Paying Attention to the Signs in Front of Us

 

While driving along Minnehaha Parkway, I was surprised by a red-tailed hawk as it flew from one side of the road to the other, low and right in front of my Jeep. I wish I had been able to follow his sky path on that cold day, but I was at least grateful for the brief moment of lift. 

According to Jamie Sams and David Carson, creators of Medicine Cards The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals, hawks are messengers, teaching us to be observant, to see the bigger picture, and how to discern and follow our personal vision. 

I first became aware of hawks when we lived at Sweetwater Farm. An albino red-tailed hawk was a frequent visitor--sometimes sitting in the willow tree or soaring over the pond where the Great Blue Heron came to rest in the morning. When I walked out the back door, I automatically scanned the horizon looking for its presence, and when I spotted it, I felt blessed. Blessed, but also reminded to pay attention, to remember "You are only as powerful as your capacity to perceive, receive, and use your abilities." 

During our Ohio years I was always on the look out for the familiar football shape of hawks as they sat on telephone poles or bare branches of winter trees. Once, during the two years when I made monthly six hour trips to my spiritual direction training in Pennsylvania, I felt accompanied by a succession of hawks, for every few miles I noticed another one. One after another. That was a challenging time in my life for a variety of reasons, and I was reassured by the guidance of hawks along the way. Their message to me seemed to be, "Stay the course." 

Here in St Paul I don't see hawks too often, and in fact, am more likely to see eagles, which is certainly a gift, but somehow they don't seem quite so personal. 

So what was the message of this particular hawk that crossed in front of my Jeep? 

I can't be sure, but I think this hawk was a reminder that companions on our journeys are always available, and sometimes they are right in front of us. So wake up! 

Here's something more. Hawk flew in front of me on Wednesday, but it was only days later that I gave it much thought. Part of my process in writing posts for this blog is to do a kind of examen of the days since my last post. What has impressed me or moved me, made me think deeper? What has touched me? What is still with me, even days later? 

Hawk. 

More than likely you, too, are gifted with signs, with messages, with nudges as you move through your days, but they only become wisdom or opportunities for spiritual growth when you take time for reflection.

Sit quietly, close your eyes lightly, not tightly, and rest in the passing of recent days. Who or what has been your hawk? What wants to be remembered? What lives in you still? What surprised you? What is the message and how will you respond? 

Pay attention. Stay awake.

An Invitation
What has flown in front of you lately? I would love to know. 

Some Recommendations from the Last Week

1.    Sunday Prayers, The Lord's Prayer--Nadia Bolz Weber's version. https://nadiabolzweber.substack.com

2.     Richard Rohr's summary of spiritual development https://cac.org/spiritual-development-2020-10-25/

3.      The Covid Cello Project playing Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings https://youtu.be/0ly61HpQ3mU

4.      "We Shall Overcome" sung by the Aeolian Choir at Oakwood University https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBtmPiCgToI

Turkey Time: Thursday Reflections

After doing some errands the other day I decided to drive through the neighborhood where we raised our kids, Crocus Hill, an area of homes built primarily in the early 1900's. Large, elegant homes that seemed to have the Midas touch on this sunny, and amazingly warm November day. I drove through a shimmering gold velvet curtain as leaves formed paths of gold on the streets, sidewalks and lawns. 

A gift of a day, all on its own, but that wasn't enough, for what did I see in the front yard of one of those stately homes? Turkeys! A flock of wild turkeys. Only they weren't so wild. I pulled over to the side and got out of my car to observe them. A few began to amble to the next yard --no rush. A couple others were taking a break in the shade and not about to move on my account. 

The turkey is sometimes called the "earth eagle," according to Animal-Speak, The Spiritual and Magical Powers of creatures Great and Small by Ted Andrews. Turkeys are associated with spirituality and with honoring Mother Earth. The turkey "is a symbol of all the blessings that the Earth contains" and they find "strength in numbers and thus reflect the energy of sharing." 

Medicine Cards, The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals by Jamie Sams and David Carson describes the turkey as the symbol of "give-away," sharing, even sacrificing for the good of others. "Help and sustenance is given by Turkey out of the realization that all life is sacred. It is knowing that the Great Spirit resides within all people. It is an acknowledgement that what you do for others you do for yourself."

I know it is no longer unusual to see flocks of turkeys when driving in the countryside and even in more urban areas. In fact, when we drive on crazy busy 494 not far from the airport we often see a flock, but seeing them yesterday seemed unusual. 

Perhaps I needed a reminder as we enter a time of giving thanks that others are in need of our "give-away." Before the rush of the upcoming season, the turkeys can remind us to consider the ways we will share our own bounty with those in need. After all, "Doing unto others and feeding the people is the message of all true spiritual systems." (Sams, 161-162)

What a gift yesterday was. What a gift every day is. As my 92 year-old father says, "Everyday is a good day." 

Oh, and I must remember to order our Thanksgiving turkey!

An Invitation
What are your plans for "give-away" this season? How does "turkey" show up in your life? I would love to know. 

Tuesday's Reflections: Moving into the New Year

These are cold days here in Minnesota, and I am not inclined to leave the warmth and coziness of our house. Instead, I become a bear, which in Native American spirituality symbolizes introspection, and I willingly hibernate. My hibernation is not so much about escaping from the cold or taking a time out from life's varied activities, especially after the busyness of the holidays, but rather this is a time to reset my timer and my pace, and to guide me towards my intentions , direction and outlook for living in this new year.  

Creating a Container of Space: A Meditation
Perhaps, you need a time of hibernation and introspection, too. Perhaps, you feel a bit muddled about direction for this new year or you may feel a bit reluctant to let go of what was and move to what is and what can be. If so, here's a way to begin.  

Close your eyes, lightly, not tightly, and take deep cleansing breaths until you find your own easy rhythm. 

Picture a square. Choose a corner of that square. Count to four as you slowly inhale, keeping your focus on the corner of the square you have chosen.

As you exhale, move to the next corner, reaching it on the count of four. Rest in that corner, inhaling to four.

Leave the corner on the exhale and move to the third corner. Inhale again. Exhale again as you move to the corner where you started this journey. Inhale again to complete the square.

Notice the space you have created as you gently inhale and exhale. Notice the boundaries and the space outside of the square. You have created a container of sacred space in which you can rest and restore and reset what needs to be refreshed. 

Your sacred space is also a space of exploration. What is inside the square with you? What is there no longer room for in your space? What would like to enter the space with you? What is hovering outside the space, just barely within sight, but you know it is there, awaiting a welcome from you? What questions, images, sounds arise as you move within your sacred space? In what ways are you challenged to expand the boundaries of your own experience? Move into the center of the square and pay attention to what that feels like.

When you are ready, open your eyes and take a deep cleansing breath. This breath releases all tension you might be holding without erasing the sacred space you have created for yourself. This space can be a sanctuary whenever you need it, allowing you to connect with your inner voice, with Spirit, whenever you need it. You can breathe yourself into awareness of the holy. You can breathe yourself into deeper understanding of who you were created to be. 

          If we choose to believe that there are many questions
          to life, we must also believe that the answers to these
          questions reside within us. Each and every being has 
          the capacity to quiet the mind, enter the silence and
         know. 
                           Jamie Sams and David Carson
                           Medicine Cards, The Discovery of Power
                           Through The Ways of Animals, p. 57
                           http://www.medicinecards.com
                            
Working With My Square
I spent time at the beginning of this week responding to a New Year's Exercise for Writers posed by Mary Carroll Moore, the facilitator of the online writing class I took this fall. http://howtoplanwriteanddevelopabook.blogspot.com She suggested listing writing accomplishments of this past year, grounding oneself in the strengths of the past year. That is not always easy to do, but frankly, I was quite surprised at what I did in 2014, even though it was a challenging year in a variety of ways and a year in which I thought my writing goals had taken a back seat. The next step was to examine what writing has given me this past year, and words like purpose, balance, stability, joy and pleasure, inner growth, structure, and self-confidence came tumbling out on the page. 

Then, and only then, was it time to look ahead to this new year. "Imagine yourself at the end of 2015," the exercise prompts, "what would you most want to accomplish during the year?"  

I sat quietly, closed my eyes and breathed myself back to the sacred space I had created. I moved from corner to corner and then rested in the center, allowing the litany of possibilities to flow over and through and around me. As always, there is so much I want to do, so much I hope to accomplish, and with each new year, I am more and more aware of the need not to set aside, not to put off what is most important. Within my sacred space, I found clarity, at least for the moment and I now feel more prepared to enter this new year. 

         May your coming year be filled with magic and 
         dreams and good madness. I hope you read some
         fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're
         wonderful. And don't forget to make some art--write
         or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And,
         I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise
         yourself. 
                                 Neil Gaiman

An Invitation
I invite you to create your inner sacred space as you enter this new year. Perhaps use the Mary Carroll Moore's questions as a guide and allow yourself to see what comes into clearer view and how you are called to live this year? What are you prepared to do to make this year one that finds you being the person you were created to be? I would love to know.