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Happy New Year, everyone. May it be safe, happy, and prosperous for all.
Among birders there is a tradtion that the first bird you see in the new year is sort of a theme for that year. Some birders travel to exotic locales so they have a good chance of seeing something, well, exotic. For some birders it’s more about adding to the life list, but for many of us, myself included, it’s more spiritual. The first bird you see will be a theme for the year. Say, you see a woodpecker. They’re about new rythmns, beating your own drum. So, it might mean a year of new things, or of finding your own beat to dance to. One year, I got up to silence and no birds. Nothing fluttered, anywhere. It was downright weird, since we have a lot of bird life in our yard normally. But there were squirrels in the back yard, and squirrels in the front yard. I finally realized my animal for the year was squirrel. What did that tell me? Well, it could mean a lot of things. Am I saving up for the future? Am I so worried about the future and what might go wrong that I can’t enjoy the present? Squirrels also soclize and play a lot. Was I not doing enough of that? They are also one of the sentinels of the forest, so was I not heeding a warning. It actually turned out to be about anxiety about the future, and that sense of never having enough, never being safe. (A lot of us that were raised below the poverty line have that vauge sense of anxiety.) So, I worked on my issues, and tried to trust the universe more. I also tried to play and socilize more. By the end of the year I was a happier, mentally and emotionally healthlier, more well socilized person.
Animal books we use here are anything by Ted Andrews, but espcially ANIMAL-WISE and ANIMAL-SPEAK. I’ve also started using ANIMAL SPIRIT GUIDES. I still prefer the Andrew’s books, but Steven D. Farmer, Ph. D., has insights to offer, as well. Also, once you have your bird or critter, read up on it, the real animal. Find out it’s habits, what time of year it’s most active, what it eats, how it sleeps. The real animal can give you a lot of insight into what exactly the lesson might be. It’s all very subjective, but I’ve found it useful, so I pass it on.
So, that’s our tradion for New Year’s morning. For those wondering what we did for the Eve itself, we stayed home. Trinity got to have a speical party at Grandma’s with her best friend. Jon and I got to stay home and be just the two of us. We marthaoned season four of HOUSE, that we’d downloaded from Amazon. We’re caught up now. Pout.
We had our own private version of ringing in midnight, just the two of us. No one to complain that the kiss was too much for public consumption, because we weren’t in public. I’m finding that the more public a personea I’m getting, the less public I want to be on my off time.
I’ll try to do a blog in a few days that is a sort of retrospect of the good and bad of 2007 for us. But today, go out and find your bird, or your animal. Or don’t. Do whatever your tradtions are, and we’ll do ours. It’s all about doing what works for you. For those of you who over indulged last night, did you know that in Terry Prachett’s DISC WORLD books, there is an, Oh, God, of Hangovers? His name is Bilious.