A couple of months ago, I sat down with Allison Adams for her podcast, Art & Alchemy Lab. We talked about a lot of things — alchemy, illusion, discernment, grief — but the moment that stayed with me afterward wasn’t one of mine.
Allison told me about her daughter’s hamster, Benson. He slept with her every night. He had this unusually big, patient presence for such a small creature — more like an old soul than a pet. When he died, very young, he waited for her daughter to come home before he let go.
I remember saying, without really planning to: how amazing that this big presence was in this tiny body.
I keep thinking about that line.
Over the years, I’ve come to see that most of us are conditioned to look for Spirit in the spectacular. The wolf. The eagle. The unmistakable sign. The big dramatic vision that leaves no room for doubt.
But sometimes it’s a hamster.
Other times it’s a pigeon showing up so often you stop noticing it.
And, sometimes it’s a dog who jumps into your husband’s car during a storm on the side of the highway — and when you put your hand on his forehead, you hear, clear as anything, my name is Sky.
I’ve told Sky’s story before. He came to us in 2017, a lost white husky who looked more like a wolf than a dog. He stayed nine years. He died fast, not long after we came home from the Amazon, and I still feel him in this house.
Maybe that’s why I haven’t stopped thinking about Benson.
A white husky who looked like a wolf. A tiny hamster who slept beside a little girl.
Different bodies. Different stories. And both reminders that the size, species, or shape of a being tells us very little about the size of their presence.
Spirit wants to connect with us always. It isn’t hiding. I think we’re just not always looking in the shape it’s arriving in.
What has been trying to reach you in a shape you almost overlooked?
This letter came out of a real conversation — animals, grief, illusion, Sky, Benson, and a lot more we didn’t plan on saying out loud. If you want to sit inside the whole thing, it’s linked below.
Watch the full conversation on Art & Alchemy Lab: https://youtu.be/6emVrRAzkyY?
With Love and Wisdom,
Lauren
