Alright, how come the animals seem to visit me on Thursdays? Perhaps because it is easy to witness the energy of Life in them…  (Thursday mornings is the time I honor the Angel of Life, per the Essene Gospels.)

In my last post, the animal that greeted me on Thursday was Hummingbird. This past Thursday it was Turkey. In fact, two parents and three young ones! Papa turkey was crossing the road while Mama and the little ones poked around in the low bushes of a front yard near the sidewalk. I slowed down to go by them, and was gratified that they seemed not in the least perturbed by my passage.

This is the second time in the past week I’ve seen Turkey. The other time I had visited with a friend and on coming out her front door to leave, across the street in her neighbors’ lawns was a group of four adults and nine young! As the group moved on towards a yard that proffered food, one of the young’uns didn’t want to leave its cozy hollow in the grass. Finally he (or she) realized he was being left behind, and scurried to find the family.

Back to The Medicine Cards I go. Turkey’s energy, per authors David Carson and Jamie Sams, is that of Give-Away. Carson and Sams say of Turkey: “… it is the deep and abiding recognition of the sacrifices of both self and others…People in modern-day society, who have many times more than what they need, should study the noble turkey who sacrifices itself that we may live.  … Help and sustenance is given by Turkey out of the realization that all life is sacred… It is an acknowledgement that what you do for others you do for yourself….  [If Turkey visits you], you are being given a gift. The gift may be great or small, but it is never insignificant.  Or you may feel the “spirit of giving” growing in you, and the desire to share with others.”   

One of the times I see Turkey is either on my way to or from the place I go for my Prayer Days. While I don’t do the 90-minute drive in the winter, I spend a day in a rustic one-room Poustinia House in the woods as often as I can in good weather. The gift of time in prayer, spiritual reading, meditation and singing/chanting is always blessed with an appearance of Turkey. They roam wild in the woods where I stay but if I miss seeing them there, at least one will show itself somewhere on the trip back.
 
These times I chose to see Turkey’s message as that of the blessing of the deepening connection between myself and the friend I spent time with.  As if that weren’t enough, today on my morning walk I found a table in a shaded part of a yard with Ziploc bags of what looked like yellow cherry tomatoes. A sign propped up on the table read, “Shiro Plums. Please take some.”  I tried one; it was sweet and juicy. I took some in a small bag, and on seeing the man in his backyard as I resumed my walk I shouted a thank you. “My tree is full of them! Come back if you want more!” he said.  Another gift!

This Thanksgiving, say a blessing to Turkey for the gift of its life to you so you and your family may enjoy that special time together. Perhaps you have been blessed with the sight of Turkey families sometime during the year. What other gifts seem to appear around the times of those sightings?

Recall the saying,  “as without, so within” – for all of Nature also lives in families just like us. When we see that which is around us, let us look for what is similar within us. That way the circle becomes complete.

My practice of the Essene Gospels has deepened the closeness I’ve felt with trees since I was young.

In the communion with the morning Angel of Life, the Essene Gospels say, “....Go then, toward the high-growing trees, And before one of them which is beautiful, high-growing and mighty, say these words: ‘Hail be unto thee! O good, living tree, made by the Creator!’  Then shall the River of Life flow between you and your Brother, the Tree….”

The tree I most often go to on the day I honor the Angel of Life is not really the most high-growing and mighty. It is a pine tree that grows in the park a couple blocks away from me. In November, 2015, Spokane (where I live) was hit by a severe windstorm. Hundreds of trees came down and there were power outages throughout the city, some lasting up to 9 days.

This tree was one whose trunk had split in two about 4 to 5 feet above the ground. One side came down in the storm, leaving a gaping wound in the trunk of the half that remained. In fact, the trunk was so thin at that point I was sure it would not be long before it, too, broke and the tree would make its trip to tree heaven.

But that has not happened. The tree amazes me with its strength! This year the tips of its branches proudly sported a whole foot of new growth! It has not yet filled in its weak spot and has not leaked a lot of sap to heal itself, yet it soldiers on. Whenever I greet it with my, “Hail, O Great Tree made by the Creator!” I partake of its powerful example of resilience. I thank the tree for its message and express gratitude that it still lends its energy to our park – as well as my hope that it may do so for many years to come.

May you open this day to some of the messages from Nature around you, and be inspired.

Last Friday I was out for my usual morning walk. The way I practice the Essene Gospels, Friday morning is when I honor the Angel of Joy.

It is summer as I write this – a time when all of nature is resplendent in its growth. I view this as a time of great Joy for the natural kingdom, as it shows off the height of its beauty, the peak of its growth for the yearly cycle.

In the morning, I caught sight of a Hummingbird flitting its way through the branches of a tree. As the day progressed, I saw two more. What a synchronicity! For in the system of numerology I use, three is the number of manifestation. (The joining of two creates the energy to manifest a third – a “baby,” perhaps – or an insight that rises above the polarity of two opposing thoughts…)

In the Native American traditions of Jamie Sams and David Carson from their 1988 book, The Medicine Cards, Hummingbird is the animal that brings the energy of Joy to us.  Sams and Carson state, “The song of Hummingbird awakens the medicine flowers. Hummer sings a vibration of pure joy. Flowers love Hummingbird because nectar-sucking brings about the reproduction of their families. Plants flower and live because of Hummingbird…  Hummingbird feathers open the heart. Without an open and loving heart, you can never taste the nectar and pure bliss of life. To Brother and Sister Hummingbird, life is a wonderland of delight–darting from one beautiful flower to another, tasting the essences, and radiating the colors.”

Isn’t it wondrous when synchronicities occur that can bring deeper meaning?  I honored this day as      a treasure, one in which a spiritual practice and nature came together to bring me a blessing:
“As without, so within.”

May you also find Joy in your Earthwalk.