Nature Speaks - How Do You Listen?

Yesterday I found a male cardinal someone had placed just behind the small brick wall in front of my home. I imagined their gently laying it under the burning bush because they sensed or knew I tend the birds whether they are living or dead.

Under the stars at day's end, I smudged and blessed this beautiful, bright red bird then placed it in the ferns in the back yard. This area has been the final resting place of many birds, snakes and animals. I laid sprigs of lavender on its body, then covered it with leaves. I asked its kin to receive it as well as continue coming to Earth to gift us with their beauty and song.

Then I asked two things I had never previously done. I asked the fern fairies to honor it as well and I asked for renewed vitality for those of my human kin that needed it as well as their recognizing the beauty of their self-importance. (Ted Andrews in the book "Animal Speaks" writes that cardinal represents renewed vitality through recognition of one's self-importance.)

This morning only a sprig of lavender remained where I had placed the cardinal. 

This happened once before when I had left a large, black snake in the same place. The next morning, just like this one, the animal was gone yet the leaves appeared unmoved. 

This morning I imagined the fern fairies wearing cardinal's red feathers and the cardinal feeling great joy. Then I sat in my writing chair next to the ferns. 

At some point I glanced down to find a portion of a turtle's shell at my feet. Upon seeing its details, I immediately had three associations.  I saw a portal, then ripples made by a pebble tossed into a pond and lastly a spider's web. The fairies had left me a gift. A gift with many messages. 

Earth is a portal. And my simple, mindful actions, whether blessing an animal or my fellow human kin, create unseen ripples in energy's field by which a new web is being weaved. I held this treasure for quiet awhile. Even now as night is here, it lays across from me. In my world, this is quite the gift. 

Moses had a burning bush. 

Nature is my burning bush, a testament to the presence of the Divine leading me step-by-step in this journey called Life. (I later read in "Animal Speaks" that turtles are associated with doorways to the fairy realm!) 

Take time to notice and be mindful of the messages Nature has for you. Pay attention to your intuitive hits. Trust yourself. Take your time. Listen. Look. See. 

-Dawn, The Good News Muse 17 March, 2015

dawn@imaginetheshift.com