April 2018 Snake Oil
The Right Thing To Do
I felt a sense of pride and I marveled at how active and healthy my almost sixteen year old cat was in early November of 2017. She was outside playing a game all by herself. I observed her silently from the top of my stairway without her seeing me, knowing I would interrupt her play if she caught me watching her and she would come running up to greet me. She darted from the big tree near the base of my stairway to a large rock as if she was playing a fun made up game of someone chasing her. She climbed up the tree, looking around and scooted back down and up again. She reminded me of myself when I was a little kid. I played very well with my friends but also enjoyed making up cool, imaginary games outside on the lawn or even inside my swimming pool. I let her play for a bit longer and went inside to to follow an impulse to look up a movie online that I remembered from childhood called “They Shoot Horses Don’t They.” My research on this Sydney Poitier directed film was not what I thought it was about. It was about a crazy dance contest where the contestants pushed themselves beyond the normal limits. I wasn’t sure why I needed to know this, but I know that impulses always have a purpose and I usually follow them.
A month later my healthy cat nearly stopped eating and began to lose weight rapidly. I suspected it was the early stages of renal failure, a common thing for older cats. She also developed a “stinky butt” which I first assumed was an anal gland issue. I struggled with whether I should take her to the vet or not. Other than taking her in for all her shots more than fourteen years ago (she was already fixed when she showed up at my door when she was about a year and a half old) I had not used vet services. Other than a rough bout with feline flu two years ago she had never been sick. I thought I might lose her when she had the flu but gave her Colloidal Silver, a natural antibiotic and she thankfully recovered. I, for the most part, don’t use traditional medicine and tend to do the same with my pets. My quandary was do I take my sick almost sixteen year old cat to a vet or not? It wasn’t that I did not think they might be able to help, but the process of putting a sick old cat in a cat carrier in the car was something she was not used to. I wondered if doing this would be more traumatic than allowing nature to take its course since she was nearing her natural old age in cat years. What was the right thing to do here?
I began to see why the movie title of “They Shoot Horses Don’t They” had come to my mind a month before this. A part of me had sensed a big decision was coming my way and unfortunately it might be far more than the issue of simply taking her to the vet or not. I grew up in a family where we usually had two dogs and often a cat. I experienced the loss of pets during my childhood. We never had to decide about something so difficult. Our dogs and cats would get older, sick, and usually hide in the yard when they were close to passing. We had the trauma of finding them deceased of course but it was still a natural process. Since my cat was primarily an indoor cat, the circumstances now were different. I deliberated for a week or so and finally decided to have a mobile vet come to my home. He checked her out and said she was fairly healthy for her advanced age, she just needed soft food because she didn’t have many teeth left! I considered the pro’s and con’s of having her anal glands drained and decided on giving her pumpkin in her food to add fiber and to help her push this through naturally.
A month later in late January things got worse. The stinky butt issue was not resolving and her behavior patterns began to change rapidly. My always immaculately clean cat was pooping and vomiting every few days in the shower. Some days she would do it right on my bed too. I had a daily routing of washing added sheets on the couch, bed, and myself when she sat in my lap. I knew that the bed messes were her way of telling me something was really, really wrong. I wasn’t mad at her in any way, but it was really rough for about two weeks. Her nearly constant diarrhea made me realize medicine or not she would pass very soon. I didn’t need a doctor to tell me she was experiencing organ failure. I did my best to make the end good for her. She got lots of tuna mixed with wet cat food and her favorite tuna-juice more often than usual. I figured I would let her die at home, but in early February she developed a terrible limp in her right leg. She could still scoot around with it and was eating, but maneuvering on the linoleum floor in the kitchen and bathroom had her sliding all over the place. From a spiritual perspective human or animal, when we have issues with our right side and legs it often means “nothing to move forward to.” My cat was all about being a jumper and climbing on things and she was losing control of this part of herself. I knew she was in pain and after a Rune pull of Hagalez (Disruption, elemental power, Hailstorm*) I knew clearly she was suffering and the “They Shoot horses” theme was now painfully crystal clear with her losing control of one of her legs.
I worried about whether I was just “throwing away” my sick cat for a few hours. This fear was short lived. This was not what I was doing. A few days later I called the vet to make the uncomfortable decision to take her in to be euthanized. It was not a good day. I struggled but knew it was the right thing to do. The next day a very good friend helped me to take her to the vet. I spent all of the weekend with her and had very little work or other obligations perfectly orchestrated by the Universe to give me the extra time with my little buddy. The last day was a lot of crying and giving her a million kisses, petting her skinny body in my lap, and giving her some of the turkey breast she so loved. Her final treat before putting her in a cat carrier was tuna juice, something she was truly crazy about. The support of my friends was priceless. ChiChi cried in the cage as we drove to the clinic because she was scared. I also felt pangs of guilt during the process. The vet said it looked like hyperthyroidism and it might be treatable. I had a brief moment with the possibility of keeping her alive, and then the reality of how sick she was, the probability of medicine not likely working, her in diapers for her pooping issues, and the loss of her leg inevitably on its way made me be strong enough not to waver. Having to take her back to do this again in a few days or weeks would be neither good for her nor for me. I told them to proceed and give her the shot to take her from this world.
I shed quite a few years for the first few days and went through all the traditional stages of grief. One of those stages was anger at having to go through this and whether I did the “Right Thing.” I work at home and was around her a lot. This cat was a part of my life in a big way. I had her for about fourteen and a half years. She was my buddy, my kid and something; someone I loved dearly. Every morning my bacon and egg sandwich was shared with her getting a little bit of bacon. There were countless routines my dog-like loyal cat and I shared. I had many pets in my childhood that were a part of my family and loved them all. The cat I had before her was Monte, I had him for seven years and my ex originally had him for the first 8 years of his life. ChiChi was completely mine and the best pet I have ever had. The days after her death and putting away all of her things, finding her toys under the bed, triggered more sadness. A thousand pieces of a life reminding me of the loss. After about a week when the grieving began to subside a new awareness pushed through. I was lucky to have had her and gave her a great life. I felt privileged to have had this experience and time with her. I began to feel just a wonderful sense of warmth and great memories of so many fun times with my little girl. I would not taint this with grief and sadness anymore. It was time to shift my view to remembering the many, many good things.
When I left the vets office and had to walk up the stairs knowing for the first time in many years she would not be there to happily greet me my legs were heavy as I made that walk. When I got to the top of the stairs a hummingbird flew by my face just two feet away and paused for just a second. My cat was mesmerized by hummingbirds and dreamed of catching one all of her life. Hummingbirds are considered messengers from the realm of fairy. The message is joy, hope and jubilation. The totem represents loyalty, playfulness and persistence, all attributes that were aspects of my cat. This hummingbird was telling me something. I had done the right thing. Not the easy thing but the right thing. My little girl’s spirit was released from her pain and free again like a hummingbird. There are so many different ways to feel and experience love, and this was not only one of those ways but a really good one. Sadness and loss are aspects of this world and never easy. We know our pets have much shorter life spans than we do. It is obvious we have to spend time teaching our pets how to behave, yet they teach us as well. They remind us that life is short and all about the gift of loyalty and unconditional love.
Jim Ventura 3-2018
Notes:
I know so many of my readers are animal lovers and hopefully my experience and writing about my bond and this loss will help express the feelings that so many of my readers have as well with their pets. I have been approached by a number of people about taking their cat, or kittens, and whether I am looking to get another cat. At this time I am looking at the “Change, freedom, invention and liberation” aspects of the Rune (read the full Rune interpretation below) that is the flip side of this loss. I have been taking care of someone or a pet in one form or another for most of my life, something I enjoy and have honed some real skills in and will very likely do again. But, it feels like I need to be free to travel more and remain unencumbered for a bit. This is a period of time that I want to feel out for awhile now for a number of reasons. I will know if/when it is the right time and will act accordingly when the pull comes again for another pet/roommate.
The outpouring of thoughtful support especially from friends on FaceBook was amazing. On the flip side, I had a few bizarre encounters when I went through the loss challenge. Partly because people are sometimes just insensitive weirdos, and also because I had some pockets of anger and I think I drew a few battles to myself... One was with a long time semi-Regular who began a passive aggressive, and strange self deprecation battle with me the weekend of the loss of my cat because I didn’t email him back fast enough about booking a session. I responded kindly but assertively on it and explained what I was going through. He responded with no compassion and in a very childish way. This from a 69 year old man! I also received an email message from a woman I did a session with less than a year ago who even sent referrals my way. Hers was “If you send me this newsletter again I will spam block you.” Another delightful communication from a 53 year old woman. I verbally punched back and then quickly caught that I was getting pulled into someone’s bizarre drama, and just deleted her with no more response. I try to be selective with who gets or doesn’t get my monthly newsletter, but yahoo sometimes just adds people to my mailing list when they email me. It states in every monthly newsletter right at the top to simply type “unsubscribe” and I will remove you permanently without question. Please do so if you prefer not to get this monthly Snake Oil Column anymore. I realize some people simply have “no taste” lol Or, more likely for whatever unique reasons some people may prefer not to get this. I do not take this personally and don’t really care why and need no explanation. I actually prefer getting rid of “dead weight.” I work very hard as a writer on these columns and communications and prefer they only go to people who appreciate them. I am working to add a (SO) next to all of my mailing list names to avoid sending to people who don’t want it, but this is a lot of work to go through with 1700 different names on my mailing list!
While I am not running any specials this month, I have extended my new client discount special until the summer. In addition all clients currently receiving this monthly column get $5 off listed rates. Local in-office clients can take an additional $5 discount for 45-90 minute sessions for cash or check payments. Ask me for information about my Regular Client Program with much bigger discounts. If you are a Regular who has gone more than 5 months without a session, and not responded to my monthly or quarterly emails about booking your next session, you are no longer a Regular client in the program and I will no longer send out the schedule. You can absolutely feel free to schedule sessions randomly, but Regular Client discounts and other benefits no longer apply.
Wishing everyone a Happy Spring! Jimmy V
Here is the full passage of the Rune I pulled the weekend before I made my decision. Not an easy Rune but very insightful and helpful!:
Hagalaz
Disruption Elemental Power Hail
“Change, freedom, invention and liberation are all attributes of this Rune. Drawing it indicates a pressing need within the psyche to break free from constricting identification with material reality and to experience the world of archetypal mind.
The Rune of elemental disruption, of events that seem to be totally beyond your control, Hagalaz has only an upright position, and yet it always operates through reversal. When you draw this Rune, expect disruption, for it is the Great Awakener, although the form the awakening takes may vary. Perhaps you will experience a gradual feeling of coming to your senses, as though you are emerging from a deep sleep. Then again, the onset of power may be such as to rip away the fabric of what you previously knew as your reality, your security, your understanding of yourself, your work, your relationships or beliefs.
Disruption takes many forms: a relationship fails, plans go awry, a source of supply dries up. But do not be dismayed. Whether you created the disruption, or whether it comes from an outside source, you are not without power in this situation. Your inner strength-the will you have funded until now in your life-provides support and guidance at a time when everything you’ve taken for granted is being challenged.
Another of the Cycle Runes, the term ‘radical discontinuity’ best describes the action of Hagalaz at its most forceful. The more severe the disruption in your life, the more significant and timely the requirements for your growth. The universe and your own soul are demanding, that you do, indeed, grow.”
“Don’t cry because it’s over, Smile because it happened.” Dr. Seuss
“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose; All that we love deeply, becomes a part of us.” Hellen Keller
Channeled corner. I read many, many books from different trance channelers in the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately many of them are now out of print, but I still have a huge collection and will share some of the best material I have collected over the years.
From Conversations with Seth by Sue Watkins: (Seth -channeled by Jane Roberts, Seth talk to his students about the nature of accidents)
“If you cut your finger, it is no accident. If you stub your toe, it is no accident. If you come down with the flu, or with a virus, it is no accident. If you have a chronic physical difficulty, it is no accident. If you are creative, it is no accident. If you get good news, it is no accident. If lovely things happen to you, it is no accident.
You form your reality, and this applies all the way down the scale, from your consciousness that you think of, to the tiniest molecule in your eye!...”
Seth reiterated his words on ‘accidents’ as class discussed a flood in East Pakistan, in which thousands had died.
“In nature, there are no accidents, he began. If you accept the possibility of the slightest, smallest, most insignificant accident, then indeed you open a Pandora’s Box, for logically, there cannot be simply one small accident, but a universe in which accidents are not the exception but the rule. A universe in which, therefore, following logically, your consciousness is a combination of an accidental conglomeration of atoms and molecules without reason or cause that will vanish into nonexistence forever even as, indeed, they would have come from nonexistence.
Once you accept, you see, that idea, then if you follow your thought completely enough, you must accept the idea of a random accidental universe, in which you are at the mercy of any accident, in which mind or purpose have little meaning, in which you are at the mercy of all random happenings, in which 300,000 human beings can be swept off the face of the planet without reason, without cause, simply at the whim of an accidental happening.
And if that universe in which you believe that you live in, then it is a dire and foreboding universe, indeed, Seth continued, his voice ponderously loud. In that universe, the individual has little hope, for he will return to the nonexistence that his random physical creation came from. Following that line of thought, then, if you follow this through, a group of atoms and molecules were accidentally sparked into consciousness and song and then will return to the chaos from which they came; and the individual has no control over his destiny, for it can be swept aside at any point by random fate, over which he has no recourse.
All of this can be related to ordinary life. Whenever you think that you have a headache, simply because you have a headache; or you bump into a door simply because you happen to be in a particular place at a particular time; whenever you feel powerless, then you think that accidents happen and that you have no control over them. The only answer is to realize that you form physical events, individually and en masse. And as I have said time and time gain, you form the physical reality that you know...”
New Client Special 2017:
January 1st 2018 thru July 31st, 2018 Special: New Client introductory offer
$10-15 off listed rates for your first 45 minute session, 70, or 90 minute session! Ask for the special when you email Venturasag@yahoo.com to book. Debit and credit card payments get $10 off for 45-90 minute sessions. Local in-office clients can get an extra $5 off for cash or check payments for sessions. If you want to buy a new client a thoughtful gift of a session you can also take advantage of these rates!
$10-15 off listed rates for your first 45 minute session, 70, or 90 minute session! Ask for the special when you email Venturasag@yahoo.com to book. Debit and credit card payments get $10 off for 45-90 minute sessions. Local in-office clients can get an extra $5 off for cash or check payments for sessions. If you want to buy a new client a thoughtful gift of a session you can also take advantage of these rates!
My current rates (new clients can subtract the above discounts from these rates): 45 minute sessions $85. 70 minute sessions $110. 90 minute sessions $130. Sessions can be in-office or by phone.
“The purity of a person’s heart can be quickly measured by how they regard animals.” Anonymous
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” Anatole France
Snake Oil Radio
Thursdays at 3:30 pm (there will be one live broadcast this month)
My next live broadcast of Snake Oil Radio will be Thursday, April 5th at 3:30 p.m. mountain time. Usually one or two Thursdays each month you can catch a new show. Each 45 minute show will expand on my current column’s subject matter. It will also offer an opportunity for you to call in live (or chat with other listeners in the chat room) with comments and your thoughts about the topic of discussion. If you miss the live show, you can catch any of my previously recorded shows on the web site’s archive. You can also catch Snake Oil Radio on I-tunes (download my pod-casts there).
To hear a live show, all you need to do is be at a computer and tuned into: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Jim-Ventura You may also access it by going to the site and type “Snake Oil” into the search option. You can also go to the shows that are currently “On air” at that time and find me. The call in number is 646-200-3966 for questions and comments.
Jim gets a professional facial
I found a gem of a place here in Phoenix (actually Gilbert) and had a really good facial a few weeks ago. A friend told me that my skin looked a little blotchy on one of my appearances on television recently. She was right, I noticed it too! She suggested a Place called BombChelle Studio and a session with an Esthetician Michelle Campbell. The place is in the heart of Gilbert, in an incredibly cute little cottage, and was easy to find. The prices are very reasonable. I was very happy with the session. It was comfortable and she did a really great job, highly recommended! She has a number of other services available. If you are a local or visiting you can get more information at her website: bombchellstudio.com or go to: https://m.facebook.com/www.bombchellestudio/
“If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much.” Mark Twain
Here’s my contact information to make an appointment for a session, or information on current classes: Email: Venturasag@yahoo.com (best method for contact).
Phone calls: (602) 957-3035 text only: (602) 349-0746
Information about the different sessions and types of readings and services, past Snake Oil columns, and how to order my books and audio CD’s can be found at my website: Http://JimVentura.com
“Friend” me on Facebook to get other extra offers and in between column extras! Signing up for my fan page will get you even more extras and first shot at reading specials. Simply click on “like” on the fan page and you will automatically get my weekly updates.
You also may want to check out my posts on Tumblr.com: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/snake-oil-blog
All sessions/readings for 2018 are: Full (70 minutes) $110.00; Shorter session (45 minutes) $85.00; Extended session (90 minutes) $130.00 (two people can split an extended session back to back for $65.00 each, although no other discounts will apply). Email me for information about my Regular Client Program for even bigger discounts on session prices with the added benefit of monthly or quarterly check-ins.
All Current Snake Oil subscribers get $5.00 off all listed prices for any 45-90 minute sessions (except when using a special discount promotion). Local in office visits receive another $5 off listed prices for cash or check payments. No added discounts apply when responding to specials though.
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