Golden Dragonfly for the Win – Day 205

 

Golden Dragonfly for the Win!                             

I’m pleased to report that the golden dragonfly that appeared yesterday on my walk, and which I featured in yesterday’s post, did indeed bring some welcome magic to my dear friends’ loved one. There’s a light in someone’s eyes and a smile on someone’s face today that are most welcome indeed. (And yes, for those of you who are grammar hounds, I did in fact correctly use the plural possessive, above, because I consider many members of the family of my friend to whom I listened last night to also be my friends.)

In less dramatic news, I’ve had Deer showing up for that past couple of days in my Medicine Card®picks. A major trait of Deer is gentleness.

And They Kept Showing Up

I’ll admit it: I sort of blew off that I chose Deer twice in a row. (Technically, yesterday I actually chose it reversed, but today it was upright.) I guess I wasn’t seeing any situations in which gentleness might be appropriate. It’s not as if I’m some wildly aggressive person anyway. At least I don’t perceive myself to be such.

And then I started reflecting on just how many deer I saw on my walk yesterday. I believe there were five or six, with two of them actually standing beside the road watching me approach them. Another appeared to be a fawn hunkered down in the middle of a field. If you look closely, you can see its little brown head:

Fawn hiding – Photo: L. Weikel

Mind you, all of these encounters took place while I was walking two Boston Terriers. And yes, we all know that Sheila is blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other, and has hearing issues to boot, but the deer don’t know that! (Or do they?) And even if they do, Spartacus is always a wild card. Well, OK, after celebrating his 11thbirthday on Monday, I think he officially shelved even the most remote thoughts of chasing deer about six years ago!

Again, though, do the deer know that?

Gentleness? Really?

So when I chose Deer again today, and reflected on all the deer I saw yesterday, I realized that perhaps I need to extend a little bit of gentleness to myself.

Ugh. I hate even writing that. I don’t need gentleness. I need to get more accomplished! I need to work harder! See more people; write more; schedule more retreats!

Yeah, you get the idea. So maybe that’s why I saw at least 15 deer today. Most of them were peeking up at me from places they were nestled in the fields. This surprised me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many deer obviously in repose, poking their heads up above the waving grasses just to look at me. Even as I walked beside a forest, I gazed inside and saw this one laying down too!

Deer hunkered down in the forest – Photo: L. Weikel

Not sure how I’m supposed to take this and apply it to my life. But perhaps I’ll close now and hunker down in my own bed. I do know I am incredibly lucky to be able to take walks where I am surrounded by beauty such as this. Deer for the win, too!

(T-906)

A Tough New Moon – Day 204

 

A Tough New Moon                                    

Today was the new moon. So tonight, it is dark but for the light of the stars, which sometimes can feel very far away.

My post tonight is short. That’s because I’ve been listening.

Today was a hard day for a lot of people. I didn’t realize quite how hard until late this evening, when I heard from a couple of dear friends.

I could do nothing for either of them but listen. And even that ability could only go so far, especially with the situation I just became aware of within the hour.

While one friend’s day just went from bad to worse, with insensitivity, confrontation, and uncharacteristic lack of appreciation and kindness in her face, the other friend is profoundly worried about a young family member whose health is in great peril.

All I could do was listen.

And send love.

The dragonfly above was on my walk today. I’ve never seen a golden dragonfly before. Maybe there’s some magic left? I hope so.

(T-907)