My lesson in "Basic Magic" came to the rescue recently in an adventure I call "The Great Dog Escape". Without magic, New Year's Eve 2001 could have meant Auld Lange Syne for me and Birgit, my Arctic white wolf/Akita cross, and her mate, Bjorn, the Chow Chow mix. Birgit absolutely hates fireworks, so she tunneled out from under the six foot chain link fence (with hot wire) during the festivities of the neighborhood, though I had given her an herbal anxiety remedy. I returned from a potluck to find nothing but a hole under the fence and a tuft of wolf hair.

After searching frantically and calling the dogcatcher, I calmed down and began to use the "water bowl", a technique the "Basic Magic" class had just learned (for finding lost objects and for telepathic communication) the night before the break-out. At first, I saw Birgit's head exploding, which I translated as bad news. Over the next few days, I connected with the dogs and felt their life force, a great relief. Birgit let me know the firework explosions made her crazy in the head. Bjorn "said" he just went along for the ride, but he was now very sorry because he had something stuck between his eyes. Both communicated they didn't know how to get home. I told them we needed a third party to help us, because I didn't know where they were.

Four days after their departure, the two escapees were brought home by the dogcatcher. They had taken refuge in someone's doghouse, where they were found and reported. They came home tired, hungry, thirsty and smelling strongly of skunk. Birgit apologized in dog "body language", though she seemed relieved because I had assured her in the "water bowl" conversations that she wasn't in trouble. And Bjorn had a porcupine quill between his eyes, a real confirmation of the accuracy of the "water bowl" technique.

Using the "water bowl" to contact the dogs kept me from untold grief during the beginning of the New Year, a time I use to envision my goals for the rest of the year. Had I a bit more practice with the technique, I probably could have even found the dogs without the help of the family with the doghouse and the dogcatcher. I plan to board the animals for New Year's Eve next year, but I am practicing the "water bowl" technique in case I ever need to help someone else.

Dawn Donalson
Fredericksburg, Texas