Neko Case, the alt-country singer and songwriter, composed a song called “The Tigers Have Spoken” which tells the tale of a caged tiger that almost broke my heart into a zillion fragments. The song describes a tiger kept in captivity that slowly goes insane from its confinement, becoming so enraged and aggressive that it cannot be handled anymore.

I have always responded with searing heartbreak, with intense soul-pain, when confronted with any individual, animal, or plant that is enslaved, caged, or in pain. I feel that pain. As a child, I remember saving the baby bunny or the baby bird. I remember moving the oak sapling that would have been mowed down and replanting it elsewhere, where it grew to over 20 feet tall. I am unable to stomach the idea of souls in chains or in cages. I seem to have inherited this from my mother. My mother was always an animal person to her core. 

Over a long journey, as I healed, I realized that my real power and strength came from my true self, myself as a woman. And I started to blossom and to reveal myself to the world. I became a devotee of the goddess in all her forms, and I threw away all of my pants! To this day, I don’t even own a single pair of pants. I express myself through dresses and make-up and longer hair!

One of the lessons I learned early in life — and thank goodness — is that you have to be willing to follow the call of your own heart and soul, even if you have to disappoint others to do so.