Soul Path Sessions
Soul Path Sessions
The Year of the Rabbit
Season 2 of Soul Path Sessions opens with Deborah and Brenda once again stretching their therapist muscles beyond the boundaries of traditional psychology and exploring the characteristics and possibilities that inform the Year of the Rabbit. The rabbit (兔) is the fourth in the twelve-year periodic sequence (cycle) of animals that appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. Each animal represented in the Chinese zodiac have different personality traits that are believed to influence one's life and are used to provide guidance on how people live their lives. Many believe that the turmoil and change that the previous year (tiger) brought about will be followed by a more peaceful 12 months. However, the energy of the rabbit and what it may bring with it is worth considering in order to take advantage of the opportunities and face the challenges that could lie ahead. Deborah and Brenda share their own personal experiences about using Animal Medicine to guide them and offer extremely helpful advice on being able to interpret what the Year of the Rabbit may mean for you.
Welcome to the Soul Path Sessions podcast with Deborah Minds Pearson and Brenda Littleton. Brenda is an educator and counselor rooted in YY and ecopsychology. She helps her clients understand the importance of the mind, body, spirit, and earth relationship for healing. Deborah is a licensed psychotherapist and has been trained in traditional and sacred psychology, exploring from the ground up what makes our human experience meaningful, wholesome, and enlightening. Deborah and Brenda invite you to accompany them on a soul path journey as they explore the possibilities of living them soulful life as therapists, seekers and lovers of fate.
Deborah:Welcome back to Soul Path Sessions. This is Deborah mz Pearson. I'm here with my dear friend, fellow healer and soul, Brenda Littleton, and today we're gonna talk about the year of the rabbit.
Brenda:Wonderful.
Deborah:So Brenda, you are brimming, hopping with ideas,<laugh>. So I wanna ask you, you, you were inspired to talk about this topic, so I really wanna let you open up and tell us what you know.
Brenda:Well, I've been observing how, um, the memes and the social media are talking about, oh my gosh, it's sub relief. It's the year of the rabbit, you know, the year of the tiger has handed over, uh, the baton and it's no longer, um, times of rough or aggression or a sense of trials and tribulations. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> that the year of the rabbit is more of a, um, a soft, uh, softening, let's say, um, an ease, a sense of reflection. And, uh, I, I'm amused by it and I, I guess I don't really fully, truly understand all of those ramifications because for me, uh, developing a nomenclature with animals and, and meaning, and we're going through my own trials and tribulations and in dealing with my own myth, uh, the rabbit, the bunny has always meant it, it's been a queuing system for me of an outside stimuli of fear. Yeah. So whatever is going on for me on the outside, whether it's traffic or anxiety, or if I'm dealing with the bank, or, uh, I have a specific instance that I, I remember looking at my plate glass windows, and there was a whole lineup of 12 bunnies looking in and watching me mm-hmm.<affirmative> on their haunches, you know, sitting up and just looking and appearing at me. And I realized, oh, this is, I'm in a very stressful, personally activated, fearful conversation going on, and I needed, so they were alerting me that mm-hmm.<affirmative>, is this how you wanna handle it? Is this how you want to be today? Is this how you want to deal with a situation from a place of fear? Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So, um, I, today, I think we can unpack some of the, uh, society's ideas of what the day of the year of the rabbit is. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And I'd like to hear from you what, um, your research has, has brought to the table as
Deborah:Well. Yeah. See, it was interesting cause I'm on the same page with you in terms of animal medicine, because I come at, at it from an am am Aminal medicine,<laugh>, and, um, that waly web Love
Brenda:It.<laugh>
Deborah:Love it. So in, in, uh, many traditions, you look at the quality of the animal to to sort of understand its medicine, its spirit. And what is true about rabbits is they stand very still, and they wait. They're very alert, and at the first line of danger, they're very alert. They're, I their ears are big for a reason. They're gonna be gone. They're gonna be outta there. So in many traditions, they are very synonymous with fear. And I know in some of the defining tarots that have to do with, uh, animal medicine cards, if you pull rabbit, you're facing fears. Yeah. So I think that for me, and I've had a time when rabbit medicine entered my life, and I literally had a black bag with two rabbits on it, but I, I didn't really put two and two together, but I can tell you that that bag, what I pulled out of it later, the
Brenda:<laugh> putting the rabbit out of the bag, oh,
Deborah:I pulled some major fears outta that bag. I had written something, it was a long journey for me. But I remember when I came across this black bag with the two rabbits on it that I had gotten at a, a conference I was at that the contents of that bag changed my life. It swept away. Yeah. My old life and swept in a new life. It wasn't bad. It was just extremely dynamic. So when I saw a rabbit about, uh, a month ago when you and I were talking about this show, uh, I was on a walk and I saw a rabbit sitting, uh, on a lawn. I never wrote a haiku<laugh>. This kind of typifies it ears alert. You sit, if I make one small movement, the ground is empty.<laugh>.
Brenda:So the idea of being aware mm-hmm.<affirmative> of when a rabbit is present or the energy of rabbit mm-hmm.<affirmative>, um, I'm, I live on acreage where I'm aware when there are not rabbits. I mean, I used to have hundreds of rabbits and then the rabbit flew, came, and then they all left, and now they're back. Uh, I do, um, I was taught, um, in, in a doctoral program to live by metaphors every single day. Look out your window. Window, what do you see? Follow the breadcrumbs and make meaning out of what's vis visually outside of your my space. And so I'm constantly aware of rabbit and, and I stop and I pause and I'm thinking, what, what is it that I'm talking about? Or what is it? Because I'm sitting with clients on Zoom and I'm looking out the window mm-hmm.<affirmative>, and maybe there'll be 20 rabbits all of a sudden. Yeah. And it really informs me. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, I may not in aggressively or assertively change the conversation and say, let's talk about your fears right now. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, you know, I will listen though with a frequency for what am I picking up? Is there any resistance? Is there any, uh, with
Deborah:Those big
Brenda:Ears of yours mm-hmm.<affirmative>, I know, yeah. I've become the rabbit. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, I start embodying that. And for me personally, it's gonna be a, a, a year of a lot of change that I'm, uh, I'm facing the next layer of fears mm-hmm.<affirmative>, um, myself. So I thought it was really appropriate as a support for my personal, my professional, my embodiment, my health, my creativity. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> of how does this umbrella of the year of the rabbit trickle down and seep into each of those layers for me. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So I'm, I'm kind of unpacking that as, as I move forward. Now, we're in the beginning of the year and, but I, I do find a sense of resistance when I'm seeing all of this very, um, oh, this is gonna be such a relaxing year. This is gonna be such a different year from last year. And I go, Ooh, you know, there's, there's something in me that says that's, that's probably not going to happen. And if we can convert that mm-hmm.<affirmative> mm-hmm.<affirmative>, if we can, as you say, move into the spirit of the animal Yeah. And, and ask people to, uh, be aware of what the energy and the properties of the rabbit means for them, and how does it show up in their lives.
Deborah:Yeah. I think that it, it's, uh, there's so many levels you can take this. I mean, if it's a medicine story, I mean, in the Chinese Zodiac, there's 10 animals in 11 year cycle. And the story is all about how they got to the infinite to the, it's called the heavenly gate. So it's a race towards the jade emperor to get to the heavenly gate. So first of all, you have to be somewhat aware of Asian culture, Chinese culture. And if we think of that in terms of our own lives, and we look at the medicine of each of these animals, what they're teaching, uh, the rabbit comes in forth making it to the heavenly gate. So it's, it's a race that's, uh, interesting because the rat makes it first cuz the rat just stays on his game, just doesn't, doesn't have a problem, just stays on his game. The ox goes really slowly and gets there. Um, the tiger is the next one. Um, and then the rabbit. And then you move into the monkey, the dragon, the snake, the horse and the goat. And each one of them shows how they used, um, oh, I'm sorry. Then you go the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the rooster, the dog, the pig. So it's meant to be a teaching story, not to be like a rabbit's foot of good luck, which is a very American United States sort of concept. Like, I'm going to, I'm gonna just bypass my destiny and find an oracle. No, you've got your curriculum at Sacred Curriculum. And I found it interesting to go into the qualities they were, that, that they were talking about in the Chinese tradition was that the, their story is called the tortoise and the ox and the, that matched this one, which is similar to the tortoise and the hair, which is not a rabbit and the asop ESOP fable. And in the Chinese, um, tradition, it's the same thing. If you have arrogance, it's gonna hold you up. If you think you're gonna get there real fast, cuz you've got a, a rabbit's foot and like you're unpacking your fears and you just hold that rabbit's foot out or that, or you think you're gonna hop like a bunny over it. No, that's not the meaning of it. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, it means don't get caught up in your head like the rabbit sit still pay a steady attention. Steady attention. And in the case of the tortoise and the ox, well they're both really slow, but the ox makes it ahead of the tortoise because he just doesn't get hung up on anything just like the tortoise and the hair. So really it's all about slow and steady wins the race, arrogance versus quiet attention. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And it seems to me something quite arrogant that, that we, we project what we want and then we're so disappointed. And I, it, the other piece that, that just seems glaringly, uh, up upsetting and, and uh, factual is that in the lunar New Year, there were two, uh, shootings where people were killed. And I don't know the individual story, but I mean, if you, if you see us as part of a collective, that was hardly a, a peaceful,
Brenda:Soft, gentle entrance. No.
Deborah:Yeah. No. Yeah.
Brenda:Get our attention. Yeah. Um, I love the the adage that you can't think your way to healing and just because you know what's going on, just because you get to that place of understanding, um, it doesn't preclude, uh, the work
Deborah:No, it, it's using it skillfully. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> skillfully to take the medicine of rabbit from me, the, when I saw that rabbit on my walk in the evening, it was cold. And I looked over and blessed to see a little little bunny. Now I used to live there. They were, they were jack rabbits. They were not bunnies. They're different. One has big haunches and kick your teeth out. They're
Brenda:Run
Deborah:Fast. Yeah, right. Uh, but with kind of veiny ears. But the, but the little bunny was sitting there and there was something, as I was walking in the evening troubled, I was troubled. There was some family pain going on in my extended family. And I went for a walk as I want to do when I'm troubled. And when I saw the medicine, I didn't even, I wasn't even thinking You're the rabbit, honestly, wasn't cur in my ecosphere, but it started off with the rabbit and like you looking at your window, I watched the rabbit watching me and we both stopped. And in that quiet attention, I felt peaceful. And that to me was what I needed to be doing with family members who are not behaving. Right. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, they, yeah, most of them do. But it's difficult with a large family. And I saw pay attention be still when I went to move there was an empty space. Yeah. And I realized that I must move with very quiet, quiet attention. And the other one I got was protect yourself. Yeah. Keep those big ears. If you see a predator, a predatory human in the family or in the anywhere who's coming towards my energy, I was quick like a bunny and I was loving the empty space. And I've taken that Yeah. Because I've ended phone conversations that were not loving and not going anywhere. My bunny nature exit stage left and I'll come back. But you must be still inside to have a conversation with me.
Brenda:That's beautiful. That reminds me of, um, this moment y y in sharing sitting with a bunny. Um, I was outside at my property and I have this very large pool of water for the animals. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, a lot of rabbits. And this one particular evening, it was feeding time for animals and I saw this giant, giant hawk. It wasn't, I thought even it could have been a baby eagle mm-hmm.<affirmative> cuz we get them from big bear. And um, but it was a good three foot, three feet tall and it was sitting on the edge, uh, of this water and two feet away from it. Right. In its view, its eyesight was a bunny was a, a pretty small rabbit. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> like this year's crop. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And uh, the rabbit was just munching on the grass that was coming up and the hawk was sitting getting water and the two of them were at least two feet, you know, not more than two feet away. They both knew each other. Were there. One was the food of the other. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> one was the predator of the other. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And there was this, this calm sense of reprieve mm-hmm.<affirmative>, there was, okay, you're gonna be the bunny, I'm gonna be the hawk mm-hmm.<affirmative> and I'm gonna take care of my knees and you're gonna take care of yours. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, and I was watching all this and I was waiting like any second, now this bunny's gonna get, it's gonna be eaten. And the hawk just sat there mm-hmm.<affirmative> and opened up its arms and that scared the bunny and, and it ran away. But there was no, um, the transaction was a sense of acceptance mm-hmm.<affirmative> and in the face of daunting potential fear mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So again, it's like that sense of equanimity, the sense of calmness, the sense of hold your course mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Yeah. Do take care of your needs. Mm-hmm.
Deborah:<affirmative>, I like that.
Brenda:Yeah. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, it was a beautiful transaction.
Deborah:And also I think the piece I get, I love that story. Uh, the other piece that I've noticed in nature, up in ocean shores or here, mostly in ocean shores, cuz I have like, basically floor and fauna everywhere, but when a predator comes and it's full, it leaves you alone. Yeah. So the deer are fine. If, if they sense danger from something that is full, they, they will run. But the minute there is no harm, they start eating grass. Yeah. It's like somatic therapy. They, you know, the human beings hold on to our stories that's called rabbit mind in the native tradition where you can't stop worrying and worrying and worrying, but the actual bunny doesn't worry. It just watches. Yeah. And
Brenda:Responds
Deborah:According. It responds. And if it gets eaten, that's the end of its story for now.
Brenda:So in working with our own path this year and with our clients, um, under the umbrella of the year of the Rabbit mm-hmm.<affirmative>, um, I'm always looking for ways to model mm-hmm.<affirmative> to not teach per se, but just hold in continents. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, you know, the, the practice of mm-hmm.<affirmative>. What would be some of the suggestions that we could share?
Deborah:Okay.
Brenda:Um,
Deborah:I have written some down. Do you have some ideas? Okay. Um, well first of all, um, the idea of sometimes when you move forward you want a zigzag, you don't wanna go in a straight line. If you wanna copy a rabbit, it hops. If you notice a zigzag, it's a zigzag pattern. Typically. Um, now that can be applied, it just, they throw off predators that way. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, uh, by going in as zigzag. Um, also it gives him a chance to sort of go from bush to bush and see what's there. So be mindful that it's not the destination, it's the journey That would be one of the medicines from the rabbit if you want to use it. Wholesomely any year. Uh, for me, I don't so much go like, oh, it's the year I kind of see it's part of the Chinese tradition of just a fable story. Ancient cycle, not necess cycle, not silly part of my cycle, but fun being the monkey that I am. Right. Um, and why are you moving? I think that would be another medicine from Rabbit. Why are, are you just moving, uh, on the freeway of life? Are you considerate about where you're going to be considerate about where you're going? Um, stillness listening, we've covered that. Uh, the other one is good parenting. Uh, one of the medicines of bunnies are very protective of their babies. Mm. They really shelter them. And I'm, if you don't have physical children, the, the protection of that which is innocent to, you know, put it in a burro protect
Brenda:So projects, creative ventures.
Deborah:Yeah. Nurturing, uh, protecting, um, mothering or fathering so that the little ones or the innocent can grow. That would be really important. Um, so in my work, I know I have a soul path poetry page and I'm just boosting it and I'm sending out my poetry for free. I'm not selling anything, I'm just putting in poetry and good thoughts for the general public. It was, it cost me 10 bucks to post, to post it, I don't care. And people are getting healing. It's my way of mothering and nurturing without expectation of return because it makes me feel good and generative to share our podcast poetry. Good thoughts. So that would be rabbit medicine, the mothering, nurturing part of it for me. And the last one, um, and expect life to be unpredictable.<laugh>, come on. Yeah. Okay. So that would be really important. And open-minded creativity is another aspect of, of Rabbit. Yeah.
Brenda:Yeah. Likewise. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, I, um, I was reflecting on the idea of, um, how I survived, how I made my way through the last year of the rabbit and the, the growth, um, and, and reflecting back that it wasn't a direct path. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, you know, a lot of zigzagging mm-hmm.<affirmative>, um, a lot of self nurturing mm-hmm.<affirmative>, uh, I moved from the idea of having an intention to having an impact. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, that's my impact. And, um, and, and you know, I did burrow, you know, I, I did a lot of burrowing mm-hmm.<affirmative> and, and doing a lot of gestation harboring, uh, self-care ideas. Mm-hmm.<affirmative> expansion, but in a very underground container that when I, I popped up there, I felt fully alive mm-hmm.<affirmative> and was able to, to meet the world on my terms regardless of the hawk. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, regardless of the coyote. They
Deborah:Aren't going away. No, they're not. They need to eat too. You know, everybody's got a part in the web of life. Yeah. No, no bad animals.
Brenda:Yeah. And, um, showing up and doing my best. So Right
Deborah:On. Right on.
Brenda:Thank you for all the, the insight on the year, the bunny. This is fun.
Deborah:I had a good time researching this.
Brenda:Good. Any closing comments? Any other, uh, ideas for the year of the bunny?
Deborah:Um, I just think it's good to, um, just be reflective of what it means to you. And because all Oracles are meant to be personalized, just kind of summarize that. It's not like one size fits all. Great.
Brenda:Thank you.
Deborah:You're welcome. Thank you Brenda.
Brenda:Thanks Debra
Deborah:<laugh>.
Announcer:And that concludes this week's episode of the Soul Path Sessions podcast with Deborah Mikes Pearson and Brenda Littleton. If you'd like to hear more about living a more soulful life, please subscribe to our channel on your favorite podcast app and be sure to check out the show notes and links below for more information from visit soul sessions com. And for Brenda, Brenda, thank you for listening and remember to follow.
