever joyful spiritual awakenings.

So this is my practice in the coming days and weeks: Breathing With Ulysses.

As we come into resonance with one another, the sense of calm and tranquility will transform both of our lives.

In addition to the birthing bed, the sick bed, and the death bed, is the healing bed. Healing flows through all of these, but holds a special place in and of itself.

I will have to ask all of you to continue your prayers for Ulysses.

While doing our Customer Service performance yesterday, Tom took Ulysses to the Vet for a followup appointment. Another biopsy taken from the swelling surrounding the area around the penis revealed cancer cells.

Now that the Customer Service gig is over, I have a few days to commune with Ulysses. When I think about a scientific diagnosis of cancer and the weight of these words, I feel a need to defy the heaviness of the scientific and rational mind that comes up with such a diagnosis to begin with.
Perhaps a blending of an intellectual and creative mind with that of the ability to perceive the Universe through the Eye of the Soul is a way to begin the healing process.

Therefore, the healing of Cancer, or any other life threatening disease, which is impossible in the physical world of reason and logic, becomes completely possible in the world of prayer and Mystical Grace.

In the process of healing self, Ulysses or anyone else, we must transcend the limitations of reason alone and connect with the inner realms of mystical perception and reality.

What a beautiful opportunity to begin again!

I remember the story of Dr. Ella Kilgus, creator of the Mechano, and her retreat on the Atlantic Coast at the turn of the 20th century. She did Mechano Neural Treatments, renamed Mechano Magic by the nurse healers who receive it, fed good food to her patients, who then relaxed on long spreading porches overlooking Old Oak and the sound of the breaking, healing ocean waves.

I think of Dr. Ella as I go about communing with Ulysses and giving Mechano along with prayerful breath in the days and weeks ahead.

I believe it is possible to defy a diagnosis and embrace the possibility of mystical communion with Light and Love.

I spoke to a psychic healer on the phone this evening, and the conversation evolved to Ulysses and his healing journey. The healer had a few experiences with sick dogs who were helped by natural supplementation as well as modalities specifically taylored for that particular animal. I noticed that Ulysses relaxed as I spoke to this woman. He has been strong during his ordeal and responds to prayer, meditation and love.

Don't we all?

I am always coming back to the idea that healing is a way of life. It does not end when you feel better. It does not start when you are ill, although that usually is its entry point. It evolves as we utilize and apply healing thoughts, words and actions to every aspect of our lives. The healing life is an ever deepening path to inner peace.

I just tucked Ulysses in for the night. He is pictured here with his head on or near a pillow and is covered by a blanket. He took his last MMS dose for the night, which now he willingly takes.

I applied a handwritten note upon the blanket. It says: Dear Guardian Angel Of Ulysses, Thank you for taking care of my friend. He is a good boy and loves you very much. Please wrap your angel wings around him forever and forever.

Thank you very much.

I've been using sound healing with Ulysses The Dog this week. What I was led to are the Cosmic Chants of Paramahandsa Yogananda, which I learned long ago. Ulysses responds to them by sighing deeply, then going into a deep sleep.

Lullabies are a hit, too. But in reality, Ulysses seems to be moving on. I must let him go. Even if he decides to stay for awhile, I still must let him go. This does not mean that I stop being his nurse, attending to his every need.

It just means that I know that he has other roads to travel, other worlds to embrace. I don't want to be the one who holds him back.

Animals are the greatest teachers. Our dogs have taught us that there is no separation. I like to think that when Ulysses passes, he will be reunited with Mukunda, but then I realize the two have been together all along.

The passing of a beloved companion animal is truly the sorrow of a heart which bleeds. But perhaps when I pass on, I will be greeted by every single animal I have ever loved.

And much much more.

Thank you for another day with Ulysses The Dog, a patient with a strong will to live. Currently he is warm and snuggled under a blanket on the couch. I am thinking about the predawn quiet and am resting in the solitude of these precious moments.

All of the events that seem to occur outside of us, all of the situations we have no control over, everything that brings us fear, can be transcended by Mystical Insight.

That which cannot be changed can be and must be transcended from the inside. We use external crisis as a tool for transformation. That which does not destroy us, helps us rise to the next level of spiritual experience through the Power of Love.

This transcendence is like birthing a whole new life.

"Why me, God?" becomes "Why not me?"

Love and compassion in all of its guises counteracts any so-called force for evil and destruction.

Let us side for Love today, where nothing is ever destroyed, as each moment flows through us and beyond us.

This is the first weekend at work in over a month when I did not feel torn about leaving Ulysses at home. The dog is coming around, and Tomaso and I are well pleased.

Yet, the story is not complete. I can see that Ulysses is going to be around for a long time. His race against time was a valiant one, and we were willing to let him go at every juncture. Yet I continued to do interventions. Sometimes I thought, "Well if Ulysses is going to die, then I need to stop saving his life."

Needless to say, I continued the interventions.

Ulysses is not "Just a dog," to me. Nor is he one of my kids. He is a magnificent creature with a kind heart who galavanted with Mukunda and hates any other dog, except for the smaller varieties. He is calm and deeply loving, as he beams his gaze into your soul.

I was heart broken at the thought of his death. Nothing really helped, no words of how he will be with Mukunda now, or that when he dies he will be everywhere-or that he will be watching over us beyond the veil. Or he will be making his journey over the rainbow bridge.

That one is particularly irritating.

So he is still here, with further lessons to teach and to learn.

Furthermore, we are learning to live with Cancer Survival, and taking care of ourselves and each other so that quality of life is preserved.

The process of convalescence is an interesting one. Taking care of Ulysses is a lesson in extreme patience. He slowed down and took us with him. Getting him to eat is a real challenge. I coax him to eat various cuts of beef and liver while singing and humming and standing in snow drifts while he contemplates the food.

It turns out that he did start to eat again: Senior Science Diet Kibbles and peanut butter biscuits--a gift from Old Baxter the Great White Pyrenees Mastiff, whom Ulysses saved from a certain death. I love it when we are standing outside and Baxter starts barking from his house upon the hill above us. I say to Ulysses, "That's Baxter, Uly, and you saved his life."

Maybe Baxter is now is returning the favor.

Ulysses is fast asleep in the early morning hours of this new day. Yesterday was an excellent day for him in his recovery. He ate everything we gave him, and we were careful to feed him enough but not too much.

I notice that Ulysses knows exactly what happened to him, and I think he may have had a near death experience. He is renewed and fresh and happy.

I notice that Ulysses is devoted to having me near. He looks at me sweetly to say what he needs to be more comfortable. The bond between us is like the cord of life that extends forever.

In the process of saving Uly's life, he also has saved my own. In the process of teaching me that the fragility of life is ever present, simultaneously, something of power always accompanies the lesson.

The hope contained in recovery and survival is where the power lies. We all like to hear stories of beating the odds. We may think that those stories have nothing to do with us.

We may think that beating a Cancer diagnosis is something that happens to other people.

My homeopathic family doctor once said that we all have cancer at one time or another. Often we simply don't know it and the cancer morphs into something else.

When you look at it that way, cancer has no hold over you. It simply is what it is and we can ask it to leave. Or according to my family doctor, it leaves without you ever knowing it was there.

So I thank my dog tonight for showing all of us that because he did it, any one of us can do it, too. By defying the diagnosis, no matter what it is, we move into a vibration of receiving the beauty of possibility rather than the fear that only the mind can create.

So I now am going to sleep with Ulysses The Dog. We will rock in the lullaby of our dreams.

Last night on "Kate Loving And The Collective Wisdom," Sheila aka Astrology's Astrologer said that my chart compared to Ulysses, Astronaut Mark Kelly's chart compared to his wife, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, and a healer near where we live in Lancaster compared to the Reverend Jo-an Glasse, all have one thing in common: exactly the same planetary configuration that points to a spontaneous healing experience for everyone involved.

Ulysses is sitting beside me as I write these words. Even though Astrology tells me he's going to heal and be well, I take nothing for granted. I will not relax my vigil around this dear soul. He deserves the very best treatment this world has to offer, and I am determined he receives this sort of loving care.

We all deserve to be the recipient of pure love. Patients in all the hospitals tonight deserved to be loved by their doctors and nurses. Every child deserves nothing but pure love from the time they take their first breath all the way until they take their last.

Every animal deserves to live in a "no kill" zone and every city, town and municipality needs to become one.

Capitol Punishment needs to come off the books immediately and all acts of torture must be illegal NOW.

All the dictators of the world need to retire and look deeply into their souls.

Ulysses is giving me the eye as I write these words. His right eye, in fact, seems to be off balance, as if what he sees is aligned with the higher spheres of knowledge and compassion. He is evenly staring at me, in devotion, as if to also acknowledge that our karma together is now assured. We are inseparable, in this life time and forever.

Now I know it. Our destinies are forged. We are the True Grit of the human / canine Experience.

The Grotto at Mount Saint Mary's is a place of healing, for healing and all about healing. You can feel it as your car approaches the Golden Mother Statue.

Everyone there who visits or works there has the aura of profound depth which only comes when touched by a loss, a death or a triumph. People are drawn to Ulysses and seem to instinctively know we are there for a healing of the dog.

Naturally, we all know that everyone we meet there has come to be healed.

Ulysses was anxious to meet Bill Tronolone again, whom we met the last time we were at the Grotto. Bill is the Director of The Grotto, and Ulysses reminds Bill of the Golden Retriever he once had and still loves. When the dog died of cancer, a priest told Bill that dogs do not go to heaven, prompting a discussion and a series of posts over on the Prayer Blog.

Ulysses went right to the mosaic of Our Lady Guadalupe, and flopped down and raised his leg to expose the tumor for the Blessed Mother to heal.

I was amazed by his willingness to stay in this position and by the deep meditative state he dipped into within moments.

This is why we call Ulysses The Zen Master. He loves to meditate and draws people to him who similarly pray and meditate, too.

Today, I saw in my inner eye Ulysses hanging out with us all summer long, meditating, praying and greeting those who join us for our programs at the Blue Heron Farm Spiritual Retreat Center.

Those programs will be announced very soon!

I rejoice today because Dr. Frank, our Vet, said at Ulysses' appointment that tomorrow, he will remove the cancerous tumor.
This is another miracle to add to the long list of miracles that all spell: Ulysses.

Dr. Frank, our Vet, originally said that he would have to refer Ulysses to a specialist.

Now I will be able to be with Dr Frank and Ulysses as the surgery is performed. I can help when needed, too.

I get away with this because I am a nurse -- another miracle.

What we are discovering is that when praying for a miracle, do not pray for a specified outcome, like "Please, God/ess, shrink Ulysses tumor."
Instead, all the variables came together to strengthen his immune system, clear his eyes so they are wise again, allow him to frolic and play with ball and stick and to swim far out and back in the river, again.

Canine Integrative Medicine: there certainly is a world of knowledge but mostly, when led by the 6th sense, we do right by our companion friends, and everyone else in our lives.

The bond we have with an animal is a world of love and heart felt caring.

The people in the Vet office waiting room today were saying, "How could a person not love a dog?"

Once that bond is experienced, there is no turning back.

Ulysses The Dog and Zen Master is back in the full expression of everything that is Ulysses! He splashed around in the river yesterday, and undoubtedly will do so today.

He laid down on my lap like a blond rug today which he has not been able to do in months. He likes to do this because it affords him the perfect position for a treatment.

Ulysses likes to sit in front of me or Tomaso and crane his neck completely backwards to look at us. He hasn't done this in several months, and now is doing this again.

All of his urinary problems have vanished, so he is sleeping through the night, and therefore, so are we. Sleep is such a beautiful thing. It is precious and restful and calming. I never loved to sleep so much in my life! (So why aren't I in bed?)

Ulysses is alert, again, as exemplified in this picture. He stares at us, too, and we can get into loving gazing matches with him, like we once did for minutes at a time.

This morning, a friend of ours went into the barn to meditate. Ulysses systematically smelled the wet prints of his shoes and straight away followed him in, and immediately began to meditate, too, after first greeting our friend, of course.

So I am reveling in the reality of having our old friend back. Life is a tenuous experience most of the time, although we may not always notice this. We tend to think the good times last forever, discounting the changes that are inevitable. I was guilty of not noticing when I was younger. Now it has become the primal supposition of living.

Celebrate every moment. Firmly plant yourself in the here and now, like the roots of a tree. Ground yourself as calmly as an Old Growth Oak.

But don't let the Bastards cut you down!

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