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| Finding Your Power Animal | |||||||||||
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What animals and animal spirits really resonate with you? Perhaps it's the bear, known primarily for its strength and sometimes for its fearsome nature. But a more subtle examination reveals a creature who also needs to hibernate, needs space and time alone to really go within and recharge. Do you? Maybe you tidy up after others, either physically or emotionally. Then you might connect more with the vulture, an animal that doesn't kill its meals, but rather cleans up what nature has left behind. Look more closely at this misunderstood bird and you'll find a highly evolved animal that communicates with friends and neighbors when it finds something to eat. A kinship with the vulture might point to your own cooperative nature. It could be that the wolf has always fascinated you, another animal that has earned a bad reputation thanks to Western literature and mythology. Study a little more about the wolf and you'll learn that it's known and revered not for its ferocity, but for its wisdom. In indigenous cultures, the wolf is therefore thought to be a great "teacher." If the wolf is your "power animal," you might find your true self in sharing knowledge with others. This is just a hint of the subject matter intuitive energy healer Jodee Chizever will bring to the workshop Meet Your Power Animal at the Princeton Center for Yoga & Health in Skillman Jan. 22. She believes power animals are usually a reflection of your essence and also represent qualities that you need in this world, but which are often hidden or obscured. "You all have a power animal which represents your deepest self, who you are to the world," Ms. Chizever says. Using a combination of instruction, guided meditation and movement — along with her own intuitive gifts — Ms. Chizever will lead the workshop, enabling participants to find their animal spirit guide, which facilitates healing on a psychological and spiritual level. "Once you meet and understand your power animal, you're more fully able to understand yourself, why and how you act that way and how others perceive you," she says. Interestingly, many people already believe they have a power animal, even several. It might be hard to focus on one specific power animal if your life is filled with critters. But Ms. Chizever says that there is only one representing who you truly are. "Other animals pass through as teachers for specific time periods," she says. "When you're going through something, you might find an animal beside you to help you with this phase in their life." For example, suddenly seeing birds or feathers all the time might mean that change is imminent, since avians represent transformation. Years of study and self-exploration has helped Ms. Chizever distinguish between the two kinds of animal guides. "Some (students) come in thinking or knowing they might have a specific animal, and they might be right," Ms. Chizever says. "But it helps to have a teacher or master to guide you — it's the safest way, especially if you haven't explored this before. And sometimes the animal doesn't come right away and you might give up. For example, I didn't think I had one. So having someone holding and supporting your intention helps." Although some creatures might have a certain cultural negativity — wolves got the reputation of predators and killers, thanks to fairy tales and literature — she says all animals are positive. "The only animals that are not power animals are creepy-crawlies like ants and mosquitoes," she says. And even though we might adore them, domestic animals like dogs and house cats are not power animals, either. That role goes to their own ancestors in the wild. So, if you are totally mad for cats and relate to feline nature, you might want to dig deeper and learn what their bigger cousins — the tiger, cougar or jaguar — represent. On her Web site, www.marahlight.com, Ms. Chizever has pictures of wolves, even one where she is posing with a wolf. That's her personal power animal. "When I first found out about my power animal, I had no idea what I would be doing (as far as teaching)," she says, adding that you may not know anything about the creature, but they already know you intimately. "Also, when you find out what your animal is, I suggest you go to the bookstore and find out the traits of that animal — not just in the spiritual world. Find out who are they in the animal world and then feel that fully and bring it in." A Flemington resident, Ms. Chizever does individual sessions as well as outdoor ceremonies at her semi-rural home, and has studied with numerous teachers and elders, including Grandfather Albert of the Micmac tribe. She worked alongside a medicine woman in Colorado and participated in sweat lodges, healing ceremonies and circles there. She's also learned from Dona Julia and Don Nazzaro in Peru. Most recently, she's been studying Jewish shamanic healing with Rabbi Gershon Winkler and Miriam Maron. The name of her Web site means "mirror of the light" in Hebrew. A shaman is a spiritual teacher or "soul doctor" in indigenous cultures — think of the medicine man in Native American tribes. "My work is a combination of different traditions that I have studied intimately," Ms. Chizever says. Ms. Chizever began her intuitive journey as a child, seeing colors around people, plants and animals. She says she was discouraged in a kind way from sharing what she was experiencing. The basic message from parental and authority figures was that this was not an average activity for a youngster and young Jodee might want to be quiet about it. "'Just be normal, there's really nothing there,' was what my mother said," Ms. Chizever says. "I knew it wasn't normal and when you're a kid you just want to be normal. I stopped until I was about 16 or 17." The psychic floodgates opened just around the time she got her driver's license and Ms. Chizever knew her abilities weren't something to be ignored. She began to give readings at psychic fairs alongside colleagues who were 30 and 40 years older. She thought she might pursue work in psychology or in some kind of public service, and double-majored in psychology and political science at New York University (she has a master's degree in public administration), again putting her intuitive gifts way on the back burner. "I really just wanted to have a 'normal' life so I shut all the psychic work down," Ms. Chizever says. "But I look back on this and laugh. If there's a plan, you really have no say in the matter." On her Web site, she writes that this is her time to be teaching and sharing her intuitive knowledge and healing with people outside her immediate world, "so here I am." "I do get frustrated and sometimes question myself — I'm only human," Ms. Chizever says. "But I couldn't do this work if I didn't feel positive about it. I feel what myself and others are doing is making a difference. There's a lot of good out there and people have to find their inner light. This is my life's purpose, my mission, to help ignite that inner spark." Jodee Chizever will lead the workshop Meet Your Power Animal at the Princeton Center for Yoga & Health, Montgomery Professional Center, 50 Vreeland Dr., Suite 506, Skillman, Jan 22, 2 p.m. Admission costs $30, $25 if paid by Jan. 14. For information, call (609) 924-7294. On the Web: www.princetonyoga.com. Ms. Chizever also leads a workshop "Envisioning Your Future," at the Center for Relaxation and Healing, 666 Plainsboro Road, Suite 348, Plainsboro, March 18, 3 p.m. Admission costs $55. For information, call (609) 750-7432. On the Web: www.michelebengoran.com. Ms. Chizever on the Web: www.marahlight.com | |||||||||||
