Robert Burns’ poem “To a Mouse” with its reference to that “wee beastie” kept running through my mind this morning and it sent me too Google to read the poem in its entirety. I also looked up the spiritual meaning of mouse and found it to have application for me today.

Mouse asks us to be astute and to pay attention to the detail around us in order to secure a safe and secure home. At the same time, mouse energy has us be observant of the wider world and able to calibrate by instinct what is good for us. While a humble and “wee” animal, mouse reminds us of the sovereignty and power of the individual.

As I listen to the news and the messiness of political and governmental transition and as I read my Facebook feed, mouse medicine is instructional. It reminds me to focus on my own nest, to live in the present and to scan the horizon for danger and opportunity.

It is time for a reset. Covid-19 has provided the time for slowing down and looking inward. The election and the slow watching of results has provided us with a new scene: a clearly divided nation, where respect for one another is at an all-time low and where distrust is rampant. We must find a better way. We must find a way to rebuild civility and community. We must stop seeing those who hold differing perspectives as the enemy.

I personally am going to filter out the hate, the disinformation, and the slander from my life: the news I watch, my Facebook feed and all conversations that veer into said territory. I am going to speak truth to power even more vigorously, calling out hate speech and disrespect when I see and hear it.

It will be not just mouse energy, but lion strength and lamb gentleness that are needed as we move forward into a new era of reunion. It will take the medicine of all our earthly animal friends and all the powers of Divine Love and Understanding to regain-or perhaps attain for the first time- inclusive Beloved Community.

As Thanksgiving passes, the generous spirit of indigenous people, their sense of being All One and their reference for Mother Earth comes  to the forefront of our consciousness. Let it remain there and Let us strive to reunite our people to a common sense of purpose and to love and kindness for all.