The rest of the story...

Wednesday before I went to the movies a flock of blue jays flew into the trees in front of my window. Blue jays with their dark Mohawk top knots fluttered, squawked and roosted in the trees for several minutes and then, as one entity, they flew off, scattering in different directions. It's summer. Blue jays don't migrate at this time of the year.

I was stunned and delighted by their antics and the surprise of so many birds in the trees in front of me. Unusual? Yes. Very unusual. But not nearly as unusual as what happened the next day.

I had just finished a very long night of typing operative reports and was checking my email. I had some music playing on the computer and was singing, stretching my vocal cords and calming myself for sleep. I looked out the window just as a huge flock of crows flew into the same trees the blue jays had occupied exactly 24 hours before. The trees, leafy and green, were suddenly black with crows, the air full of their raucous cries. They hopped, twittered and chattered at each other. Just as suddenly as they arrived, the flock took off in a cloud of shining ebony feathers, scattering to the four winds as they flew.

Psycho Ken says when he looks at this house when he comes over he sees a white light surrounding it, blazing with pure white brilliance. Ever since I first walked into this house I have felt at home, resonating with the energy at a deep level. I belong here. The landlady and my next door neighbor, Nello, share my beliefs and feelings about this place. In many ways we are a family, looking out for each other and yet knowing there are times when we need our own space and silence. We share meals and histories and thoughts.

I shared my birds with Nello and she gave me a book to read about totem animals and their meanings. Blue jays and crows/ravens are of the same family. Blue jays signify magic and dabbling in magic. Crows are powerful magical signs and they straddle the unseen and seen worlds. In some Native American cultures crows are believed to have helped create the world. The crow can also be a trickster, harbinger of magic and the touch of the Great Spirit. It is said that once the crow was all white but was changed to black when he gave the wrong message to Apollo.

Whatever this miraculous appearance of birds means, it is magic to me, a gift, just as finding this place was a gift.

My wish for the rest of the world is that they open their eyes to the magic in the world all around them and not to get so caught up in the day to day problems and details that they forget to look around them and accept the gifts of the Almighty.

That first blue jay I saw when I moved here was a welcome sight, a gift and a reminder that though I was far from the cabin where I spent two peaceful and wondrous years the sights and sounds of the natural world were still around me in the song of the birds that greet the morning, the beautiful huge fluttering yellow butterflies I first mistook for falling leaves, and the squirrel porn performed in the crook of the tree just outside my window. All of it is a gift to enjoy every single day if we only take the time to stop and look.