Spirit of the Mountains

As some of you might know, my favorite animal is the mountain lion.  Of course, it’s not really a lion.  It’s not related to lions at all, beyond the obvious fact that they are both cats.  Mountain lions are more closely related to your fluffy little tabby at home than to the shaggy-maned beasts of Africa.  Mountain lions cannot roar, but they can purr.

In Colorado and much of the American West, we often call them cougars.  In Central and South America, they are called pumas.  Mountain lions live as far north as the Yukon territory in Canada and as far south as the very tip of South America.  They used to be common across North America, from coast to coast, but European settlers killed them off and usurped most of their habitat east of the Rocky Mountains. 

On average, the mountain lion is the fourth largest of all the cats, right behind the jaguar and barely ahead of the leopard.

Some facts about mountain lions:

Mountain lions do not actually hunt – because the word hunt suggests the possibility of failure. A mountain lion does not go hunting… it goes killing.

If you can see a mountain lion, he can see you.  If you can't see a mountain lion you may be only seconds away from death.

A rattlesnake once bit a mountain lion on the leg.  After five days of excruciating pain, the snake died.

A mountain lion can drown a fish.

The chief export of a mountain lion is pain.

Mountain lions can slam revolving doors.

When the boogeyman goes to sleep every night he checks his closet for mountain lions.

Oh, wait a minute… those are Chuck Norris facts.  But they’re pretty close.

The mountain lion is my spirit animal.  I learned this from a Ute Indian who claimed to be a shaman.  In a special ceremony, inside a tee-pee, complete with a fire, sage smoke and, I suspect, some other kinds of smoke – and for the low, low price of only $25 – he looked into my soul and saw a mountain lion.  I hope that’s all he saw.

When he was finished, I think he went off to his night job spinning roulette at the tribal casino. 

Sure, it sounds pretty hokey, but I actually do believe there is some legitimacy to Native American and other nature-based spiritual beliefs.  Maybe I was a druid in a previous life.  But I think this guy was on to something, because I did some checking about the attributes of the mountain lion as a spirit animal and, thus, the attributes of the person who takes on the cougar spirit.  Here’s what I found:

According to the Zunis of the American Southwest, the mountain lion is known for its high intelligence, knowledge of other animals, physical strength, and its intuitive ability.  That sounds like me so far!  The Shawnee of the American Southeast apparently saw the cougar as having the gift of prophecy.  I’m usually about half-right on predictions, so that’s not terribly encouraging.

To the Quecheua people of the Andes, the puma was synonymous with power.  A number of native peoples saw the mountain lion as a symbol of leadership and right use of power.  They say that cougar brings lessons and messages about leadership, self-confidence, about believing in yourself and your dreams, and about letting your heart lead the way.  Among all the animal totems, the mountain lion is one of the most spiritual.

Well… that is just plain cool!  If the mountain lion is truly my spirit animal, it’s a lot to live up to.  But there’s more to my association with the cougar than just a touristy ceremony in a tee-pee.  There are the dreams.

Cougars have been in my dreams many times over the years.  The most vivid was a dream I had in the late 1990s.  I was sitting alone at night on the lower part of a tall hill.  I had a campfire burning in front of me.  At the top of the hill was some sort of building with people inside, talking and having a good time.  In front of me was a forest.

Suddenly, a cougar came out of the forest, walked up the hill and sat down beside me.  We knew each other well, and we talked about out “old days” together in the forest, adventures we shared, trouble we got into, and the joy of living free.  Then we grew quiet.  The lion looked at the building, then looked at me and said, “You don’t belong there.”  I agreed, and then the lion asked me to come back into the forest.  “I don’t belong there anymore either,” I replied.

We were quiet for a long time, then I looked over and saw that this mountain lion had changed into a beautiful woman.  It was someone I did not know at that time, but who I believe I met much later.  There was more to the dream, but that is better left to the imagination.

Mountain lions have appeared in other dreams, always as a friend, partner and advice-giver.  So this animal clearly has some deep importance to me.

I used to camp and hike a lot in Colorado’s beautiful mountain forests.  Always, I hoped for a glimpse of the big cat (and to not be bothered by bears).  I saw tracks occasionally, but mountain lions are masters of elusiveness and never graced me with their view.

But one of the amazing moments of my life occurred when I lived in the mountains southwest of Denver.  One day, I spotted three cougars behind my house: a mother with two almost-grown cubs.  They were just standing there, looking around.  My first thought was, “where is Tia?”  But my little black attack cat was sleeping on my bed; the lions were in no danger from her.

My good camera had a dead battery, but I managed to get off a poor-quality shot with another one.  Then I just watched them, in amazement.  After a few minutes, they heard something that seemed to startle them, and they walked off into the forest, dignified as one might expect. 

It was a short visit, but it made my day, week and whatever else.  Finally, the spirits had appeared to me.

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