Skunk Medicine And A Story

Handstanding Skunk Painting by Emily Paul on Etsy

My teacher today is Skunk whose lessons are about reputation and respect.  Although completely non-aggressive and small in size, skunk does indeed have a powerful reputation and the mere sight of one is enough to send most people running.  They live in dens either dug by them or someone else and can be found anywhere from forest areas to the suburbs, although never more than 2 miles away from water.  They are omnivores, and are one of the few animals who will attack a bee hive and eat the bees! Skunk can show you how to assert yourself without being a bully and how to attract those who are like minded while repelling those who are not,  through the energy you project.  That energy is a reflection of how you feel about yourself and is sensed by others.  Skunk has been a friend to me since childhood so I 'm greatly looking forward to spending time with her today!  Here is a story I wrote about Skunk and what she taught me when I was very young.


Dad’s job took him away from home through the week, but on weekends he was almost always home. This could be good for me, or not so good, depending on how his week had gone.

I didn’t have many toys growing up, but thanks to relatives and Mom, my stuffed animal collection was huge and for every occasion there were new additions to the menagerie as it was called. They lived on my bed but I played with them on the floor and wanting none to be left out, that meant they were often ALL on the floor.

I was 6, Dad was home, and apparently it was one of his not-so-good weekends because he became angry that I hadn’t cleaned my room and there were bloody stuffed animals all over the floor. They didn’t look bloody to me, I told him so, and that’s when things got ugly.

Dad strode over to the window, opened it, slid the screen up and proceeded to throw all the stuffed animals out of it as fast as he could. Our apartment was on the third floor overlooking a cement lot where the tenants’ garages were located. Having been warned many times to not fall out the window because I’d die, I had no doubt the animals would die too!

I started crying, “Daddy, no, no!” which only seemed to make him throw faster until finally there wasn’t a single stuffed animal to be seen. Sobbing, I walked over to the window, stood on my tiptoes and looked down. There they all were, lying in disarray – some face down, some with bent legs, some on top of others. It was a horrible sight to me and I started screaming, “They’re dead! You killed my animals - they’re all dead!”

Fixing me with an angry glare, Dad said, “You are not to bring them back in this room and that’s the end of it!” Through tears, I looked up at my towering, red faced father and replied, “I hate you! Someday when you’re old and in a wheelchair I’m going to push you down the stairs!”

Back talk wasn’t allowed in my house and that defiance earned me a spanking which stopped my tears and silenced me until I heard Dad’s keys jingling and him leaving the apartment.

My Mom was standing in the doorway of my room looking at me with sadness and after a while, when I felt he was gone I ran down the 3 flights of stairs that led outside to the parking lot and gazed upon my friends.

Bending down and picking one up, I studied it carefully. It was the blue and white striped horse named Horse that I had since I was a baby and although a little dirty, he didn’t seem dead at all and was even still smiling. Looking at the others, I realized they weren’t dead either; they were all ok and still alive!

But what would I do with them? My Dad had forbidden me to bring them back inside and there were too many to hide. Looking at the horse, I whispered, “What should I do?” and he replied, “Take us to the secret cave, Little One. We’ll all be safe there.”

The secret cave was in fact one of the forsythia bushes in the front of the apartment building. It was old and gnarly and the thick branches cascaded to the ground. But inside it was hollow, like a little cave, and there was a small opening at the back of the bush where the wall of the building was that a child could crawl through. So taking as many animals as I could carry in my arms, I made several trips from the parking lot to the front of the building and finally all of them were arranged inside the cave facing me.

Picking up the little skunk named Skunk, who slept under my pillow and came to school in my lunchbox, I put him in my lap and just sat for a while leaning against the building until a feeling of calmness came.

“I’ll stay here with you,” I told them. “No,” said Skunk, “Your mother is worried. You have to go back inside.”

“I hate him!” I said, looking at all their faces, “I’ll hate him forever!” “No,” they all replied. “Hating is wrong. Forgiving is right.”

“But why should I forgive him?” I asked, picking up the little skunk and wondering how I could find the courage to go back to the apartment without my best friends. “Because he does not understand”, whispered the skunk. “We forgive because they do not understand. Never forget that, Little One. Now hide me in your pocket and go back inside.”

So I did. I hid Skunk in my pocket, waved goodbye to the rest of the animals and went back upstairs to the apartment where my Mom hugged me and gave me something to eat.

The bed seemed too big and empty that night without their furry presence and when I reached out and touched nothing but empty space, I felt very alone. But underneath my head was the reassuring lump of my smallest friend who kept whispering in my ear that everything was ok, and to just go to sleep

All the next day it rained and I worried that the animals would be wet and cold. But there was nothing I could do, so I kept myself busy drawing pictures of them until the day passed and I once again fell asleep in my empty bed.

In the morning, Dad took his suitcase and went back to work, Mom packed Skunk in the lunchbox and kissed me goodbye, and I walked to school with my friends. When I got home, all the animals were back on my bed, dry and clean. Mom gave me a hug and a snack, and I settled happily in my room.

The week passed, Dad returned on the weekend and nothing was said about the animals being back. I wasn’t worried anyway because Mom had put them there and I knew there they would stay.

Unfortunately though, my words to Dad about pushing him down stairs when he was in a wheelchair lingered forever, and were repeated to relatives and friends. Remembering Skunk’s lesson about forgiving, I always reassured my Dad that I would never really do such a thing which seemed to please him. And the words, “We forgive because they do not understand” stayed with me for life.

Although there’s no longer a secret cave under a forsythia bush I can go to in a literal sense, when we moved, I brought the memory with me. There I can still put anything that gets wounded for safe keeping, including myself. And the animals remain in case I need a reminder about hating and forgiving. Sometimes long periods of time pass and I don’t visit, then suddenly I’ll find myself back there again needing reinforcement. It’s a good lesson and easy to remember because no matter what the circumstances in question are, the answer always remains the same; hating is wrong, forgiving is right.

So that’s how I learned and continue to learn to forgive. I am sincerely thankful that my Dad and my stuffed animals taught me that.

But most of all, I’m grateful to my Mom, a small, black and white-haired woman who always smelled of Shalimar perfume, for teaching me about forgiving with love and wisdom:>)

End of Day notes:  Nothing unusual happened today - I was home and didn't have contact with anyone except Richie so there were no opportunities to practice Skunk Medicine except for with myself.  I was really at loss as to what to record about today's lesson until I thought of the childhood story I shared earlier which was a very good lesson from Skunk for sure.  And I'd like to say to my Dad, in case you've read it from Spirit Land, I did forgive you for that and all those other things that I won't mention here, and still love you for the many good things you did for me :>)  Thank you to Skunk for being with me today, and for your friendship all these years!