Ode to the Land: Cat

By Kristine Karpinski

A new critter has come onto the scene here. 

We’ve been following cat tracks that don’t belong to any of the usual suspects or known felines, and those tracks have been leading us around the property. They tell a story of resourcefulness, patience, stealth, curiosity and maybe some magic. They track through the field, along the ‘dog’ trail (ironically), around the compost and along the perimeter of the buildings here. They wind a path that sometimes disappears into track-less-ness and defies logic. 

It makes us wonder if the cat has wings and floats off the ground every once in a while. Or whether the cat takes great leaps into the air, covering a good length of distance before landing again. Our imagination runs wild. 

It’s been a good distraction, this ‘mystery cat’, as we’ve named it. 

The weather has been a mixed bag of just about everything … snow and rain, fog and ice, mild and bitter cold. We’ve found ourselves shovelling out deep snow, only to have a grand melt the next day. We’ve left our tools out on a mild day, only to have them stuck in place with an unexpected deep freeze. We’ve laid down seeds on tree stumps, to have freezing rain ice them in place an hour later. There’s a rhythm, but it’s proving indiscernible so far. 

Not surprising, given the nature of this seasonal tide, the time of year the elements begin their movement out of sync with one another, lag time between each other, until the reset of spring locks them back into coherence. So, as always, we’re taking the bumps of the season in stride, letting go of perfection and aiming for the ‘best’ we can manage in each moment.

We wonder if ‘mystery cat’ is feeling the same, or, if like us, ‘mystery cat’ is following tracks, our tracks.

We imagine ‘mystery cat’ following our tracks, following their tracks, noticing the discrepancies of birdseed iced onto stumps, tools stuck in the ground, efforts of snow management disappearing in a single rainfall. Mystery Cat must be wondering if we’re skipping steps and going at things in undefinable ways. What magic are we practicing - the magic of unpredictability? Much like ‘mystery cat’ and their missing tracks, we seem to be offering surprises too. 

And that brings us into the deepening spiral of neither seeing the other, yet tracking each other none-the-less. The very nature of mystery and faith. The mystery of ‘not knowing’ but the faith of recognizing a story is in the making. In turn a relationship develops out of signs and tracks, building itself in the ethers that bridge us together through spirit, so-to-speak.

Well, Mystery Cat, with curiosity in the unknown, faith in the story and whispers in the ethers of our indirect connections, may we find our way in this turning wheel of the year and celebrate the places our paths do cross. 

Kristine hosts a variety of offerings - Sound Nidra, Mystery in Motion, etc. Check them out on our website.