A Lion March Became A Spiritual Connection To The Lions
My Personal Experience Of The Global March For Lions – Janine Morris Opheim
A Lion March Became A Spiritual Connection To The Lions – I’m a participant at the WhiteLionLeadershipAcademy in Timbavati, South Africa so lions have become an incredibly important part of my life. During the Academy I’ve learned to face those things I once couldn’t bear to face (animals in pain – especially pain caused by humans) and to take responsibility for those things in whichever way I can.
Subsequently I felt really deflated at not being able to find anyone to march with me. Knowing so many people who were marching that day, all over the world, in London, Calgary, Vancouver, Washington DC, Capetown and believing in the power of spirit I felt, even though I was on my own, just meditating and holding those people in my hearts for an hour during the march was almost as good as being there with them in person.
I had planned to light a candle and meditate in my meditation room. But on the morning of the March I started to get the yearning to go and sit in the forest. I’m often dismayed at the lack of the animals in this amazing forest. Knowing it was once the home of wolves, moose and bears (but still the home to and not surprisingly abundant with deer and also the odd lynx). I love the energy in the forest here. I don’t have the words to describe it’s magnificence but I knew the energy of this forest added to my prayer would be incredibly powerful!
So as I was preparing to go outside (and at this point it had started to snow) ideas of what to take outside with me kept popping into my mind. I have many photos of lions in my house and have laminated several which are in my bedroom so I grabbed some of those, candle, incense, a beautiful fairy that I bought from Gozo in Malta (because it also connected me to the animals because of an experience I had on Gozo), I took some small rocks I had bought back from Timbavati also.
I had several layers of thermals on plus my ‘kindergarten’ suit (a one piece padded jumpsuit for wearing in the winter). And I went out searching for the perfect place. I didn’t have to walk far before I found ‘the’ spot, right beside the stream that runs past the back of my property in a mixture of beech and pine trees, old and new energy, deep and mystical forest and the playful stream. I felt so at home there. It’s SO alive! I hadn’t even planned to document it but I just got this surge of needing to share it.
I even recorded a prayer and posted in on Facebook. NOT something I would normally do!!! But I felt SO incredibly guided by the Lions and could not have fathomed so many people would see it. I can never say again ‘one person can’t make a difference’. I’m close to tears writing that. It’s so powerful and beautiful.
Maybe you’re wondering why I couldn’t find anyone to March with me. Well, I only came to Norway 7 years ago. I grew up in Australia and lived 10 years in England before I came here so don’t actually ‘know’ that many people. And of the people I do know very few are actively interested in standing up for animals, sadly.
Most of the people I know in Norway who do stand up for animals live in Oslo, I live in Bergen, on the other side of Norway. Of the people who do live in Bergen and who are animal activists, three were out of the country, one had a previous engagement. I was destined to be on my own on the 15th of March.
There Is Never A Better Companion On A Singular Lion March Than One’s Best Friend
And I Have No Doubt That The Lions Knew That Janine Was With Them
