The Arcane of Angelia:s Alchemy: Rattles in the Rice Paddies.

Remember this: Words live on the wind but there is one that amply describes and will eventually lite upon you; gracing you with its wisdom.

 
I found a special word. The word is arcane which means:
 
1. Hard to fathom; difficult or impossible to understand
2. Mysteriously obscure; requiring secret knowledge to be understood.
 
How this word plays into your interpretation of what I am saying to you remains to be seen. Some things you just can't explain; they just are.


I had traveled down the interstate until I came to an intersection that directed me to take a left off this sloping road at a caution light. I began to drive down the road which was littered sporadically with plantations hidden in the trees. The first one was Greenfield which consisted of two separate areas. The first was gated with threatening signs of how they would prosecute you if you were to trespass. I saw a guillotine sitting on a wooden structure with a hooded ax man somewhere on the property out of eyesight. The structures on the other side of the locked and chained wrought iron gates were cinder block houses painted white with black shutters.

The next one would be Black Bank which I just stopped and pulled up at the gate. I had the strange feeling that I was somewhere I had been before but there was this aura of being in love as I sat there at the gate. I could see a vehicle driving around in there because it was a pine plantation. The overwhelming sense of being loved which is fairly odd to me as I was just randomly driving around that day looking at different places but thought it was the sunshine. I shook it off and headed on down the road which became a straight shot of nothing but forest on both sides of the road for miles and miles. I finally came to the sign that directed me to turn right off the highway down this dirt road. I decided to get out of the truck and take a picture of this open place with some pine trees and straw grass. I walked up onto the bank then realized I had stumbled upon a game trail where the animals wore the grass down from walking it so much. I walked back to the truck to drive down the lane where I came out to Samworth Wildlife Management area. There were these two circular structures at the opening to the driveway leading to the house. I thought about circles or even cycles. People refer to the drama of life as a circle that goes on and on but circles are endless or infinite. Life is not infinity but a transition into death where what is left of the physical state is recycled back to feed other things.


People often used circles as a physical representation of arguing the natural and the supernatural in terms of God and the Universe. How can the two coexist? The line is the permeable membrane between the two where they mutually share information. It’s not black and white;  it’s all shades of grey. I drove down the lane and as always it had the ambiance of hundred year old oak trees with a plantation feel. Along the way were fields sectioned off planted with un-harvested corn for dove hunters to enjoy if they didn’t have a place of their own. Each plot had an electrical fence around it I presumed to keep the deer out or maybe even the hogs. If you did not know any better driving up you would not realize that you were on a marsh instead of an inland plantation farm. I drove to the back which was littered with DNR trucks because it was a DNR station. I parked over near the neatly kept boat landing. I got out walking around and taking pictures. This was a good place to hunt ducks. I heard a boat coming up the small waterway. I walked over to the boat house where one of the game wardens was pulling up to park his boat. He got out and started to tie things up when I asked him did he care if I took pictures. He told me yes then started to pull out his camera from a bag to show me the photos he had taken. He then directs me to this barge where I can take some good pictures and give me tips on where to go for the best view. He was exceptionally nice. I thanked him for his time and walked off to the barge which was not far away. It was yellow and rusty.

I walked up on the barge and took some pictures. I jumped off then strolled over to this small pond where a tree swing was dangling. It looked like it was waiting for someone to come enjoy it. I snapped off a couple of pictures of the house which was locked. I made my way back to the boat landing where I had parked my truck. I then decided to go down the nature trail. It led along the bank of the marsh. I followed it when I heard some other people loading a boat into the water. I eventually emerged from this woody area into an open marsh area. There was a raised road covered with dried brown grass that lead in snake like patterns out into some unknown destination. I could imagine that I was walking down this lane and out in the marsh from overhead were a lot of alligators all pointing their mouths at me while they watched me from the grass. I could hear unseen things moving in the beige and cream colored sweet grass.

On my left I could see where there was a lot of something that had wallowed in it until it was laid over like a bed. There was lot of scat everywhere. That side was deep so if something was going to come up at me from that side I would know it. The other side closer to the water was not that way. It wasn’t like a canal ditch. It was more even. I walked up on a hog that was resting in the muck and mire but really didn’t want to be chased because there was nowhere to go. The hog let me know with a bark that he was there so I just strolled on past.

The thought of being chased by a hog then run into the mouth of an alligator was not appealing besides I had no gun but probably should have at least brought a loaded shotgun. How I would explain that to the game warden as a fact of not actually hunting but as protection from wild beast would probably get me a couple of chuckles with a nice ticket accompanied with a fine.

There were a lot of red headed woodpecker drilling holes on twig-like trees. I saw a red bellied moccasin fall from a shrub into the water with a plop. I was on this endless path going nowhere to a place I couldn’t see and the mysterious was all around me. I began to doubt myself, the time, how long it would take me to get back and what if something happened to me out there because the only one that knew I was about was the game warden.

When you go on a journey always tell someone where you are going because no one will know if you are in trouble. I took into consideration that I was literally wondering around this place with no particular direction as that is what my life has turned into. I wonder around worse than a gypsy. I did have intended goals but they got lost along the way or weren’t what I had envisioned them to be compared to my mind or in real life. People were not what I thought they would be. Everything always falls short of what you expect and the unexpected turns out to be more glorious than what you imagined.


I was walking along when I felt like my eyes had changed because I could feel it. I slowed down then closed my eyes to walk along blind. I was aware of myself. I was aware of keeping to the path without straying because I couldn’t see but then I started to listen and sense the things outside of me. I began to hear the wind blowing through the marsh grass. The grass started to sound like a bunch of rattles being shaken at once but different times. It had a certain sequence to it that I heard a song in the sound. I started to hum the sound but it had no words.


I then pondered how rattles were used in ceremonies. I am a homeless person that finds shelter in the wild where there is no man-made structures.


Rattles are used to keep rhythm accompanied by music like sound that resonates to the soul of a person. It can incite in a person the trance of a spiritual experience. Rattles represent independence. Rattles are made of containers such as gourds, turtle shells, or anything you can enclose. The container is usually decorated with feathers and represents the animal or plant kingdom. Inside of the rattle you can put beans, rocks, or anything hard that will strike against the inside of the container. The rattle could have a handle or not.
 
As I walked along listening to the wind blow in the marsh grass I felt like the spiritual energy locked in me was unblock and the trance-like state I was in as I walked along was used to help my body respond to the healing I was searching for. Rattles have been known to break up stagnant energy. People can get stagnant in their lives due to stressors and pressure. Rattles help you focus and open your mind to a different emotional state. 


I was looking for a refocusing on my life.


I considered how much time I had walked the path but didn’t want the sun to beat me down. I still had one more place to go. I decided to turn around. I walked back to the end of the grass marsh road. I took a right which lead me into yet another strange looking place where cypress knees were jutting out in a muddy area. I noticed the hogs had been down by the edge of the muddy places rooting up a storm. I walked back up the hill past this small pond up into these camellia trees. The flowers on the trees were white and another was pink but the flowers were not so hardy. I saw this one huge white flower and pulled it off. It wasn’t diseased but felt cool and soft to the touch. White represented purity. I thought about sticking it in my hair but didn’t want to lose it. I usually do this with the random feather I find. When I use to work I would put pencils in my hair. It seems to be the ideal place to stab things.


Camellias are called the ‘empress of the winter’. They are known for being tokens of devotion. The petals reflect the spirit of a lady, and the holder of the petals represents the man entrusted by the lady as her protector. It’s the everlasting bond between lovers.

I could see just beyond them a large open area that was littered with ancient oaks. I wanted to get to the other side so I crawled through the bushes. I could hear a vehicle but didn’t know if I was trespassing on private property because there were no signs stating I was. Not that it mattered. I have the ability to act and look like a dumb lost female in need of rescuing; add my charm and I’m pretty deadly. Let’s call it survival ability.


I walked out into the open space and just wanted to run straight down it but didn’t. Just because you get a compulsion doesn’t mean you should do it. It was a big open well-manicured space. It kind of reminded me of that opening scene on Little House on the Prairie where Laura Ingles is spinning around in the meadow full of white flowers. Happiness at the most mundane thing and I didn’t own it. I basked in the beauty of turning a corner to find something even more spectacular.


So far I had traveled through three landscapes on that property. The first was a homestead where people use to dwell, a path that lead to open marsh area, and a previous homestead area where the only thing left was the land but no house. I walked back toward the pond then took a right onto another path that was labeled the Nature Trail. I followed it down into a sloping area but in this section the wooded area was humid and everything reeked of decay and composition. The trees lying all over the place with limited light and leaves everywhere made me think of the twilight of human life when old age followed by death occur. I really wasn’t thrilled about being down in that but as I walked along the path I realized I was paying less attention to my surroundings or even the trial itself.

I began to think how life was that way. You’re so preoccupied with your internal concerns that you forget the external. As I was mulling this over I then realized I was unconsciously keeping up with my footfall on the trail. I thought that is how people end up getting hurt. Being distracted by things that don’t matter or not letting things go. It’s also occurred to me how you can walk through life and not even notice what is going on around you until something jogs you out of your mental reverie. That mental reverie is living in the past or the future not the present.


I felt the creature’s presence before I actually saw it. I was two steps away from stepping right on this pit viper that blended with the leaves along the path. It was a rattlesnake. It never shook its tail. I moved back up on a hill thinking ‘Holy Shit’. I am not afraid of snakes but I wasn’t expecting the snake under the leaves. I didn’t even have my snake boots. I decided whether I wanted to try moving the snake or going another direction. Not wanting confrontation when I don’t have to I decided to turn around, cross the wooden bridge and cut through the woods on this path to a dove field. I started to laugh at myself because I had a sense of repulsion walking down into the mess when I should have just went with my intuition but the great unknown threw a pit viper down in my path to warn me away from going in further or deeper into the unknown of it. Even though it was a pit viper I didn’t look at it in a negative way. It was just there minding its business looking for food. I then thought how this was important to the scheme of things. I considered snakes.

Snakes are representative of patience, medicine, healing, transformation, and sexual passion (you could say the same thing for an apple but that might be sin. You couls say a snake is an instigator of sin?)

Down in the South it is an emblem for a tribe of indigenous people.


Keeping it positive; there is no devil worshiping going on here.

This snake was teaching me to hold my ground (it wasn’t moving), threaten/warn, then if the imposer keeps up with agitation then strike.


The rattlesnake has also been representative of the ancient grandfather with the ability to give fair wind or cause a storm. The Mayans believed the snake to represent rebirth.

It can also represent petty vengefulness usually in the form of unannounced and deadly strikes. This would be the more negative side. I would assume this is on the part of other people.....but I am human therefore can foul up too.


There is the infusion of poison to harm or kill but there is the upside of medicine. The poison or medicine could expand the consciousness through divine intoxication which was connected to the afterlife and immortality. It just depends on how one would use the snake in their spiritual journey. Everything is good and evil in equal parts. Medicinal wise you could look at the Aesculpian staff. Medicine and healing has always been a part of my life even though I turned my back on it because I felt rejected because no matter what I did it never seemed to work out otherwise for saving a ton of life, both animal and human. It was painful for me to do that but I did it anyway.


I then thought of the snake laying there in the forest. It is a natural guardian of treasures or sacred sites which cannot be easily moved out of harm’s way. I feel like I am guarding something or someone but stay in harm’s way. How I will ever be in a safe place is unknown to me. I also thought of the ancient oaks. I have read that snakes are around the tree of life that is situated in a divine garden. In the Old Testament the tree of knowledge of good and evil is situated in the Garden of Eden together with the tree of life and the serpent. The Tree of Life was represented by a wooden staff.

After walking down the side of this field without the worry of stepping into trouble I walked across the grass into this patch of clover. I found the largest clover I have ever seen. This being a sign of good fortune I plucked it from the ground to put with my white camellia I had pulled off the tree in the woods.


I had been going in circles and cycles but was never really lost. I got back to my truck, climbed in to head to my next destination.
 
Written by: Angelia Y Larrimore
 
~Courtesy of the AOFH~

The Labrinth of the Sacred

Remember this: What I write now is my perspective on this at the moment. My ideals on differing situations, pondering or conclusions are not set in stone but change given the circumstance. What may be true here could be completely different elsewhere depending on perspective, frame of mind, input, and what I exchange but is left as ‘open-ended’. It’s not meant to brain wash you but give you something to think about and help you. Just think ‘messages’.

 
I was the chauffeur for my mother Wednesday. She had an appointment at a specialist in North Charleston. I told her that if I were to drive her I wanted to make a side trip to this place called Mepkin Abbey. It’s a sect of Trappist monks living in Monck’s Corner. Due to my pass history of working for a resort hotel I usually take care to plan even a road trip well. I want to enjoy myself but not be rushed. I also thought my mother could do with getting out somewhere that wasn’t stressful and enjoy a walk. That was my stab at being daughterly. I try the same thing with my dad but it always turns into an epic fail. The Abbey was only twenty minutes from the doctor’s office although it was really off the beaten path down this long country highway. She agreed with it but she is not one to want to do anything adventurous unless it is with other people. Not me. I do not have a viable relationship with her regardless of all the things I have done to help her. It has always been that way. I figured the time and left where we would have two hours to gawk or get lost driving then be found again.
On the way up to the Abbey I was driving along listening to the radio and thinking about landscapes. It’s odd how you can be listening to music and it mirrors your train of thought. I had been on this discovery mission about sacredness, life, and what the universe is trying to tell me. I was listening to Stairway to Heaven and Dust in the Wind. Then Hotel California came on the radio twice. I had to think of what the songs were about and if there was some way that I could weave them into Angelia’s Cosmology as it pertained to my personal universe. I was pretty calm because my mother had put the seat back to fall asleep. Dust in the Wind was about the circle of life. Stairway to Heaven was about greed on society. Hotel California is about hedonism, self-destruction, and greed.
I pondered how greed, self-destruction and hedonism (which is pleasure being the only intrinsically good) had affected my life thus far. I do not consider myself a greedy person unless chocolate is handy. I have had lots of money and very little money while learning to live on air; feast or famine. I have been abandoned by several people for material things. After a while that messes with your self-esteem because a kitchen knife has more value than you do and they sale them all the time at Wal-Mart. It’s worse when it comes from people that you think should value you but don’t. It would seem that it is other peoples’ greed for money, land, and any possession they can steal, hoard, or plot to gain. It’s a sad note to report that when the choice is between a speck of dirt and your own flesh and blood; the speck of dirt wins because it’s more important. It’s so important that the land monger would pull a Moses and walk their child up to the rock on the mountain and sacrifice them under the knife so they can retain it all for the greater good. That would sound like madness but there are people that live by those beliefs. When you have parents that consider the existence of their children as ‘options’ or ‘other options’ you really have to wonder exactly how secure are you in this life? How can you form any close bond with a human being that is not blood if your very blood relatives see you as expendable? You then start grading your own value because everything has strings attached. There is no unconditional love. Everything comes with legal fine print (or a price tag to which some sale their souls) that will burn you in the next couple of lives.
I pondered self-destruction. I am probably guilty of this because I feel some days like I did a great wrong in life. Surely all the muck you get comes from deserving it but that is not always the case. A lot of people don’t deserve it for good or bad but who is the judge and jury on that one? One to which I can’t remember and feel like I do not deserve certain things so it’s like rotating self-punishment for failures. In my family you only present the emotion that makes others feel good. Any emotion contrary to that is to be suppressed, internalized until it becomes much like a poison or a cancer. You either have to vomit it out, cut it out, or die from it. If you die you will be completely eradicated from the family memory. . I have found myself at times tearing things that I build down because I am frustrated with how things are going and decide to start over rather than pick a spot and work from there. Salvaging workable information is probably better than pouring gas on the pile and striking a match to watch it burn.
I passed through Andrews which was a sleepy little town with one red light and a very pastel green church on the corner of the center of town. I was driving down this corridor of green pine trees towards Charleston where a couple of the towns were really not very scenic. I got closer to one of the parts of Francis Marion Forest which cut through a town called Macedonia. I saw a sign that said Macedonia Home of the Foxes. I laughed to myself because as the fox is a shape-shifter showed up on the sign. I assumed I was on the right path and train of thought. I finally got on the road to the abbey. It was about a fifteen minute drive which will end you at the gates leading up a long gravel drive lined with oak trees probably from early man. Old oak trees do lend a certain amount of creepiness or loneliness to a landscape but they are still beautiful. I got out and took a couple of photos where a sign with a monk on it pointed to the reception area. I drove up the drive and parked in the visitor center/store parking lot. We went inside to look around. There was all manner of religious paraphernalia with ceramic pots, soaps, and cooking spices. The abbey is self-sufficient by selling artisan products. The back part of the store which leads to the church was closed. After buying some soap my mother was sitting on a bench. She kept making comments about leaving. I wondered at this. I informed her that we were two hours early but not to worry. We got in the SUV. I decided to drive down this white sandy lane at the angry insistence of my mother that I was doing wrong, going to get caught, and should be ashamed of myself. She told me I was not supposed to go back there because it was off limits. I gave her the crazy eye then drove right back there. This little road leads to the garden section of the property. I went all the way to the back. The garden had a few religious sculptures but not a lot. It was also only landscaped with evergreens or medium sized trees and shrubs. I came to a stop and got out. I started walking around taking pictures when I looked back at the vehicle to see my mother sitting there. I walked back and asked her didn’t she want to get out the SUV and walk around. She bluntly told me no. She then saw a couple sitting on a bench and declared there was people back there like we were intruding on them or they were the abbey police. I told her it was a place to walk around. She still refused so I left her in the SUV. I was well beyond having my feelings hurt by anything she does other than trying to actively get me killed because it ‘amuses her’. I walked down to the water’s edge. The back of the garden is located on Lake Moultrie. Lake Moultrie is also connected to Santee so there are plenty of fish and alligators along with waterfowl. It was a really beautiful day. I figured I would take my time so I spent an hour meandering down by the lake. I did walk by this one reservoir pond that had a sign warning about the alligators. I could hear in the trees something moving around. It got me to thinking of things that are unseen but there. An elderly man came up to sit on a bench. He pulled out a book and began to read. The couple disappeared over the hill. As I walked along I began to think of paths. This place had a lot of paths. Some paths lead upward along a non-linear walkway. Other paths lead upstairs to another ‘floor’ even though they might only be just a set of stone steps that seemed to be there more for looks rather than leading to anywhere important.
At one point I was annoyed with my mother because I had tried to do her a nice turn to only be snubbed. She didn’t want to spend time with me or walk around. I realized that here was a beautiful sacred place where one could enjoy the day, spend time working out issues or aligning one’s self for the better, and getting something from a minuscule moment. I then realized I was just a tool to drive her to a doctor’s office. She had absolutely no interest in me or the place. I had to accept that. It was like rejection. I felt rejection. This might fall under the category of questions people ask when they say, “Why doesn’t that person want to be with me?” You don’t get an answer. Even though it bothered me I didn’t dwell on it because it would only put me in a foul mood. I finished up and walked back to the SUV. She was sitting there. I got in and she was pushing for us to leave. I turned around to head out then just to be funny I asked her, “Are you afraid to get out on consecrated ground because you have Satan in you?” She gave me an angry look. She said, “I walked on the ground when I got out at the store.” I eye balled her seriously, “Open the door, remove that croc on your foot and touch it with a bare toe. Or are you afraid you’ll burst into flames?” She huffed at me like a bantam chicken. I laughed and said seriously, “Satan.” My mother then goes on this twenty minute verbal tirade on how I was trying to convert her to religion when she didn’t want any, didn’t believe in God, and that she had joined the Church of Lord Calvert at work. I shook my head. Before we had left the house I told her that getting out of the house would do her some good. She needed to be doing something to preoccupy her mind off of revenge or vengeful thoughts and acts.
We stopped in to get a bite then went to the appointment which she inadvertently made me miss the exit by declaring that we weren’t supposed to be going to Savannah. I told her I was but missed it in the argument. I then circled like a buzzard until I got back on the right road. We stayed at the doctor’s office for a while, she got seen, and we left to get her home because she had to work. On the way home out of the blue she tells me that she doesn’t want me driving her to the next appointment. I didn’t say a word. I guess she really thought I was trying to pull an intervention and convert her to a higher power. I think she needs something .What? I don’t know but something.
I was just glad to be home.
I remember picking up a pamphlet in the abbey store that explained the place. There was one part in it that I thought was worth note. It mentioned a labyrinth. A labyrinth is a path that is one way. It leads in to a place and that same path leads you right back out. Just to be clear a maze has alternating paths with decisions that can lead you to multiple places depending on which one you choose. The outcome will be more randomized.
I googled the cultural meanings of labyrinths to find it could be a clear definable path to go with one entrance, a form of pilgrimage, to contain benevolent spirits, or to morph into a contemplative state by distraction. I did think of how a labyrinth reminded me of a medicine wheel that one sees outside. It too has an entry way that leads into the sacred area where you can ‘get right with the sacred’.
This concept of a labyrinth also reminded me of a story my philosophy teacher once told his class about his spiritual beliefs. It would seem that Professor Blackwell was a pastor that worked in the military. He had gone to seminary which was the cause of questioning his beliefs. He finished there but then fell into this atheist funk years later. He said he was dead against it but after examining all the major religions he wasn’t satisfied that any of them were the one true religion. He then found himself right back at the beginning where he started from with his religious beliefs.
When you are at a starting point to any endeavor you would probably be more inclined to believe you are following a maze but if you find yourself back where you started then you were in a labyrinth. You were never lost to start with it just seemed that way because all you had to do was back track to find your way out. If you feel you are lost then stop where you are. Assess your situation, find your bearings and listen to your intuition. You can guide yourself if you believe enough in yourself to find it in you to be the person you are and not the one the world is trying to traumatize into a mold that wasn’t you to start with. You can also try to warp yourself in a feeble attempt at becoming a desired component for other people’s consumption. That will only lead to your unhappiness because it is not you then again maybe it is you and you’re just finding your way. The interpretation is left up to you. If it makes you feel happy then you’re on your way. Then again sometimes you have to hit rock bottom be completely miserable before things can change for the better. If it does not then find your way back out onto another path that is the right one for you.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

The Bushy Red Tail



Remember this: Animals are spirits that bring messages to those attune to hearing it. If man has gone deaf to the language of animals then he holds a knife to his own throat.

 
The day before yesterday I told my son that I wouldn't be going anywhere the next day except my bed. I felt sickly. Of course when you travel on the vision's path it does make one mostly sick because you're not eating, drinking very little and trying to pay attention. You can literally get sick from walking the path in earnest. For some reason yesterday morning without even putting much thought in to it like I had already planned to go somewhere I got dressed after he left for school. I was only two minutes from the house when I was thinking, "What am I doing? I wanted to stay home.” No such thing….
 
I then saw something out of my peripheral vision by this stand of grey leafless trees near some straw grass in a cow field. There sitting on its hump was a red fox scratching its head. I passed it thinking what the bloody hell! I backed up sure that it was going to bolt and run but it was waiting for me. I didn't back up all the way but then I guess the fox realized someone saw it and it walked slowly in the trees but still did not run away. I took some photos (because no one would believe me) of it but most of them were blurry. I was surprised I got the two good photos I did. I then knew that I was supposed to go somewhere that day. I thought about it all along the trip as I chose this one straight road that lead to Charleston, SC. I would drive that road and stop along the way at different places and see what it tells me. I figure on writing about each place so it’s not a long writing/reading all at once. I decided to do that today because I have to go back to Charleston, SC with my mother.
 
As I consider myself on some path I saw many things and interpreting them will be a great joy to me and insight for you. Most people are vessels they just don't know it. I hope someone gets something out of it to.
 

I did look up some information on the mysticism of the Red Fox. I will say as you can compare right now my life is one where I am stuck between to people that can't get along but can't live without the other in some strange way. As the fox I have to avoid fights, controversy, and getting my tail shot off so to speak. I wondered why I had to start in the winter and I think I know but it’s going to be very uncanny explaining the way I perceive these things. As I have said before. Messages are all around. My first name means Messenger of God. My middle name means the Archer. My Last name....maker of bits or horse equipment but I am not sure. So here it is:
 
The fox is the cunning and stealthy messenger of the gods and the magical guide to the world between time and space often shape shifting on the journey, (sometimes into human form). The fox lives in the "In-between Time" on the edge of dusk and dawn and can guide the way into the Spiritual Realm. There are many species of fox, but they all share the cleverness and cunning from which comes the expression, "sly as a fox." For the fox learning to be invisible is an important skill in life. The fox shows how to develop the arts of camouflage, invisibility, and shape shifting. The fox teaches how to be unpredictable by mastering the ability of blending unseen into the surroundings. A creature of the night it is imbued with supernatural powers and is a totem of healing of body, mind and spirit. A basic lesson fox offers is to stay clear of complications, rather than getting involved in controversies, step back and observe differences from a distance. It is likely you do not need to take sides. The fox takes a neutral stand when he is not being threatened. The fox runs from trouble, preferring not to get in the mix of conflicts. The Red Fox: Associated with the female in folktales and legends. Sexual energy and the freeing of the creative force. For a woman it is a sign to bring home and children back into focus. A winter spirit.
 
Written by: W Harley Bloodworth
 
~Courtesy of theAOFH~

The Snow Goose Visage of Destiny!



Remember this: When the spirit appears, and it will, one must see where it goes.

 
From a previous post I was writing on feathers and what they mean to me where this is one of the events that followed after angels started to shed their down.
 
I was thinking about making my medicine wheel this morning or how it would look. I decided seeing how I haven't slept yet (how I got those pictures without looking like the damned or the dead is beyond me) and only drank water to go for a walk and think. I strolled down the street and went around the park where I sat underneath a faux pear tree. The tree looked like a burning flame because the leaves turn yellow, red, orange, and brown before they fall to the ground. Sitting didn't suit me so I lay down on my back to look up at the colors overhead. A wind blew then they all fell in my face but the other trees weren't getting as much wind. Seeing how it was cold down there on the ground and I really wasn't dressed for being on the ground I felt cold but still sat there waiting for something. I felt pretty stupid but laughed it off. I picked up this really yellow leaf and realized that was the outside of my circle. I got up and walked on thinking I had gotten all that I was going to get today. I then thought to myself-there isn't going to be any animal out here in this desolation. I felt even more stupid for thinking it but laughed anyway. I made the curve then looked over for no apparent reason to see something standing in the field bobbing its head like it was looking at me.
 
I said, "What the bloody hell is that?"
 
I walked between the fence and just started walking towards it. It moved around but then I saw it take a couple of steps then it was airborne. To start with I thought it was some weird duck. My eyes wasn't focusing to good but instead of the bird flying away in fright it made several low circles over my head before coming back to rest in the field. It was all by itself. Lost? Maybe not? I didn't want to scare it away but thought I saw something of it lurking around the house the other day but it left before I could really get a look at it so I forgot about it. Damn goose is stalking me!!!!!!
I walked back to the house to get my binocs to see if I could identify it. After taking a long hard gander at it I realized it was a goose. I went back in the house to leave it alone. I had my son google what kind of goose it was. The head and neck was white but the chest was grey or blue. At first I saw that it was a snow goose but this type was referred to as a blue goose because of its molt. Either way it is a Snow Goose. I am not sure what this goose is to show me or tell me but I have yet to sing it a song and ask it. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it’s morphing into a white goose because it looks like a young bird. Maybe I have to change in order to move to a new place? New way of thinking? New life? Or new people/situations? I don't know.
The bird will lead me.
After that I walked back across the yard and found a grey feather lying on the ground two feet away from the rear driver's side tire. I picked it up out of the wet grass, took it inside and put it on my board. What does it all mean?

The symbol of the sacred circle and its migration announces the passage of the Great Circle of the year; totem of the Winter Solstice for the Native Americans.

The goose reminds us of the stories we are drawn to that often reflect our life mission. The goose is a call to the vision quest, travel and new adventure and the celebration of victory with dance. The goose never leaves one of its own kind behind. Geese annually migrate to warmer climates during the winter. Should a goose become injured during this trek, another goose will leave the migrating flock to stay with its fallen comrade. An individual whose outer personality is one of determination and resourcefulness, goose souls may become so single-minded in their drive to provide a safe nest for their mate and offspring that they may ultimately attain their beautiful and sturdy nest, only to turn around when it has been achieved to find there is no mate with whom to share it.
Never leave the weak behind.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth
 
~Courtesy of the AOFH~

The Power of a Feather

Remember this: Some birds are for hunting and some are not. Either way the bird represents a little more than what is dead in your hand or on your plate. It gives you wisdom and nourishment. Treat it accordingly.


Feathers, in regards to structure and function, can be considered for thermal insulation, waterproofing, flight (or so gliding) and coloration but just as equally for protection and at times shelter. The last months of 2012, I was on this path to follow feathers left behind on the aptly called trail. Everywhere I went there was a feather of some kind. 

Feathers have been symbols of positive things. To know you were receiving information from a virtuous person, a wax sealed letter bearing three feathers was commissioned to the receiver. These three feathers represented charity, hope, and faith. In dreams, it could mean truth, speed, lightness, flight, ascension, enlightened message, prayer, the ethereal realm and protection. In some cultures it was a symbol representing the judgments of the soul after death.

A feather is important. A feather could be considered by realists as evolutionary growth coming out the skin of a bird. Life has meaning. If you value something for what it represents then it takes on a whole new life even when it is seemingly lifeless. The feather’s meaning is the force of positivity that is supporting it. The feather becomes a light in what seems like the dark. Along the path, it could be considered an indicator to seek spiritual wisdom or in other words come to know yourself, where you stand in the world, how you act accordingly, and the effect you have on the ecosystem of reality in daily life.

You can also get feathers by doing a brave deed which in my case there are a lot of naked birds as my wall can attest. You have to earn feathers in the right context. If you go shoot something out the sky that is cheating. Feathers can be given as a symbol between people but it’s the feathers that you randomly find that the universe lays in your path. It boosts your life and reminds you that there is a great mystery out there and you have a purpose. It’s your personal perspective and how you carry through with your ideals.

Little birds are always overlooked as messengers with important gifts. Most people just stare at them. They are hours of staring fascination. We could learn a lot from the meager little songbird. These little birds are not eagles or hawks but scratch about looking for insects or landing on a twig near your face in a curious almost accusatory fashion of "I see you there. What are you doing?" This is the understanding I get from songbirds. They leave feathers but almost always are accompanied by a song. Songbirds also tell you the importance of communication because they are talking amongst themselves all the time. Singing their little songs.

When the mother bird sits abreast her nest she fluffs her downy under feathers to plop down on her eggs she has laid. This gives the eggs warmth along with rolling them to help the not-yet formed birdie inside a chance at life. As shelter for another life this gives it value. Once the little birds are hatched again the feathers must spread out to shelter them from the rain. This gives it the meaning of protection.

Once the baby bird grows up, it has to have blind courage to leave its nest to learn to fly and become productive. That gives the feather faith. As the bird becomes adept at maneuvering life, there will be times that arise when the feathers are used to combat other creatures that would take the birds life. This is a measure of strength, protection, and a bigger than life sense (as it is a form of bluffing). Trickery can save the bird’s life if the bird knows how to stay alive and defend itself. That takes guts. This gives it valor. In the military you will hear of medals called the Wings of Valor.

There is reproduction to consider. Feathers could represent bright displays of a proper mate. There are also different shapes, colors, and sizes of feathers but usage is closely the same. This gives the feather distinction, variety, beauty, and uniqueness.

In consideration of the bird taking flight, feathers are made to raise the bird up to varying heights and give them the ability to coast in order to move from place to place and find food. The feather is hollow, but each small strand that is stuck together and performs as a whole, can lift a bird up on an air current to a height that benefits the bird, if she is willing to just let go and have the wind carry her. Once she is there, all things can be seen. This gives the feather fearlessness, humbleness, and the ability to just be the feather doing its work. With this action there can be no thought of flight, only the moving forward as one would dive into rivers of water that is air and become one with the motion of an unseen force that moves all things. This gives the feather fluidity like water (for water can cut through the mountain), flotation (to rise above all things heavy), letting go to relax into the natural unrestricted world, and seeming defy gravity and the known way of the world in which heaviness/restrictions are defined. Feathers define transcendence from one spiritual place to another and travel in different realms.

I recently was doing some reading on this place out in Texas. In one of the drawings on the cave wall, there was an image of what looked to be a person accompanied by a spirit and laid across the form was what looked to be a feather. Feathers can also in some cultures mean moving in and out what is called the spirit world be it a very dangerous thing to do. That was during the time of archaic man. Even then archaic man understood the representation of what a feather could hold. Feathers hold unseen power and it is up to the receiver to discover what that power is. This power might be subtle or boisterous.

Either way, the weight of a feather in your hand as you hold it up will signify that you are on the path or the journey to somewhere, or someone important. Stay on the path, you will not be lead astray. Shelter yourself and others as the mother bird. Know when to spread your wings in defense. Take the leap of faith to dip forward as you take to flight. Rise up and feel the greatness around you and all you survey below. Be the unique individual that your outer feathers exhibit as you dance around with colors flashing. Be proud, but humble. Be the virtuous person that people will receive and let people know that you are brave. Pass your feathers on as they fall out and replace themselves to encourage others that they are chosen for a path as well, even if it is undefined or hidden from them until the right moment. When you see a feather found, think of the message you are to receive and pass on. Overall, a feather is a message of survival with the struggle of birth, life, and to death. 

Don't make life meaningless.

Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~

Finding Feathers.

Remember this: The smallest seemingly non-valuable object can speak volumes to you if you only listen to what it says to your heart of hearts.

**I wrote this Nov. 27, 2012. I thought of sharing it because it's interesting. Trust me...it leads to somewhere else.**

Last night. I was canning some broccoli leaves in wide mouth mason jars. I was thinking about this website I had read about finding a feather. it says you are put on the path. I can't lie, I feel like I have fallen off the path hard, or maybe it's my righteous indignation and blatant unwillingness to move forward. For the past year, I fell like deja vu is eating me up and I am looping back around in some weird Groundhog Day event.

As I was canning, I had a bright green stink bug fly up onto the white piece of plastic I was using for a cutting board. I thought that rather strange, it being November, and stink bugs are suppose to be gone. Here it was. The nature of the stink bug is to mind its own business. When something comes along and tries to mess up the stink bug's life it puts off this rather smelly odor akin to the taste of an unripe persimmon. Then again, it could be that smell from the chemicals put on tobacco in a curing barn.


This morning, I decided to go to the park for a morning walk. I stopped and spoke to my son as he waited for the bus because it was late. I walked on. As I was going up the dirt road to the short cut, I was mentally in the crapper. I looked down in the ditch I was crossing over and there was this black feather. It looked like a crow feather. I picked it up. It was really pathetic let me tell you. The shaft of it was all torn and stripped. It kind of repulsed me that it wasn't beautiful. Then I thought.....that feather is just like my attitude: all battered and uncomely. I pondered this. I decided I just needed to change my attitude. I could change that if not the feather. I didn't want to carry the feather with me because it was all out of juju but laid it on the fence to remind me before I leave that my bad attitude needed to stay with that out of sort feather.

I walked around the park and saw this really bright red bunch of leaves from a faux pear tree. The leaves were flaming red. I would later draw them to pass the time. I at least created something. I walked on to see the water tower covered with crows. Crows really run their mouths. They never shut up, run in packs, and menace society. They can remember your face. Yet they have their place in life. They moved to a tree. Eventually the crows disappeared.

I finally decided as I walked that I felt like I was shrinking into the ground. It really felt like under my feet was a strong magnet pulling me downward into the Earth. I thought about sitting under a tree but everyone had ant hills. I wondered if I were to have a sacred place to get right with the world that this wasn't it. Later it wouldn't leave my mind that I should take spray paint that glows in the dark and make a medicine wheel around my deer stand in the pine woods. I know that sounds weird but that was what my mind is tell me to do. I was looking for stuff to make a pipe because it would seem someone thinks that is needed but that's Sioux. I am not Sioux. Not everyone has Sioux blood.

I know how that whale feels. The one called Hertz 52. I feel like there is something I have to do, but I am not sure what it is. As I was walking home, I was traveling down the road that I was still on the right path, even though I had a moment of bad space in my head. I also feel like someone, or something has left me, and I don't know what it is, but believe that it should come back to me, but I am not sure that it left? How confusing is that? Without guidance, I am going to do all this ritual and ceremonial stuff to get to the bottom of what the universe is actually trying to tell me that I am to inept to decipher. I have felt like this past year has been one looping deja vu trip. There was one person that I really did want to connect to but other people just have to butt in when they should butt out.

I was sitting shaving a gourd to make a rattle or something else. I scrapped it and all I could thing of was this person. I don't even know them that is the strange part. Maybe there is something about this person that is like me? After I shaved the second one down to the hard part like deer horns, I finally looked at the sky and said, "I give up on this." I then went in the house. I figured that this being some illustrious mystery placed on me to let it go and see how it turns out. I thought as no one is here to glare at me with stern eyes to say anything about what I am doing, I am going to write about it. Besides it's supposed to help you heal and the people. As far as I am concerned my small wad of friends are my people so learn something from it. If it gives you something you best take it with a smile and be glad you got 'the message'.

~Written by: W Harley Bloodworth

~Courtesy of the AOFH~