Mercury must be retrograde (it isn’t!).  Communications have been miserable.  Technology frustrating.  Hours have been invested into a seemingly simple problem with no resolve.

In the midst of the vexation,  I am standing at the kitchen sipping a glass of water laced with a red cedar spagyric, watching out the window.  The usual suspects are all here – Chestnut-sided and Black-capped Chickadee with their out of town cousin the Mountain Chickadee, Evening Grosbeak and Red-breasted Nuthatch – all taking turns at the seed feeder.  The overgrown rhododendrons,  the water birch and the moss covered ground are busy with Towhee, Junco and Gold-crowned Sparrows, lots of sparrows.  Suddenly a pair, male and female, of Red Crossbill land on the glass patio table.  I catch my breath, not taking my eyes off them.  Crossbill have visited before but rarely.  She flies out of view.  He is there on the glass, with his cross bill picking up bits of this and that, the samara of a big leaf maple tree.  I am struck with the metaphor of their cross bills and the challenge of communications.  Then he turns his head to the side and presses it against the glass and takes a drink of the leftover rainwater that thinly covered the surface of the table.

I burst into tears – a holy moment – before me was perfection.  In that moment, the simplicity of a beautiful little pale red bird drinking water, sustaining himself with the bare little that was available, I was snapped to attention.  Be present, in this moment – for it is holy!

Really, aren’t they all holy moments?  Yes, of course they are.

“…I’ve learned something about times like these.  In times like these, you have to grow big enough inside to hold both the loss and the hope.”     ~ Uncle Mogey, from Strange As This Weather Has Been, Ann Pancake.

This moment did not resolve my communications and still it lifted my heart. It changed my vibration to witness. I am grateful. Mercury is not retrograde, but January 21st it will be – pause for caution and thoughtful consideration. How to proceed?

In gratitude for the medicine of the winged ones.  A’ho!

Mitakuye Oyasin  ~  All My Relations

Zara came running up to the display table I’d set up at the Sundust Oracle Institute’s Artist’s Fair last Sunday – vibrant child with dark eyes alight.  A ziplock bag with change drops from her little hand onto the table, she announcing she’s shopping for her sister and brother.  I gathered her into my arms, a ‘glad to see you hug’ and tell her how thoughtful she is.  I pick out feather options for her to choose between.  That one is for brother she points.  Handing it to her to hold while I cut a piece of red fabric to wrap this medicine gift in, we share a lively exchange of words and excitement.  I learn from her how she has been since I saw her last and how her family is and that the big one, pointing at a coin in the bag, came from the Tooth Fairy.  She shows me with a big smile her missing and new tooth.  Her brother’s feather gift is folded into the fabric now and I cut a piece of sinew to tie the end closed.  Each time a knot is made, a prayer is tied into the knot, she already knows this.  I ask her what prayer she has for her brother?  Her words are so sweet, for his “joy and highest good” coming easily, unembarrassed to speak aloud.  She blows the prayer into the sinew as it’s pulled tight.  I notice that I am holding my breath, stunned at her generosity of spirit, the wisdom of her words, prayers that are golden from her wide open heart.  Each end tied, prayers from an exuberant Spirit Light Child.  So engaging she is – we keep talking as she chooses between two feathers for her sisters gift.  She asks my opinion and I defer back to her – what does she think her sister would like best?  She chooses and again I cut a piece of fabric and two pieces of sinew to bind the ends.  All the while we are catching up on life, more hugs and she tells me a secret – I promised not to tell.  She offers fresh prayers for her sister into teach knot.  She is such a Light.  I am thrilled to be with her and share this precious moment.

I offer her feathers to choose from, my gift back to her.  She accepts, choosing the darker feathers with shining hematite that seems so pale compared to her smiling eyes.  This time, I ask her what prayers she’s like to put up for herself in the knotted sinew?  She offers prayers for her parents instead.  And another for all beings on the earth.   Again I am in awe of this child.

Another big hug and off she goes, three red wrapped bundles in her arms.

Some time later, she is in front of me again, this time with a present for me!  At the art table, she created a gift with me – cotton for snow, a feather glued in place with symbols stamped onto a board.  Her name – Zara – written on top.   I find I am choking back tears.  So deeply touched by her Spirit – generous and kind, brilliantly alight.

This particular holiday season, I am feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders.  I’ve returned again and again to the discontent and fractures within the U.S. and around the world.  I have felt unusual and overwhelming despair and uncharacteristic angst.  The idea of Peace of Earth seems impossible at this time, more breaking down is needed before any reparations can occur.

And sweet Zara, unbeknownst to her has been the carrier and keeper of the Light I have needed to carry on – a reminder that it’s not all sound bites and hatred.  She is Love.  She is Light.  She is the hopefulness I can hold onto for the future, for the next Seven Generations.  I am so blessed to know her.  So grateful.

Pilamaya Zara!  Pilamaya to her wonderful nurturing parents!

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin  ~  All My Relations

Days later before this writing, I counted the change in the ziplock bag out of curiosity…. $7.77 ~ how auspicious a number!  Seven by itself a sacred number.  Three 7s = 21, the number of the Universe.  Little angel in skin, Spirit Light.  A gift to us all.

“A melody is formed by a relationship between notes.  A single note does not make a melody.”  ~  Ted Andrews

The Evening Grosbeak are numerous at the feeders now.  This is unusual.  Even though they are year round residents to the PNW, springtime and early summer is when I ordinarily see these birds in my own yard.  Autumn is generally a very busy time at Echo Lake though with small, medium and large flocks of songbirds moving through, some staying to feed mingling in with the resident species.  Others resting briefly and moving on.  Migrating waterfowl are a constant this time of year.  Most just stopping over for the night, maybe a day or two then on the move again.  The numbers vary daily.  The Common Merganser arrived last week, they’ll stay and over-winter here, along with a few other species.  With the abundance of songbirds, a resident Sharp-shinned Hawk can be seen much more often.  The Sharpie is a hawk who hunts birds as well as rodents for her survival.  When she is in motion, I’ve seen songbirds scatter in all directions in their frenzied haste to protect themselves.  I was awakened yesterday by a female Evening Grosbeak crashing into my kitchen window.  She hit hard!  Was it the Sharpie?

In the semi-light of a frozen morning I found her face down and breathing hard.  I scooped her up, folding her wings into place and cradled her to keep her warm.  She was bleeding from the mouth.  Beyond this, not a feather was out of place.  She was gorgeous.  Each bird’s marking are unique.  Hers were nearly symmetrical – the palest yellow feathers highlighting bold white patches on her black wings and tail.  Heather gray and pale yellow body and head.  A patch of white at her throat bordered by black.  And as the name suggests, a large yellow beak.  The bright red blood startling against the yellow bill and where it dripped into the snow.  Her right foot grasped a finger, the left lay limp.

Keeping her covered in my cupped hands and holding her close to my heart, I stepped under the eves of the house onto the bare boards of the deck, out of the snow, my own feet bare.  Still bleeding but with clear eyes she slowly looked all around and up into the Big Leaf Maple where the majority of her flock was at the time, their contact calls could be easily heard.  And she was looking at me.  I began to sing the Heart Song to comfort her.  Maybe it is just to comfort myself that I sing to injured birds.   I like to think it was succor to her.  Her breathing slowed.  Is this a good sign or a bad sign?

Élan vital – the vital force of life.  Our breathing is an involuntary action in the body and a vital one.  As a yoga student I was taught the importance of the breath.  As a yoga teacher I emphasize the breath with each movement of the body.  Take your breath to any stuck places, visualize the release.  Use your breath to heal yourself.  As humans we can think this through, create a practice, take our awareness where it is needed.  What is the bird thinking?  She continues to look around, taking in her surroundings, nestled in my embrace.  She knows she is safe, that is obvious to me.  We stay this way for many minutes.  I’m cold yet continue to hold her and sing.

The Evening Grosbeak has been a bird whose medicine I have worked with for many years.  Family of origin work.  What are the patterns needing to be broken?  What needs the healing salve of love?  How am I tied to my family beyond blood?  How do I maintain the ties?  What must I do to nurture them?  I continue with this personal work as it is paramount in my life.  At this time though, I feel the Evening Grosbeak are here to bring my attention to the larger family – the Global Family.  I live safely in a circle of trees on a beautiful little lake in a ramshackle little house.  I am not wealthy monetarily and still my life is rich and abundant.  So many go without.  So many are at risk.  The Grosbeak medicine is about healing the family heart.  Their melodious voices are significant.  Am I using my voice in a way that serves?  Do my earnest intentions heal anyone?  Certainly I am healing.  As within so without.  There is little I can do personally to heal the numerous and monumental crises in the world today – yet I cannot do nothing.

So I hold the little bird in the freezing morning.  Her bleeding stops.  Both feet holding onto fingers now, still her soft belly resting warm against my palm.  My song is a prayer for her healing, for the life force to return to her so she will fly from my hands and live.  Which she eventually does.  In the Aspen tree of my neighbor’s yard she rests a while longer before moving along to join her flock.  I thank her for the life force within her that was able to survive, hoping the best for her and others of her flock.

At its origins, élan vital is the creative force within an organism that is responsible for growth, change, and necessary or desirable adaptations. My prayer today is that this be within the human family – that desirable adaptation and change occur for the greater good of mankind, All Nations and Ina Maka, our Mother Earth.  My prayer is for each note of the melody to be heard.

All My Relations  ~  Mitakuye Oyasin

“Most people don’t realize turkeys are friendly, they’re social, they’re loyal and they have emotions.”  ~  Shannon Elizabeth

The idiom “talk turkey” means to speak frankly and seriously, especially about things of importance.

Some friends of mine raise turkeys.  Each time I go to their property I pass by the hen-house and the run where these girls and their Tom live.  “Hello girls…..!”   All heads raise up to see who’s calling right away.  Many start a slow walk over to the fence when I call again. Low vocalizations, talking among themselves before answering me.  “Hello girls….!”  They’re curious about me and now talking to me.  Have I come to offer them a bit of scratch?  Cracked corn perhaps?  They turn their heads this way and that – eyeing me – I wonder what they are thinking. “Oh girls….”!

Intelligent birds, Wild Turkey are indigenous to the North American continent.  Fossilized remains dating back some 5 million years have been found in southern North America and Mexico.  In the early 1500s, European explorers brought home Wild Turkeys from Mexico, as Aztecs and Mayans had domesticated the birds centuries earlier. Later, when English colonists settled on the Atlantic Coast, they brought domesticated turkeys with them.

Like many species, the Wild Turkey populations was nearly decimated to extinction in the US due to over-hunting and habitat loss.  The efforts to save the wild bird and reintroduce them into their historic ranges has been wildly successful – this gives me such hope for other species as we put our attention onto salvaging populations of winged creatures, four-legged ones, the creepy crawlies and others.

To find Wild Turkeys it helps to get up early in the morning, when flocks of these large birds are often out foraging in clearings, field edges, and roadsides.  Turkey live and travel in large flocks.  Their communal living can teach us much about sharing the blessings of life.  They are unique in that their young stay with the many moms in the flock for up to two years.  Each sex has an independent pecking order, with a stable female hierarchy and a constantly changing male hierarchy. You’ll usually find turkeys on the ground, but don’t be surprised if you run across a group of turkeys flying high into their treetop roosts at the end of the day.  This earth and air connection speaks of higher realms of intuition and knowing.

As we gather tomorrow with our families and friends, let us remember that giving thanks is a practice best offered every day.  There is so much to be thankful for and practicing gratitude multiplies the many gifts in our lives.  Gratitude for our Mother, for the bounty of gifts is best practiced daily too.  It is this time of year when many people remember to open their hearts and serve.  There is a constant need for service, a constant need for sharing the wealth of abundance Mother Earth has to offer.   My gratitude for those of us who are willing to share, willing to serve, willing to give thanks.

It’s estimated some 46 million turkeys will be eaten tomorrow.  It is a sad statement of fact that the majority of those consumed have been raised on factory farms.  The practice of factory farming is devastating to both the birds and animals raised in this way and human community who live nearby these inhumane operations.  This farming practice is extremely harmful to the environment as well.   Organic farming is on the rise, thankfully, raising both domesticated turkey and what are known a heritage birds.  It is still a very small percentage of what is being raised and consumed at this time however.  Birds and animals grown without antibiotics and growth hormones, fed a proper diet, allowed to grow in a natural life span with access to normalcy, then harvested with care and intention, with gratitude, are far less stressed.  The consumption of food grown and raised sustainably and humanly is far superior for our own overall health – we have enough stress in our lives without eating it.  “The hurt of one is the hurt of all.  The honor of one is the honor of all.”  ~ Chief Phil Lane, Jr.  as retold from his Grandfather.  Eat with intention.  Eat with prayer.  Eat with gratitude.  Honor the Turkey.

Nourish yourself in a good way.

The medicine or power of the Wild Turkey is generous and multifaceted.  Turkey is symbolic of all the blessings the Earth contains and the ability to use them to the greatest advantage of all.  Adaptability, intelligence, spiritual nourishment and growth, as well as wisdom are among the lessons of the Turkey.  Higher vision and feminine energies can be tapped for greater good of the whole – family, community and the world.  Turkey is the medicine of the give-away.  What is done to and for another is done also to and for oneself.  Share the abundance as there is truly enough for us all.  Quick and alert, Turkey teaches us that we have the capability to act in a worthwhile way.  Virtuous, Turkey medicine is about transcendence, acting and reacting for the benefit of others.  Help and sustenance are given by Turkey out of the realization that all life is sacred, it is the knowing that the Great Spirit resides in us all.  With an open heart and higher vision  all can be fed and made whole.

I would like to express my thanksgiving to the First Nations who welcomed the “boat people” as I’ve heard it call, to North America.  I would like to offer a prayer of apology for the disrespect they received subsequent to their openness.  A prayer for the healing after the many long years of darkness, a prophecy that accompanied their arrival.  A prayer too for the light that is coming to illuminated the shadow aspects of humanity, as I turn inward to reflect upon my own shadow side.  May these darker days of the mid-autumn season hold us all, the Global Family, in a good way.  May we be held in the Light.

It is my practice to count my gratitude at the end of each day.  This acknowledgment is my nightly prayer.  I am deeply grateful for my own health and well-being, that I was given the day to be alive by the Creator – for all my sense perception to fully experience the world around me.  I am grateful for my son and family of origin, for my extended family – blood and marriages, for community and friends.  For my Ancestors.  My Allies.  For the abundance of a warm bed and a home, a full belly and an open heart.  For all the joys that filled the day when I stopped to notice them.  For my work.  For any lessons – those take came with ease as well as the painful one – as Jung said, “there is no birth of consciousness without pain”.  And I am grateful to be a being with a conscious.   Grateful for the birds.  Grateful for Grandmother Buffalo.  Grateful for self-love.  And anything else my mind overlooks, let my heart speak of thanksgiving.  Aho.

Mitakuye Oyasin  ~  All My Relations

Phil Lane, Jr. is the founder of The Four Worlds International Institute.  I listened to him speak last week on the Indigenous Wisdom Summit on The Shift Network and again last night.   Beginning December 10th a Live Circle will begin, indigenous teachings and wisdom for today.  Join in the Circle.

The temperature has been in the teens and low twenties at night for nearly a week.  Towhee is a typically secretive bird, keeping to the undergrowth – literally scratching out a living.  With the ground being frozen, they too are coming to the seed feeders surprising me with their numbers.  Let go of attachments they tell me.  The Varied Thrush have come down to the lowlands, they’re persistently scratching, keeping close to the margins or completely hidden.  The rare occasion when I see them is brief.  Usually I only know they are here in the yard by their haunting trill.  Make my presence known.  Use my voice.  The Winter Wren pops in and out of view, asking if I am confidently using the resources available to me?

To my delight, this time of the year also brings the Fox Sparrow – my favorite in the sparrow family.  I think.  It’s hard to pick a favorite of any species.  I so enjoy them all – each with unique character and color.  The color of the Fox Sparrow is such a rich shade of brown, invoking warmth in me.  They too are secretive, remaining hidden most of the time.  It is the sweetness of their expressions that truly endears them to me.  A small flock of Gold-crowned Sparrows have been here for the better part of the last month.  Conversely, they are bold and bossy having no reservation with taking their place at the feeder.  Song Sparrow lives here year around.  They’re not pushy in the least.  The males throw their heads back and sing with abandon.  In the springtime a veritable chorus all around me.  White-crowned Sparrow are sure to come too, although so far I have not spied them in the mix.  Sparrow medicine speaks of personal power and not being under anyone’s thumb.  Am I standing up for myself in a good way?  Do I know where my own powers lie?  Am I using them well?

Both Chestnut-sided and Black-capped Chickadee are regulars.  Purple Finch too.  So is the Oregon Junco.  The Slate-colored Junco has recently arrived.  Theirs is a shade of brown unmatched by anything else I’ve ever seen.  Steller’s Jay are particularly stunning in the bright sunlight of these frozen mornings – their blue seems to have intensified into a shade of dazzling blue radiance.  Crows keep watch from a distance, vying for the peanuts I offer.  Red-breasted Nuthatch dart to and from the suet feeder with regularity.   Even the ordinary, the usual, remind me to find joy in the moment.

A huge flock of Pine Siskin has been in the neighborhood all week.  Yesterday, Freeman, a Douglas fir that lives with me was filled with them.  Little voices that collectively are quite noisy.  What must we do as a human community?  If we care for the Earth and all her children, what are we to do?  Who is the leader for the greater good?

The freezing temperatures are also cause for bringing in the hummingbird feeder at night.  I am generally not an early riser however the hummingbirds give me cause to wake before the sun is up to put the feeder back outside again.  Having been in a state of torpor for probably 14 hours, they’ll be looking for a drink first with the first morning light before the sun has even risen to light the treetops with the golden pink of morning.  Such a holy moment. Within an hour it’s time to change the feeder out again.  It has become a slushy.  Brain freeze!  Act.  Be focused.  Be diligent.  More joy!  What is the source of my sustenance?   What needs my fierce protection?  Last week a female Anna Hummingbird crashed into the Plexiglas on my deck.  I held her and sang to her until she was able to shake off the blow and fly away.  What a magical moment as we looked one another in the eye.  Friends now, she comes come with intention to eye me again, reminding me that my song is a prayer.

Two male Evening Grosbeak came down out of the treetops to feed, leaving their flock to glean up in the top of a Big Leaf maple.  Again the medicine of the Grosbeak call my attention back to my FOO.  What family of origin healing is needed within me today?

On the water, the ever-present Pied-billed Grebe.  Go deep.  And ride the surface.  Many ducks have come, more come each passing day.  Mallard, Hooded Merganser, Bufflehead, Gadwell, and Ring-neck are here this morning.  There may be as many as 200 birds – on occasion they seems to all rise up at once, flying in great loops around the lake only to land again finding their places along the lake edge to feed.  They remind me to find comfort in the truth of my emotions, to be at ease and fly with grace through my day.   To move when needed.  Canada Geese and a few Cackling Geese have been using Echo Lake as a stop over to rest and feed.  Flocks have been numbering in the dozens, coming in waves.  Leaving the same way.  Where have they come from and where are they going?  Is it time for me to have an adventure too?  They remind me to be creative with my life.  I sewed rattles throughout the day yesterday, both the geese and I sitting outside in the sun.  I was able to be present with my thoughts, stitching prayers and bird song.  Trumpeter Swan have flown over going somewhere to the North.  Their strong wings powering them forward – keep calm, know your wisdom, and have faith.  Surrender into Spirit.

Another surprise – Snipe!  Yes, they’re real!

A lone Sharp-shinned Hawk has been traversing the yard on the hunt for small songbirds.  I’ve seen him fly into the bushes a great speed but leaving without success numerous times.  He flew very near to me yesterday, passing me from behind to light in the tree before me.  Persist.  A change is in the air, something new is coming, be watching for the subtle message.  Observe.  Accept things as they are.

The day is warming up, most of the frost has melted now.  The Towhee have made short work of a full feeder, it is nearly empty now.  Of course they haven’t done it alone.  The winged community is at work.    All around the yard the voices of the Winged Ones charm me.  They teach me plenty about myself and who I am in the world, who I can become if I’ll just tap into the wealth of their powers.  There is such abundance in the season’s bounty.

May you find their blessings in your own life.

Mitakuye Oyasin  ~  All My Relations