ANNIE AND THE WOLF MASK

By Rita Grimaldi

BEING WOLF, TRANSFORMATION AND THE WOLF MASK

The experience of telling two stories in my Wolf mask is still full of emotion even after almost two weeks. This is because of the stories I told. The second story, Medicine Wolf, especially was full of raw emotion and need. Some part of me wanted to clear the Wolf mask of the emotions of these stories. So I decided to write a fictional piece in order to have another kind of experience with the mask.

Working in fiction allowed a full transformation and allowed me to write in a mentor for the mask being.

So taking my fictional personna - Annie - I went into story land wearing the Wolf mask. Here is the story of being Wolf in story land.

 ANNIE AND THE WOLF MASK

Annie put on Rita’s Wolf mask and went into story land. She turned into a wolf as soon as she crossed the border. A fine white wolf she was, walking over the rocky ground. The ocean came into sight, big waves rolling into the shore.

Annie/wolf walked along the shore. By and by she came to a little house. An old woman sat outside spinning wool on a drop spindle.

Annie/wolf approached her. “Good day grandmother,” she said, “Can I have some food?”

The old woman looked at her but she did not answer. Then Annie realized that what she had said sounded like barking. So she took human form and asked again.

“Please grandmother can I have something to eat?”

“Come inside,” said the old woman.

So Annie walked into the house. Inside Annie saw a magic thing. All the windows looked out on a different view. Annie saw the ocean out one window, a city out another window, farm land out a third and a forest out a fourth window.

“How can there be so many places outside your house?” asked Annie.

“Well,” said the old woman, “That is because this house is at the centre of the worlds.”

Annie sat down at a small table on a small chair. She had a tiny cup of tea and a tiny biscuit. When she had finished she said, “I had best be going now. Thank you for the tea and biscuit.” Then Annie went out the door. She became a wolf again.

Outside was as it had been, the ocean tumbling by. Annie/wolf walked along the shore to where she had come into story land. Then she walked into the real world.

Now she was human again – wearing the world mask. She walked into Rita’s studio. There she took off Rita’s Wolf mask and hung it on the wall.

After that she sat on the small couch and thought about the house at the centre of the world.

She wondered what would have happened if she had climbed out one of the windows instead of going out of the door.