Recently I picked up my Medicine Cards (by Jamie Sams and David Carson) to start working with them again. These were my first introduction to using cards as divination tools and the familiarity of the animal world created a safe, first step to learning about more of the spirit signs and symbols shown to us every day, waking and asleep. The first three times I drew a card for the day, I got the Armadillo. I brought the cards along with me to the Healer’s Retreat this weekend and at breakfast I invited my friend Julie to draw a card. She got the Armadillo.
At Brigid’s House today I spent time talking with Jeanne and shared with her the lessons of the Armadillo as it has been with me lately. She told me of her recent boundary issues and we laughed. When Judy came downstairs after finishing her first massage, she joined our conversation and also had a boundary violation story. Later I wandered around the store for moment and on the shelf is a demo pack of Medicine Cards. Every time I think of it I pull one just for fun. I got the Armadillo. I swear I am not making that up.
With the Jerry Jeff Walker song drifting through my mind I’m thinking about my boundaries, Armadillo’s message. Armadillos are the only mammals with a shield as a part of its body. The shield is made up of boney plates. Armadillo protects itself by rolling up into a ball and through which no enemy can penetrate.
Armadillo asks if someone is taking advantage, are you having trouble saying “no”? It seems that there are many ways our boundaries are breached by the conversations I’ve had lately.
What speaks to me about Armadillo is something that Skunk totem shares. I’ve learned that skunks sometimes will borrow abandoned armadillo dens to live in, so they are related that way in the animal kingdom. Skunk and Armadillo protect themselves without harming others. Where wolves, bears and big cats use teeth and claws to protect, skunk uses smell and armadillo, like the great knights of old, knows the best offense is a good defense. No one is physically injured.
The idea of being forced into a confrontation is anathema to me. It’s right up there with crashing the car or losing a pet. When I was talking to Julie about the possibility of confronting the person who had breached my boundaries, she reassured me several times that she understood how much I just wanted it to all go away. If I just stayed rolled up in my little ball long enough, the whole situation would lose interest in me and go away.
Rather, Julie suggested, I should imagine the feeling of the situation resolving in the best possible way, no one hurt and all happier and wiser for the opportunity to learn and grow. This I could do. Trying to formulate words before an unpleasant conversation only left me anxious and miserable. But breathing into the idea of a happy resolution? That I could get behind.
The next day an opportunity arose as if by magic, which is often how Spirit seems to work, and I was able to say all I needed to, and to my great astonishment and joy, my words were received in exactly the way I intended them—not to harm, but to protect my own personal sense of self-worth and to help someone I care very much about become more aware.
In Medicine Cards book, the authors recommend drawing a circle on a piece of paper and inside the circle writing down all the things you allow with in your boundaries. Another circle is drawn around the first circle and there you write what you allow within your boundaries by invitation only. I added a third ring around the two circles, and in this space I wrote down what I do not allow. Here I wrote, I will not allow anyone to make me feel less of myself, including myself. This exercise changes your subconscious thoughts. It informs the energy of your body. For those who see auras, it changes that, too. It puts your power out there. Best of all, it can work like magic!
If you are feeling as though you’re being taken advantage of, or forced into a corner, then it just might be time, as Jerry Jeff sings, to go home with the armadillo.
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