I would be most appreciative of references to any parallel of this hot foot experience in mythology, history or living experience.
After the hot foot I went to the high part above the pool, and tossed into the pool a tiny, tiny piece of white shell, which for me symbolized a linkage from the Pacific to the captive orcas, who I believe should/could be successfully released (unfortunately those particular orcas died in captivity), and also motherhood, as in mother-of-pearl, for Bjossa, and also a linkage to Bill Reid's Raven and the First Men carving, with people emerging from the shell (which also reminds me of Joni Mitchell's song Blue "here is a shell for you.")
After that I also took the geophone from the triple candle ritual and left it at a safe spot near the orcas.
I think captive cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) should be released, gradually re-acclimatised and helped to find their old pods, and that we should do more research into communication with them and aquaculture partnership even, eventually. Also any whaling, for example Japanese whaling in the guise of scientific research, the Norway minke whaling and even long term traditional native whaling, must be stopped. Also killing and capture of dolphins and pilot whales in Taiji, Japan, and the Faroe Islands (which is a territory of Denmark) must end. Any lobbying you can do in this regard would be appreciated. Vancouver (and other) Aquarium(s) can easily install some 3-D virtual reality viewing and listening stations instead, and sponsor or team up with nonintrusive trips to natural habitats. After all the Free Willy movies, Keiko (Willy) was not free when I wrote the original draft of this page in 1997, though he was eventually freed. For those who have seen the Star Trek: Voyage Home movie (and others), the hot foot may have been a sign of recognition/shamanic call for me but also a warning/call for help from them and Gaia. If we do not heed this, well, in 1996 I feared that quick Alzheimer's for the whole human species was possible. Now I don't think so, but a nasty human-specific illness certainly is possible, not from the cetaceans but Gaia (or systemic feedback, or divine agent of your choice). But luckily WE humans are best able to quickly clean up problems we have caused, and work towards heaven on earth.
Those who say cetaceans are not intelligent, first try to learn their language; if you took an IQ test in a foreign language you would no doubt fail. I suspect that homomorphic deconvolution (i.e., whale sounds are somewhat cepstral in nature, with treble and bass frequencies linked as part of a natural system designed to enhance longer distance propagation) and cross-correlation of whale sweep sounds (rising or falling in pitch) with a reference signal may be of benefit.
As I left Stanley Park, traffic noise seemed reduced somewhat, like a noise filter gift from them to me.
Not long after that I quit my Ph.D; after struggling for a long time against boredom and writer's block/procrastination in my then specialization; this frustration contributed to the mood swings which I did undergo. I have since determined that especially since my bipolar call I am more a broad poet scientist creative linker sort than a specialist, though I certainly have a number of specialist skills. While blocked I had been reading and dabbling in broader areas on the net and in the library for a while and also was devoting some volunteer time to the music industry and to running a peer support group.
In early to mid-December 1995 I became a bit hypersensitive for a little while, and was feeling a hum in the floor with my feet (possibly the 60 Hz hum), that made me move to a different spot to sleep. This was after I had planned to go back to Newfoundland for a while at least to recharge, and perhaps was an incentive to get me back home for a longer period instead of just a holiday, in the solar low year. But there were no mood problems then. I had a farewell party about Dec. 10 and flew back the evening of Dec. 14, arriving in the wee hours of Dec. 15, 1995. The rest of December was uneventful except that due to being poor I gave away my jewellery, kept some cheap sentimental value items, and stupidly went off my lacto-ovo-pisce vegetarian diet for a little while, resuming it in early January, 1996.
I started a new Ph.D. in geophysics at Memorial University of Newfoundland in September 2002. I ended up dropping out of that in 2004 but resumed it in September 2015 and am about to complete it in the spring of 2018.
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