Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Messages From Dreams and Animals

Life has been weird lately.

When isn’t it, right?

DREAMS

After meditating the other night, I had this long involved dream, full of symbolism that spoke to me. I have been struggling with figuring out which path to follow in my writing. A while back, I finally gave in to my love of writing poetry, fighting against that voice inside that tells me I can never make a living off poetry.

My life has never been about money though.

And when I decided that practicing the mechanics of writing poetic details would help me in other areas of my writing, I was finally able to allow myself to write it without worrying how I will ever survive in the world. Hey, I’ve made it this far.

Anyway, my dream had some good details for a story. But hey, I’m not going to tell you that now. You’ll have to wait until I get it written. It’s on my to-do list.

ANIMALS

Another "area" where I get messages is from random animals popping up in my life. Interestingly, I wrote the following last year:

This year has been a time of shedding; the daily dilemmas are reminders that it’s not over yet. It’s a painful process, letting go of things that are “no longer serving.” Even though material items have fallen under this umbrella, it is not about them. It is about letting go of old habits, parts of the spirit that need to move on, and grow.

Crows have gathered in the hills above my yard for two days now. A friend of mine told me the group is called a “murder.” I can see why. Some people might want to murder them. But I was home writing and welcomed the meditative sound.

When “unusual” animals appear in my life (or appear in my life in a way that they don’t normally), I look up the meaning in my Animal Speak book by Ted Andrews. Too busy to bother hunting down my book, I found this site on the internet instead.

The interpretation of CROW was interesting:

“CROW signifies that you’re on the verge of manifesting something you’ve been working toward for awhile. Be very careful over the next couple of days for any clear omens or signs that will guide you and teach you. Expect a big change soon. You’ve noticed something that is out of balance or an injustice that hasn’t been addressed and it’s important to speak up about it. You’re about to get a glimpse into some future event that affects you directly. Wherever crows are there is magic. They are symbols of creation and spiritual strength.”

Flash forward to present time, now the animal that appears all over in my life is the owl. Being the mascot at my son’s school, they have been in my life for a number of years, but this is different. Friends on Facebook are posting and “liking” them, pictures of owls are everywhere I go.

Yeah, yeah, I guess owls are “in” right now.

Owl at Placerita Nature Center
Photo by Linda G Hatton

I looked them up anyway and this is part of what I found:

“Those with Owl Medicine will be able see and hear what others may try to hide; they see what is not visible in the shadows, hear what is not said aloud, and read between the lines to see the truth of a situation. They will be able to pinpoint subtleties and discrepancies. This may make others uncomfortable when they are no longer able to deceive, and their hidden agendas are seen through.”

Interesting and it definitely applies to my life.

GOALS

I wrote this next part yesterday and didn’t want to put you all to sleep, so I decided against posting it, but if you’re with me this far, this is what I’ve been up to . . .

With the start of the new year, I resisted making new years' resolutions. Instead I filed away in my head things I wanted to do this year.

  • Guest Blog - As my son was getting better from the flu, I put together a blog post for Going Veggie (I believe it will go up on February 7) and have another one in progress (both celebrating the Month of Veggie Love). 
  • Research Magazines to Query - Today I’m researching magazines and thinking about what other kinds of articles I’d like to write.
  • Learn Book Binding - I’m itching to work on this book-in-progress. It has six signatures that I need to hand-sew in and I need to add some artwork.


  • Redesign Websites - I redesigned the Mouse Tales Press blog, though I have more work to do there. (I also have submissions piling up in my in-box for Mouse Tales Press, though I would be happy to receive more poetry and short story submissions!)
So far, so good with the new year.

How about you? Get any weird messages lately? Are you busy working on new goals for the year?

*****

5 comments:

  1. I like hearing that crows are "symbols of creation and spiritual strength." I feel like they are usually represented more negatively and there are ALOT of them out here in Kansas!

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  2. It's amazing how dream inspire us in so many ways isn't it?

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  3. Thanks for the link. It looks very interesting and I'm sure a couple of my daughters will be fascinated too.

    Sounds like you've been accomplishing quite a lot.

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  4. LInda, I love the book, Animal Speak. A friend recommended it after I had an "encounter" with a rabbit at a writers' retreat a few years ago. Thanks for the link; I'll go exploring. Re dreams: yes, they speak to me. I dreamed the other night that I was struggling to get somewhere with not only my own luggage but also my mother's bag, which was *much bigger* than mine! I'm thinking "baggage," in the emotional sense. Maybe that's too easy an interpretation, but it's apt.

    A great post. I enjoyed it.

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  5. Not only have I been writing about and "as" cats for years, I see them when I'm out and about through out the week.

    Wonder what that symbolizes?

    The other day I kept hearing the "Who?" of owls as I walked a few blocks.

    I finally stopped, and spoke up, saying..."Shut up, already! I've been in town since September so if you don't know who I am by now I ain't gonna help you!"

    As I waited for the bus I didn't hear another peep from the owls. :-D

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