Writing, Imperfection, and Listening to the Birds

So, I was sitting down here to write. I knew I needed to let you know about the Gift Certificate Specials I have going on until the end of the year, as well as the Holiday Spice Sale this week, but then this happened:

I saw some movement in the branches of the belladonna outside of my office window, so I peeked out to see a cardinal chirping and jumping from branch to branch. As I got closer to the window, it jumped on a limb, where even its light weight was enough to bend the limb, so that it slowly floated down even closer to eye-level.

This moment only lasted a few seconds, but I was struck by such an intimate encounter with a bird I could rarely get that close to while outside.

The weather is overcast today. The bird seemed like a bright red sprite leaping in the grey-green scenery. The contrast compelled me to look for a message in our encounter.

… Actually, that's not true. If you know me well, you know that I'd be looking no matter what.

That's the thing, I'm always looking, searching, and trying to make sense of things. Whether it’s “true” or not, to me, the meanings I find are real and part of how I connect to something greater.

I was even able to snap a picture of the cardinal before it flew away.

Inspired to share about this experience, first I decided to search for what I could find about "Cardinal Bird Animal Magic.”

My cursory Google search revealed the association of "cardinal" with "direction." Cardinal is about knowing what you want in life and how you're going to achieve it. Well, that's what I feel like I'm working on right now!

Cardinals are also associated with spiritual connection and the importance of having that. This is not the first time that birds and connecting to spirit have come up for me in the recent past. Last week, I attended a one-on-one intuitive ancestral Tea Ceremony.

In this reading, the facilitator told me that I had a lot of bird energy. “A lot of swirling up here,” she said as she waved her hand above her head. I replied, “You might not know this, but my business is called Upward Spiral." This reading made me more attuned to birds.

Honestly, I'm an aspiring birder. I'm not super knowledgeable about them, but I do pride myself on the few birds I can identify by sound or sight and love watching them wherever I am.

When I was at the Sattva Peace Out Party this weekend, I was talking with a woman there who is a printmaker, and she was showing my friend and I how her press worked. She picked up one of her designs, which was two birds flying opposite one another as a stick connects them by their beaks. It was called "spiritual connection."

When she made the print and looked at it, she was a bit dismayed. The image was quite crooked on the parchment, but otherwise, still intact.

Honestly, I love it. It reminded me of all the work I've done this year to heal my heart from the seahorse picture that I messed up in preschool (a true story that I commit to writing and sharing in the next year). I loved it so much that I said, “I'll take it and I'll even pay you for it!”

So I joyfully traded my money for her goods, for all the perfections and imperfections.

What does all this have to do with seeing the bird this morning, being connected to spirit, and me healing my old wounds?

There is sacred value in what we do, in what each of us does, and when it is recognized by another, money can become a conduit for communicating that power. That's a fancy way of saying, when we value the goods or services of another through purchase and acquisition, we enter into a sacred relationship with each other.

We tend to feel that money is dirty, that selling something is selling-out, that by buying something, we're buying into something we didn't actually want.

But what happens when we see buying and selling as a way to participate in the ritual of economy? I had a college professor who believed that consumerism functions as a religion in our society. I've got to say that I agree with him and that I don't think it's a bad thing.

I share all this to ultimately ask you to consider how you can find more sacredness in your purchases. But also, to keep looking all around you for answers to the questions of spiritual connection.

What images are popping up for you lately?

(I’ll interject to say that between writing this post and editing it, I went to my favorite dance class and saw that the instructor had a sweater on with birds all over it. Not only that, but I was reminded that her name is Bird! Might be coincidence, but I’ll take that as I need to publish this writing!)

May your dollars be spent this holiday season with those whose work you value and cherish.

If I’m one of those people, don’t forget that I’ve got a special on Gift Certificates for Massage, and my Holiday Spice Blend is on sale now.