The Dark And The Light Wolf

Which Wolf Will Rule Your Kingdom?

In my teacher, Chris Lüttichau's book Calling Us Home, he talks of an old Native American story where a boy went to his grandfather in pain saying that his friend had betrayed and hurt him; 'Why do people do such things?'

The old grandfather listened carefully and when his grandchild had finished he finally spoke: 'There are two wolves. One is the light wolf, which shares with others and seeks understanding, peace and friendship. Its quality is respect. The other is the dark wolf, which is greedy, envious and seeks conflict. It judges others and takes even small things personally; it carries anger and hate. Every human being has the two wolves inside them, and these wolves are in a terrible battle, both trying to win dominion.'

The boy thought about this and asked, 'Which one wins?' His grandfather sat in silence for a while. Then he said, 'The one you feed!'

These two forces, the dark and the light wolf, as well as being in existence within ourselves are alive within our wider society too. They take us in opposing directions, into conflict and war, or into peace and harmony. They reflect where we are at as individuals and as a collective and the choices we face if we feed one or the other.

Each wolf has its own characteristics, behaviours and ways of communicating, the dark wolf operates out of a position of fear, always pointing the paw in the direction of the other, growling at YOU and what you have done to upset it, whereas the light wolf takes more responsibility for itself, supports and promotes others and operates from the I, out of love.

In my own writing I have referred to the dark wolf as the caterpillar, the light wolf as the butterfly, meaning it is possible to evolve or transform from one way of thinking and being to the other. The way caterpillars and dark wolves communicate, compete, store and gorge, ties very much into the growth model we are all too familiar with. The way butterflies and light wolves relate, collaborate, share and distribute, leads us somewhere entirely different, to a realm we as yet are not fully aware of. We don't know what is possible when everyone begins to fulfil their true potential in this way as to where that will ultimately take us.

One thing to bear in mind however as we travel onward is another Native American (Hopi) prophecy, that speaks of a fork in the road of the human journey not too far up ahead where we will have to make a choice to follow and feed the dark wolf or that of the light wolf. Both wolves will possibly lead us to what has been termed as The Great Purification, a transition to a new existence. The dark wolf and caterpillar take us to a place of extreme suffering if not entire annihilation. The white wolf and butterfly take us to a life more aligned with nature and the planet. As these dark and light forces seemingly start to gather and group up within the world at large  perhaps that decision is more imminent than we care to imagine. Where we head next the choice is ours, yours and mine, towards fear or love?
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The Call To Adventure

Shamanic Practice