A Message from the Lions

Lion, symbol of the kings of the Zulus!
Lion, thunder of the valleys!
Where your roar is to be heard, there life is found.
Where your breath is to be smelt, there is no evil.
And where you are seen, there is no fear!
Lion, may your footprint never be erased by the passing winds,
and long may you walk on the plains of this earth.
To life! Bayete!
( Zulu prayer in honour of the lion- taken from "Children of the Sun God" by Linda Tucker )

I have alway had a deep connection with the "King of the Beasts". This led me to finding these two beautiful animals in Le Zoo Jurques, in Normandy, France. Feeling homesick for Africa I went on a quest to connect with a lion.

I found the zoo about an hour from where I was staying.

After talking to some meercats, who were huddled in their heated enclosure, quite safe and happy, I ventured off to the Lions. The lioness saw me before I saw her. Her eyes followed my path towards her. I introduced myself to her and told her how honoured I was to be in her presence. I felt an immediate connection. I felt this incredible sense of loneliness coming from her, and a feeling of not belonging (not surprising as she was a million miles away from where she "belonged").

I could not believe that she was without a mate! I asked her where her mate was, and got a feeling I should move up to the other end of the enclosure. There I found the main viewing area- large panes of glass let people see the lions without having to look through the fence. One of the windows looked onto a concrete room, where I found who I was looking for. He was sitting in a pose that reminded me of the Great Sphinx in Egypt. He was closed into the concrete chamber.

As there were suddenly a crowd of vistors clammering to see this beautiful creature, I took a walk, intending to come back when there were less people around. When I returned, one of the zookeepers had arrived and went into the service gate of the enclosure. The lioness responded quickly to this and went forward to the opening of the concrete enclosures, of which there were two . She was closed in the one without the window and her mate was let out. I stayed to try and work out what was going on. I connected with the male lion and felt great anger coming from him. He was frustrated, lonely and angry.

After a short while the lioness started scratching at the door to be let out. She wanted to be with her partner. I could only see a small part of her through an opening. The moment I focused my attention on her, she whipped her head around and looked at me desparately. She was asking me to help. She then let out a great roar which her mate then answered with a roar that shook the ground, and still vibrated in the air minutes after. They needed to be together

That was it, I had to get to the bottom of this. The lions could not tell me why they were being kept apart. ( I knew this wasn't a permanent situation, but I needed to find out why.) I went to get help. Unfortunately my french is not very good and the person I found spoke no english.(The lions understood me better than the humans) I left the zoo, telling the lions that I would be back. I had the zoos email address and wrote to them to find out why their lions were separated. The story I got back explained the loneliness of both of them.

The Lions original mate had died of old age. This female had only been there for two months and they had to introduce them to eachother slowly. It is known that If the lioness resisted her new mate she could easily be killed by him. I found out that they were put together in the mornings with a keeper watching them and observing their behaviour- ready to step in at any sign of danger to the lioness. The owners of the zoo have kindly consented to me visiting them tomorrow (Thursday 31st Oct. ) to observe and communicate with them together.... I will write more about what I find.

I have been connecting with them over a distance and feel they have a very strong message for me, not just about them and their plight. I have a feeling my work will take me on a "Lion Quest" Studying and communicating with lions who have been taken from their homeland of Africa.

The Message

The night before I went to see them. I worked with the photographs I had taken. Wanting to convey to them both, the reasons why they were separated. I sent them an image of them being together for life. That the lioness needs the protection and love of the lion, and that the lion, with all his anger needs the care and love of the lioness. They only had eachother.

Filled with an overwhelming sadness for these magnificent creatures, I sent them the healing light and told them how much they were loved for what they were doing. I worked with them for quite a long period, on and off throughout the night. When I awoke in the morning, I felt that they were more at peace with eachother.

I arrived at the Lion enclosure to be greeted by the Lioness. I greeted her back and asked how the two of them were getting on. In answer she strolled up to her mate, nipped him on the back, he gave her a bit of a growl to put her in her place, then they settled down together. I in turn settled down and started tuning in.

What I got back left me in awe. It was almost as if I connected to them on two different levels. The physical, where I knew their feelings as flesh and blood lions, and the spiritual level, where they told me of their greater purpose. I wrote everything down as I got it. This is their message:

There is change. There is a bond between lion and man which goes back to the beginning of time. Although precarious, this bond still exists and is strengthening. As we humans have a purpose and a mission in life, so too do the lions. They are already enlightened beings, we are getting there. They are the king of the beasts, not us. Each Lion that is exposed to humans, be it the hunter or the healer, teaches us compassion. In their strength they have compassion, in their suffering they have compassion. Where there is compassion there is strength, where there is strength, there is life.

I don't believe that the sole purpose of the Lions is to teach humans compassion. How arrogant it would be to believe that we are the sole purpose of the existance of animals. The truth is that animals and humans are all part of a whole living together. Humans have destroyed the natural bond we have with animals with our cruelty and fear. Lions and every other animal (including humans) have a right to live freely in their world.

The cold of the morning brought me back to reality (this one anyway). I couldn't help asking them how they coped with the cold. I was gently reminded that lions once roamed Briton and the Continent. They have adapted, and do adapt to their environment.

Reading over what I had written, I questioned how things had changed. There was still so much cruelty. Another gentle reminder told me that 50 years ago he would not have been in a large enclosure with grass and trees. He would have been in a steel cage, with barely enough space to turn around in.
Yes, there is change!

Unfortunately this change is not happening very quickly, lions are still being hunted, not to mention the suffering of so many animals on this earth. Lions are being bred for "canned hunting" where the lions are shot when they are drugged and enclosed, with no chance of escape!
How long will it take for us to learn compassion?