Alafia Carole,

I made a tough decision earlier today. I've decided it is in my best interest to back out of the Zoology/Docent Training program I'm enrolled in at the Central Florida Zoo. Why? I actually discovered Big Cat Rescue on the Internet the day before I was scheduled to go through class orientation at the Zoo. My heart instinct told me to scrap the Zoo and get on board with BCR; however, my head said it wasn't logical to scrap my zoo plans considering my knowledge of BCR was only via the Internet.

I spent a good amount of time the other day reading your website. Once again, I am so impressed with you. I respect your love and dedication to serving animals & value an organized leader. (The red, yellow, green traffic light inspired volunteer tee shirt system is brilliant.) I also respect the fact that you have suffered and overcome adversity with courage and perseverance. Overcoming adversity with courage and perseverance means that you are strong and humble; a rare and powerful balance, especially in a leader.

Though I appreciate the role the Central Florida Zoo serves, it's a sterile environment. I can't evolve and flourish in a sterile environment. Based on what I discovered about you the other day and your Sarabi & Mufasa experience, I know you are Spirit conscious, and since you're at the helm of BCR, sight unseen, I know Spirit abounds on the grounds of BCR.

Long story short... I'm asking you to humor me one last time with a 'behind the scenes tour' reschedule. In order to accommodate the Zoo, I arranged my schedule so that I could be free on Wednesdays through April 14. Ergo, I'm available to meet you on any Wednesday of your choosing: March 17, March 24, March 31, April 7, or April 14. I apologize for being a nuisance. I'm not flaky, in order to launch Shaman Safari in 12 months, I must be time and choice conscious. - Lynn (I don’t remember her last name and her websites are now defunct)

If you have time, I'm curious...

Lynn’s questions are in italics.

What species, other than feline, reside at BCR? 6 Binturong, 2 African and 2 Palm Civets, 10 Lemurs(8 ringtailed, 2 blk & wht) , 4 Llamas, a horse that some people refer to as an old soul, (people who you wouldn’t even guess would think such a thing), deer, 3 Patagonian cavies, 2 swans (of course), ducks, a coati and a genet. I won’t take in any animal other than cats, but some of these were before we became as focused and others have been left at our gate. Our operations manager who lives on site has a boxer. I think one of our on site keepers has a skunk.

When you acquired Windsong in 1992, did you have a Class 2 license? If so, how did you obtain said license; i.e., what training granted you this license? From 1980 until 1992 I had Himalayan show cats and we traveled the country getting their grand championships. My cats were raised under foot and I often thought that their success in the show ring had much more to do with their purrsonalities than their genetics. I didn’t like the direction the breed took when they decided that the cats should look like Persians with flat faces and all of the defects that go along with extreme breeding and quit breeding and showing in 1984.

I always was involved with cattery rescues where crazy cat ladies (gosh, do people call me that?) would end up with more cats than they could care for. I was often asked to negotiate their removal and then had lots and lots of trips to the vet to clean the cats up and find proper homes. Because I spent so much time in vets offices with cattery cats that had absolutely no use for people, the vets soon learned that if a bobcat was injured they could set a leg in 30 minutes and turn over the 6 months of rehab care to me. I had to get a rehab permit from the state to do that. I didn’t know that until much later, but that is how I got my initial permit for class 2.

How did you work up to obtaining Class 1 licensing? That was a legal battle. We got a call from a man in PA (I think) who had two baby leopards and no permit. The state gave him a limited time to place the cats or they would have to be euthanized. The state regs said that you have to have experience with an animal of similar size, diet requirements and temperament and I had cougars that weighed nearly 200 pounds and were considered quite dangerous when they had come to us, so I applied for Class 1, based on the years of experience with the cougars. As the days came to an end for the leopard cubs I called FFFWCC and they said my permit for Class I was in the mail and to go ahead and pick up the cats. I did and a couple weeks later, when the permit had not arrived, I contacted FFFWCC again and they said they had erred and it wouldn’t be coming because a cougar wasn’t similar enough to a leopard. I asked what I was supposed to do about the leopards and the state came out and confiscated them.

I asked that they be sent to Delores Newman, a big cat mentor who we often took food to and built cages for so that I could work with the cubs and get my hours there. The state instead sent them to Vernon Yates of Wildlife Rescue in St. Pete, who refused to let me visit, bring our food or work with them. He sold the cubs before the lawsuit ever reached an end. He calls himself a sanctuary and when ever the state wants to confiscate a cat they call him. He then sells the animal and breeds and sells tiger cubs as well which just adds to the problem. We became embroiled in a lawsuit with the state that lasted for years. Meanwhile I was taking care of our cats and then running over to Delores’ almost every day to clean her cages, feed her cats and get the hours I needed to become permitted. I finally got the hours and the permit, but the cats had been sold and suing Vernon Yates was not going to get the cats back, so I dropped it. Delores Newman just recently gave away all of her cats after falling and breaking her hip. She was in her 80’s. I have been paying her property taxes for her for years because her children wouldn’t support her as long as she had cats, but now that the cats are gone, they will take over her care.

If you're interested in learning more about me before me meet, I'm gonna supply you with the links to my two websites. The first site contains information regarding my spiritual counseling, healing & instruction practice: Mirror Image. The second site is a concise, yet in-depth overview of a book I've written & illustrated: Conviction of the Heart. (Currently in quasi, self-published format.)

1st site: www.mi-spirit.com

2nd site: www.convictionoftheheart.com

I read both site through and would love to buy a copy of your book if you will bring one with you. I am so thrilled to have the chance to meet you after learning a little more about you. It is a rare thing to find a person of such inner beauty, clarity and focus.

The man I had broken up with in the Sarabi story was Peter, a Chiropractor and someone who was very well read in subjects of spirituality, healing, radionics, colour therapy, underground currents, magnetic forces, dream interpretation, and the list goes on and on. When he moved in with me he brought 10 floor to ceiling bookcases full of these books. I don’t think he actually read them, so it is unfair to say he was well read, but he possessed them and I spent months reading everything I could. Until then I had always just thought I was some sort of freak. I didn’t know there was anyone else who could touch a person or a wall and know what the person felt or what the wall had seen. I have always felt like there was just this open phone line between God and I and never felt the need to “go to God in prayer”. It was like a constant dialog and had saved my skin many times. I always referred to the warnings as being “that still small voice” although it was often more than still and small.

To say the least, I am very new to all of this. I am new to the realization that there are lots of us. I’ve experienced it forever and tried to encourage it in my own daughter because I think people kill the ability in their children to really know themselves by insisting that certain feelings or perceptions are not normal. (or are downright weird. What do you mean the rock told you about Indians that used to live here?) Our vet often comments that she has never seen anyone perform the miracles of healing with our cats that Jamie does. She can talk to the animals and I have always tried to support her ability to do so.

I agree that we all have this ability to connect with the Divine at some level. One of the things that Easy Street has brought to light for me is how so many people, who have no understanding of spiritual matters, recognize a connection with the animals. This is the connection that is the focus of what I am trying to do. The realization that we are all one. This was in my mission statement, but my advisors tell me that it is just too esoteric and won’t generate the donations we need to do real work, but it is at the heart of my own personal mission. If I can help people come to the conclusion that we are all one, starting with an animal that they want to be one with; an animal that represents strength, beauty and all that is natural, then it only naturally begins to extend to the animals they eat and wear and hopefully, ultimately, to the humans that we share existence with.

We just recently had a zoning application approved, but that process started as the dream of creating a place of physical and emotional healing where people could come to make that connection with the cats and start them on their journey to wellness and peace. With the Moffit Cancer Center so close by, I felt that this would be an obvious first choice of people to reach out to and we have done some PR work there, but much more needs to be done. So many people have come here after a death or divorce or when they were sick and said, “I looked into the cat’s eyes, and I saw God!”

Nothing happens by coincidence and after reading about you I am sure that you were meant to be a part of this awakening.

1997 was the year I lost my husband, who had been my best friend since I was 19, and I lost my grandfather to brain cancer. The women in our family have never died before the age of 100 so cancer was never a consideration to me until it struck so close to home and so quickly in 1997 with my grandfather. A lot of our cats die from cancer and the vet said it is because we feed human grade meat. Scary thought. For 3 months we raised our own chickens, organically with no antibiotics and no hormones, but we couldn’t create a big enough bird to feed the cats without the drugs and had to abandon the project. The back 20 acres of our parcel was renamed, Return To Eden for this project and the organic farming was only the first step toward what I wanted for a healing center that would have included dormitories, a health and fitness center, counseling rooms, and space for massage therapist, a chiropractor and other healers. Our new zoning allows me a 64,000 square foot building and 20 dorm rooms. Only funds and some access issues are in the way. In the Power Point presentation that I originally did for the county one of the slides was entitled: Mind/Body/Spirit.

Girl, my head is swimming! So much to say in response to your words, I'm challenged organizing it all. I predict we're gonna enter a time warp when we get together on Tuesday; meaning, time will seem to stand still while we journey at 1000 mph.

Your proposed Healing Center is spot-on n'sync with my visions & dreams. I feel working in conjunction with you & BCR, regarding Shaman Safari, is the purrfect venue to help you logistically & financially materialize your Healing Center vision. I know, all too well, the difficult balance of fusing business with the spiritual. Your advisors advised you well in suggesting you 'outwardly' modify your mission statement so it not be esoteric. We've got a match made in heaven here, literally. Under the umbrella of Shaman Safari, you and I can build the foundation of the spiritual stuff you envision for BCR. Then, when SS proves its 'magic', you can outwardly profess your BCR spiritual mission claim. This way, Shaman Safari (me), can bear the brunt of trial & error without defamation of BCR's reputation or lost revenue, and in return, you supply me with an animal laboratory (in a manner of speaking) to test and experiment my ideas before taking them public via Shaman Safari. I've already started testing & experimenting (ceremony & energy work) with the Asian Leopard Clan at Horseshoe Creek, and have experienced some amazing things.

My plan is to give you two full days a week, back-to-back, doing chores during the day at BCR, spending the night in between in a tent on site. With your permission of course, the night that I spend on property, I will engage in testing & experimenting (ceremony & energy work) with your animals. As for the weekly, two days I'd like to devote to you & BCR, I'm thinking Sundays & Mondays, so I can attend the monthly volunteer meeting. I assume you have more coverage on weekends vs. during the week, so, if you prefer that I devote Mondays & Tuesdays, that's cool with me, but then I couldn't attend the monthly v-meetings. If this all appeals to you, I'll leave it up to you to decide which days would be the most beneficial to BCR.

I would love for you to read my book. I'm in the process of doing a revision before I print up some more copies. I'd prefer that you wait to read the revised version. In the meantime, I've attached Conviction of the Heart's introduction, epilogue, author's postscript, and a verbal explanation of the illustration that follows the author's postscript. I included the author's postscript and the illustration that follows it in response to your words, "I have always felt like there was just this open phone line between God and I and never felt the need to 'go to God in prayer'. It was like a constant dialog and had saved my skin many times. I always referred to the warning as being 'that still small voice' although it was often more than still and small." Well written! Kenny Loggins is one of my favorite musicians. He wrote something on the jacket of his Leap of Faith CD that is one of my fav quotes...

"Be still and listen to the voice, in truth we do the best we can. We are not man in search of God, but God in search of man."