bulldogs! (Aragog and Shelob must
be their descendants...) The fe-
males, which are bigger and fatter than
the males, can live up to 25 years. Spi-
ders don’t even have a head, much less
a brain, and yet they act with an un-
canny and deliberate intelligence. To
feed, they impale their hollow fangs into
the body of their prey and inject stomach acids. Then,
when the prey’s insides are all digested the spider
sucks out the juices through its own straws. Pet taran-
tulas are usually fed crickets or pinkie mice.
We have had several tarantulas; my favorite was
a Mexican Red-Legged named Kallisti. She learned to
recognize me and would crawl onto my hand when I
reached into her terrarium. She would climb up and sit
on my shoulder, tucked under my hair, and watch ev-
erything with intense interest and curiosity, holding
her front legs up to listen (spiders have their ears in
their armpits). She had a definite presence that im-
pressed everyone who met her. So I think that tarantu-
las can make good familiars. A pet tarantula won’t bite
you unless very frightened, and in any case, its venom
is pretty harmless to humans—about like a bee sting.Lesson 4. Shapeshifting
& BorrowingWe are not so far removed from the other animals as
some people might like to think. Indeed, with all my
years of experience and knowledge of animals, I find it
easiest to relate to people in the same way as I relate to
animals. Each has their own unique qualities and ways
of being, and none of them are wrong. You can under-
stand most of the important things about any animal
just by knowing what it eats, how it gets its food,
whether it’s nocturnal (active at night) or diurnal (ac-
tive in daylight), and its other lifestyle habits. The
same is true of people. Looking at humans as though
you are studying animals can be the most useful means
of learning patience, tolerance, and insight!Shapeshifting
Many of Merlyn’s lessons for
young Arthur involved shape-
shifting, teaching him to take the
forms of various animals to
learn their ways and wisdom.
When I was a boy, I too used
to spend a day or so taking the
form of a different creature—
moving like the animal, making
its sounds, trying to get into its
mind and experience the world
through its senses. I hopped
around like a kangaroo, holding my
hands up before my chest. I crawledaround with my arms and legs akimbo like a lizard, and
slithered under things on my belly like a snake with
my hands at my sides. I learned to swim up and down
like a dolphin, and wriggled through the water like an
otter (I still swim like this). I stomped around like a T-
Rex, my back level to the ground, arms tight against
my body except for two fingers, snarling and snap-
ping as I turned my head. I lumbered like a bear on all
fours, walked on my knuckles like a gorilla, and imi-
tated an elephant by extending my arm with my face
against my shoulder. I made a wire headset so I could
crawl around the house like an ant with my eyes closed
and find my way by touching things with my antennae.
I even got a pair of multi-faceted eyeglasses and wore
them around to see how the world looks to an insect!
In recent years, Morning Glory has led whole
groups of people in doing these kinds of exercises,
each being a different animal, crawling around, inter-
acting with each other. I recommend you try it, too—
especially with a few friends! See if you can tell what
kind of animal each other is.
If you add masks and costumes, you can carry
shapeshifting to whole new levels. Accounts of “were-
creatures” (wer is Old English for “man”) come from
all parts of the world throughout history: werewolves,
were-leopards, were-bears, and silkies (were-seals).
Many of these were people who deliberately costumed
themselves as beasts and imitated their behavior as
closely as possible. This would include special rituals
to suppress their human side and bring out their ani-
mal nature—to become that animal. Plains Indians used
to dress in buffalo robes to hunt bison, and such ani-
mal costumes have been important elements in Mys-
tery rites from the Greek Brauaria (bear ritual) and
Roman Lupercalia (wolf festival) to Medieval
mummer’s plays.
When we were living on Greenfield Ranch, Morn-
ing Glory and I raised up a few baby fawns that I found
in my walks through the woods. We fed them on goat’s
milk and slept with them in our bed. When they grew
up, they would spend their days out grazing with
the other deer, but when we called their
names, they would come trotting over
for scritches and snackies. Now, I
have a full deerskin robe, complete
with hooves and antlers, just as
in the pictures on ancient cave
walls. One Fall, during the deer
mating season, I sat in the
meadow under a tree with Kira,
who had become a lovely lady
deer. A couple of handsome
young bucks were trying to
court her and were duking it out
between them. Finally, the winner
swaggered over to Kira, then
stopped as he noticed me behind her.Course Six: Spectrum, Part 2 257
Corrected pages 3rd printing.2.p65 38 6/10/2004, 4:02 PM