Animal Medicine # 28

We all have those points in life when we stop and look around us and think that it’s time for a good clear out.  That might be a clear out of your wardrobe or your fridge, or your list of Facebook friends, but it can also be about the less tangible clutter of beliefs that you hold. 

The wardrobe sort-out is easy: I’ve not worn that in ages/don’t like the colour/no longer fits – and it’s off to the Op shop (Goodwill).  With your fridge it could be a case of getting a big garbage bag and ditching everything that is out of date or growing it’s own furry coat in the bottom of the veggie bin!  These are a whole lot easier to deal with than with your emotional /spiritual world.

When Echidna (sometimes known as spiney ant-eater) comes into your world, she is giving you a nudge, and seeing this post could be for exactly that!  She appears because you probably need to do a bit of digging into your life, a sort-of housekeeping of your thoughts and beliefs.  

It is so easy when following a spiritual path to latch onto something that feels right at the time, and then hang on to that belief for ever more.  But we really do need to dig at our beliefs on a regular basis; we need to take them out and question them.  Do they still hold as truth?  If we don’t do this, then we are surely walking a path towards stagnation.

Even though it is actually one of the most wide-spread native animals in Australia, Echidna is actually one of the rarest animals in the world, and it’s unlikely that you’d actually get to see one in the wild!

Echidna, and its cousin Platypus, are like all mammals, warm-blooded, have hair and produce milk to feed their young – but these mammals are unique in that they don’t give birth to live babies, echidna and platypus are the only mammals that actually lay eggs.

Echidna is often confused, in people’s minds, with hedgehogs.  They sort of look similar but they are not even closely related.  Echidna is much bigger than the hedgehogs I remember as a child in England.  They have a long, bald, tubular beak which protrudes straight forward from the dome-shaped body that is covered in spines.  They have small eyes and tiny slits for ears.  That long beak is where all the activity goes on – it has two small nostrils and a tiny mouth that has no teeth, but does have a long sticky tongue!  The beak is used to forage for food and they hunt by sensing the electrical signals given off by their prey.  They feel the energy of their food.

Echidna is an ancient animal that is thought to have evolved some 65 million years ago and is respected as a keeper of Ancient Wisdom, especially of Earth Energy.  Echidna helps you to centre yourself when you feel overwhelmed.  She helps you to ground, to connect with the heartbeat of Gaia. 

In order to fully access this Ancient Earth Wisdom, you need to look into your life.  You need to seek what might no longer fit; or what is past its use-by date.  You do need to dig deep and Echidna shows us how to do that.  When she digs, her front feet dig the earth forward and to the sides, her hind legs face backwards which allows her to dig straight down; so their digging ends up looking like a circular drill hole into the earth.  It tells us that digging deep is needed in order to get straight to those places that you need to review – the habits, the beliefs and the stuff you keep on doing because you always have done it.  You should scrutinize your Self with honesty.  What beliefs do you hold that need to be reviewed.  Are these beliefs still your truth, or has your knowledge moved forward to where you can see that something no longer rings true?  Is it time to do more research?  What needs to be changed so that you can keep moving forward, supported, and nourished by Gaia?  Feel for these things energetically, and much the same way as Echidna senses the electrical signature of her prey, we need to keep our senses, our Knowing, switched on and aware. 

Echidna tells us not to worry if we appear different to others – if our thoughts and desires and the way we do things is not mainstream.  We are unique, and valuable.  Echidna is a mammal that lays eggs – you don’t get much more unique than that!

Echidna tells us that it’s time to start sifting through our old thought patterns, seek nourishment from those patterns that you choose to keep, and restructure or discard those that no longer suit where you are in your life.

Echidna hunts by sensing electricity with her beak – she uses this to learn about her surroundings, to learn about what needs nurturing.  We can do a similar thing and start to learn about the things that seem strange, and maybe a bit frightening, but are essential to living in our reality. 

Echidna helps you to understand who you are and where your place is in this realm, she can guide you to re-connecting with the Earth Energy, and creating a strong connection to our Mother Earth.

She tells us to look beneath the surface to seek the Ancient Wisdom of balance and stability.

Some things, most things, will not change easily, but we have to start somewhere.  Like Echidna foraging for her food by sensing the electrical output of ants and earthworms, we need to feel our way forward by being aware of the Energy of everything we come across.  And then deciding if it is something we want in our reality.  Or not.