Badger: Keeper of the Story

I left my computer behind yesterday and headed outside to relax. To seek solace in the high country after a harried week of book promotion, website updates and event scheduling. I was tooling up a two-track dirt road miles from anywhere when something moved ahead, twenty feet in front of the tires. What the ... ? Waddle waddle went the low-slung body. She turned her head to reveal that unmistakable black and white striped weasel-like face. BADGER. So much for good intentions of an easy-going day. You can not run into badger medicine and drift on as if it didn't happen. My friends concurred. Powerful stuff, they wrote, in one form or another.

I stopped not far from him and sat in the truck to watch. He looked in my direction and waddled away along the side of the road. Then he turned back! He pointed his nose at me and returned to where he'd been rolling in the dust. I was mesmerized. I'd never seen one this close. He eventually turned his dusty body away and disappeared downhill into the forest. I jumped out of the truck with my camera but he was gone as could be.

This is my MO. When nature tosses me an omen I don't begin to photograph. I take in the energy,  then I reach for my camera. That's what separates me from the photographers who make tons of money.

Badger. Ah my. Earth energy doesn't get much stronger. They burrow faster through the planet than any other creature. Thus, they were a birth talisman for natives, to help a newborn child through the dark birth canal. Badgers are bold, ferocious and unyielding. Badger people tell their stories. They are also solitary and highly aggressive when their boundaries are crossed. Badger people need solitary space and major down time. hmmmmmm, can I relate?

Mostly, however, badgers represent nose-to-the-grindstone energy. Like the forces of planet Saturn, they encapsulate the taskmaster, dig-in focus and energy. This is where I got a tad uncomfortable because I'm a Libra and Saturn has had his foot on my neck, holding me down for over two years. "You're stuck," he's been saying, "and you WILL heed to me!" Saturn moves on October 4th (and so and so minutes). It's been grueling; the lessons deep and wide. I wanted nothing to do with more of the same.

And so I asked my dreams for what badger's appearance might have meant. I awoke with the image: I was furiously (like a badger) working on my website and posting the button that said, "BUY now," for my book. It seems that badgers are also an omen for prosperity through efforts. Okay, I'll take that.

Yesterday, the Saturn-laden creature slipped down the mountain and disappeared into the forest.  He left me with an image as strong and potent as could be: go ahead, roll in the dirt, walk off, take your leave. Tell your stories and for planet's sake, don't let anyone badger you into any scenario except success.