The Water Of Life

Chopin was a 22 year old, self-mutilating, feather shredding, purportedly insane wild-caught Moluccan cockatoo I had just rescued. He did indeed seem crazy, yelling, "I hope I go away soon! I hope I die!" I explained to him, "Chopin if you die, you will only be reborn again." So, he revised his rant, "I hope I die forever!"

He needed attention and mental stimulation. And a shower! In the bathtub, I sprayed him with the hand-held shower head while he exclaimed, "Water! Water! How does it work?" Haltingly, I replied, "Um...I don't really know." In an outside cage I soaked him with the hose and let him dry in the hot sun. While happily preening himself, he proclaimed earnestly, "I like water!"

Together, we listened to classical music, and once afterwards Chopin whispered, "I don't want to go." But he still chewed on his chest so I called Tera for help.

Tuning in to him Tera said, "He says sometimes he feels crazy." Then she took a few moments to send him some Reiki. I watched him atop his cage as he looked up at the ceiling, turning his head this way and that.

Softly Chopin asked, "Where are you?" Then ruffling up his feathers and shaking himself like he'd just been caught in a rainfall, he said in wonderment, "Water! Water!"

When I heard Tera's voice on the line again I told her, "He said 'where are you?' and then 'water, water.' What did you tell him?"

She explained, "I sent him the energy and told him he could receive it over the next 24 hours and control it like a faucet turning on more or turning it off."

I smiled, "Tera, you told him it was like a faucet?"

She replied, "Yes and -- oh my! That's why he said 'water'!"

What stronger affirmation than that could one possibly ask for?

Later that summer so many years ago now, I came home from Tera's Level II Animal Communication workshop bursting with enthusiasm and asked Chopin "How would you like it if I hosted an animal communication workshop and have lots of people right here in this room with us practicing animal communication?"

He leaned way out over the edge of his cage, his head reaching forward as far as he could and with solemn reverence said, "Water!"