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If I had to describe Manuelo’s energy, his would be like vanilla or maybe more like honey. So smooth,silky and sweet. Put this little guy in the mix and everyone just blends better. He brought new life and joy to all of us at Moonhaven but especially to me.
I had been having a difficult time after too many recent animal losses and I had pretty well shut my heart down.
Odd to say that because on the day of his arrival, my heart literally hurt from being too open while Priestessing the spirit release of a man in my community who had committed suicide with a coke OD.
Tara was helping me process and release this pain and suggested that it was perhaps a knock on the door to my hear chakra.
Not a moment later a knock came at the French doors that opened into the back office.. I swear the Goddess does indeed play hard ball with me!
One of my neighbors appeared in the doorway holding the most precious little Russian Blue kitten. She had found him in the bathroom at the park at Lake Santa Fe and could not keep him because of her allergies.
I must have really been closed down because at first , I said no, no more kittens for me right now. Tara who usually took the opposite stance in true Gemini style suggested wisely that I just hold him and see how he felt. Maybe he would just blend in with the others.
The witch! She knew exactly what to say and knew that I just needed to hold his soft silky body to my breast and gaze into those emerald eyes and my resistance would be gone. 
When I held him , I could feel the Spring thaw as my heart chakra melted.
Yes, of course I would take this bundle of warmth and joy. At which point,he licked my chin with his tiny tongue and sealed the deal. I let Manuelo meet the rest of the family. Merlin was always the official greeter and he did it so perfectly, intuitively knowing just how to approach each new one. Next Red Bear appeared and gave him his sniff of approval. The boys started to show their new brother around but it wasn’t necessary. This kitten walked around like he knew the place, and he did.
Manuelo was home again from beyond the veil. I wasn’t sure yet which one of my beloveds had returned from the other side but I was sure that he would add his own flavor to the human and animal gumbo that is Moonhaven.The ache in my chest had mysteriously disappeared as Manuelo Mellow Fellow had captured my heart in his paws.
Manuelo and I became inseparable. He was what I call a Velcro cat. I actually had to develop an entire new style of typing to allow him to maintain his special spot in the crook of my left arm. He loved to sit like this with me while I was on the computer. Day after day we cuddled up like two peas in a pod hovering over the keyboard composing letters, organizing a festival and essentially taking care of the business of being Flash Silvermoon.
This little guy really lived up to the name of Mellow Fellow. He loved to lay in my arms on his back like a limp rag doll purring to beat the band. Those of you with more typical cats know what a treat it is to have such an affectionate and pliable puss.
My friend Debra came over and fell in love with him too as he was quite the little bundle and she would tickle the white triangle on his underbelly calling it his “Speedo” as it did resemble a little white bathing suit.
I have rarely had a new animal fit so easily into the Moonhaven menagerie but Manuelo was that smooth and loving and we all loved him…AND he wasn’t new. If you have never seen a Russian Blue cat, they are quite wonderful with a luscious pure gray coat. From what I have seen, they have really good dispositions as well and I would gladly have one amongst my family of felines any day. Manuelo was my first introduction to this special breed.
Manuelo must have become tired of his subordinate roll at the computer during Festival prep. One day, he crawled up onto my shoulder and whispered in my ear in his best cat whisper,”What about the animals?” I thought, Mellow Fellow, I am surrounded by animals and love each one of you. “Well why not write about them then and tell our stories so that people will understand us better?” “Did you know that I am a vortex he continued mysteriously?”
These words really got my attention as I had wondered which one of my familiars he was embodying. One day, I was sure that he was manifesting the sweetness of Bear while on another occasion he acted very much like Jade or offered prescriptions like Astarte.
What did he mean that he was a vortex?
“Flash”, he said,’You have very limited ideas about this reincarnation business. I am a very open channel for any and all of your beloved pets that are no longer with you on this plane.”
This concept blew my head wide open and I knew that he was speaking the truth about his nature as well as my limited view.
By this time in my education, I had witnessed my German Shepherd become my mare Chinamoon and that they both lived separate lives on this planet before occupying one body. I had seen Tonka become Apple,Pearl become Jasmine, as well as Tara becoming Jade, becoming Magic who morphed into Wizard after she passed and then finally Star. I had also observed client’s cats pass from this world and jump into the bodies of other surviving members of their animal families. 
“That’s right Flash” he whispered,”Now you are getting it, it’s not so cut and dry as living and dying and being reborn after some allotted time. I am here to tell you that we can come in and out of form in most any way that you can imagine and probably in some ways that you can’t. I am a Master Wizard when it comes to time travel and inter species relating. If you will open your mind, I have much to teach you and I will always return to give you a refresher course should your thinking become too human and stale.If I take the time to educate you, you must promise to teach the humans about our world so that we will not feel as lonely in their company. We can have much more egalitarian relationships when one does not mindlessly dominate another.”
I could have totally believed that Manuelo was a Sage that came to earth had he not always showed his “inner kitten.” He was fearless and loved to race across Chinamoon’s sandy paddock. One could only imagine what creative mind adventures he would play out diving into horses made dunes, racing half-way up the trunk of a pine tree and literally flying all around Moonhaven.
Manuelo adored China and the feeling was quite mutual. He would linger beside her as she ate and she was always careful not to step on her little friend.Because of his speed and gray color you could almost miss him as he darted to and fro.He behaved almost like one of my dogs in the way that he accompanied me to hay China daily. In retrospect, this should not have surprised me since he was a channel for all of my animals in spirit which certainly included a few dogs.
Manuelo and Red seemed to bond really well and I would find them asleep together in the funniest positions. It was good for Red to have a new buddy too.Red must have felt me writing about him as he just marched across my keyboard. 
Even Apple,who was aging and getting grumpier, tolerated and even liked the little gray ball of light. The girl cats, Tucky and Jasmine, basically didn’t enjoy the company of most other cats but somehow Manuelo was always able to stay on the right side of them.
He was my constant companion and bed buddy too and an ace snuggler. Everyone who met him could not help but be charmed by his charm and grace. I was very protective of him, mostly letting him out when I was home and always out the back door away from the street.
Sadly, about a year after taking him in, something horrible occurred. I thought that I would die when I returned home one night to see his body on the street in front of my house. I couldn’t leave the house for days as that image haunted me. I could feel my newly opening heart slowly closing against the pain of yet another loss.
Just because I knew that he would return, didn’t mean that I was immune to the pain of losing this soft gray bundle of joy. My friends knew that I was taking this hard and did their best to console me. Several weeks later a friend at Earth Pets, who knew of my loss called to tell me that there was a young Russian Blue kitten that needed to be adopted. My heart leaped to my throat. I wondered if it was too soon but I also did not want to close up around the loss of Manuelo. I had really come to love Russian Blue cats and did want another and if this was one was at all connected to Manuelo it would surely be a blessing.
I wanted to at least see the new kitten to feel if she was “one of mine.”
I asked Debra, who had loved Manuelo and cats in general, to come with me to help me make the right decision. My emotions were still all over the place and I was afraid to open to a new baby but I was more afraid not to.A quick visit to Earth Pets solved the question when I first held Serena in my arms. She was not Manuelo returned but he surely sent his sister who I named Serena to keep me company and lift my spirits.
Manuelo Mellow Fellow, you think of everything. Thanks for sharing you sweet short life with me and teaching me so very much.
Manuelo Update! I discover as I write these stories that I learn new things about the animals and myself. I do believe that my new pup Happy is the reincarnation of Manuelo vortex and all. When Happy was first put in my arms she sighed deeply and licked my chin just as Manuelo had and she really acts more like a cat than a dog most of the time. I believe that my little Hapster is also a vortex like Manuelo. We shall see!That little pup didn’t even look back at her litter mates once I was there and like Manuelo came into my home like she new the place and everyone in it.
Blessings Flash Silvermoon …. and Happy to my right 
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