The Return of Little Deer by Sara Wright

“From out of the mountain he comes
Like the Spirit of Light he comes…”
Cherokee Myth

Having just spent almost three hours on Zoom with an interviewer from NPR during which we spoke about the normalcy of interspecies communication for some like me, Little Deer appeared at my window, lifted his head and stared right through me.

I haven’t had a young buck roaming around the house for a while but this kind of conversation between humans who believe we are all part of one fabric brings in the animals.

I recognized him Immediately.

The Cherokee myth states that a mysterious deer materializes from out of the mountain on behalf of the animals in times of trouble. They call him the Justic Maker.

As Justice Maker,  he protects creatures from harm and redresses grave imbalances between humans and the rest of Nature .

 I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at his return.

Humans have fallen over the edge of the steepest granite cliff with their hubris and intentional blindness. Studying nature as ‘it’, an object  of interest for science and self, but refusing ki  personhood  or the autonomy Nature needs to right the wrongs inflicted upon those who are innocent, like the  animals who historically and continue to surrender their lives to those who hunt for any reason.

Let me digress for a moment. Today, deer, moose, bear, partridge, geese, ducks, doves, cranes, all prey  animals are hunted primarily for trophies. It is true that some hunt for the meat as an adjunct to supermarket foods but hunting as a ‘tradition’ is no longer a viable excuse when we have less than four percent of the non – human population left on the planet.

Little Deer spoke his truth beneath words as I stared into numinous pools. Justice as people perceive it does not apply to us or the rest of Nature. This is not to say that there is no justice, there is. Justice in Nature is called consequences, and one can only perceive outcomes  from afar through long distance seeing.

Yesterday’s interview occurred between two women who believe that communication between species is real and that too helped open the door.

 Enter Little Deer who has been absent in my life for years. Why now? To remind me that we are on the right track? To offer encouragement?  I felt a resounding yes to  my queries.

The interviews that will be aired on NPR will present a very different picture from that of conservative science that dismisses interspecies communication and  the mythologies that support such thinking as nonsense when these truths are older than science and based on keen observations and the understanding  that humans are the youngest species on the planet. The most vulnerable children of all.

We are submerged in fear of our own mortality and yet dismiss the grim fact that we have probably passed the tipping point – global warming will destroy humans and most other species unless a radical reversal occurs – not because Nature is cruel but because we have treated the planet so badly in our ignorance and stupidity. Too busy making money to buy more stuff to fill up the holes.

Anna and I don’t expect to be believed but the slim hope remains that these stories may help others to imagine that it is possible to learn how to live with the rest of Nature without destroying our kin (ki). Perhaps we could even begin to see Nature as our primary Teacher who could help us change the trajectory we are on.

From out of the mountain he comes…

Postscript:

Last summer when one of NPR’s writers contacted me for an interview on interspecies communication I was dumbfounded (apparently, she had been reading my blog for two years). After the first afternoon conversation came this second three – hour marathon. More writing, more editing and then we meet again. I continue to feel dumfounded. I rarely talk about what happens when I slip through time into another reality which privileges conversation/communication below words because I don’t know how to talk about it. All I know is that it exists, and that some kind of (non – human) messenger is often associated with the parting of that veil. At least for me.

Yesterday, Little Deer returned in the flesh. It must be said that deer and wild turkeys normally roam through this patch of woods, because the animals know they are safe. My point here is that seeing a deer is not unusual, although usually these animals do not come quite as close to the window as this one did. There was no way I could have missed him.

 The return of Little Deer after years of absence is important. The reader is probably asking how does the appearance of a young buck (nubs for antlers) differ from all the other deer I see. I can’t answer that question with logic because it’s all about storied communication orchestrated through developing a relationship with Nature. I used to sing a little song to Little Deer invoking him to help the animals and later the trees. All year long. As decades passed and the earth suffered more and more, I stopped singing/calling him in because I was coming to terms with the painful belief that justice didn’t exist.

However, the moment our interview ended yesterday this animal appeared and I ‘knew’ his presence meant something critically important. Well, saying I recognized that this deer was different from the rest tells the reader nothing . This is the place I always get stuck and shut myself up because I cannot explain how I know what I know. Later I mentioned this conversation to a friend and when I got to the place where the deer appeared I astonished myself with these words. “I knew it was Little Deer because we were communicating beneath words and he told me even though I already recognized him. During this kind of exchange, we are sharing the same channel”.

When I realized what I had said I felt lightning strike. Every intimate relationship I have ever had, starting with my dogs and plants began when we shared the same physical and emotional space. The only other prerequisite seemed to be an ability to listen and to feel gratitude for a creature or plant’s presence/existence. Feeling/sensing the other was the bridge that opened the door, but I didn’t know how…apparently our biological fields overlap and create a channel for this kind communication to occur. (see sheldrake.org – morphic resonance).

When my dear and very skeptical friend heard the words about communicating on the same channel, she suddenly got it. What I was saying ‘made absolute sense to her’ for the first time ever! Wow, I was non -plussed by her response and my words. Nature had taught me that every living being is connected to every other, but  when humans separate themselves from the rest of Nature, they lose the ability to communicate. Humans close that door.

  Little Deer’s presence reminded me that my lack of attention had consequences for me too. In myth Little Deer is the Spirit of Light incarnating as a deer. I need to start singing that song again even when I feel as powerless as I do on these dark days.