Resurrection Sunday and I am changed

Today, Easter, has always been celebrated in my family with church, new clothing, and big family dinner. Yes we talked about Christ and the resurrection but I never really felt it until today.

Late last night Brutus brought me a robin's nest. Still wet with cold mud, empty of eggs, with lots of threads of different grasses, twigs and even a strand of what looks to be dental floss... It felt like an offering to me. I felt like Brutus was trying to tell me something, but I just couldn't hear it with all the other noises around. I went to bed and forgot about it.

This morning I went for a long walk with one of my dearest friends Athena. She belongs to the Greek Orthodox church in Ithaca and she was telling me about midnight services and how Father Tom spoke to her heart and used a lot of metaphor to explain resurrection. It was beautiful to hear the story from Athena. Our hearts were full of love and as she spoke she was animated, humorous and serious all with her greek accent and sprinkling of greek words.

Toward the end of our walk we were so grateful for the birds that had seranaded us the whole hour we were walking and we stopped at what some people would see as "just a swamp". We saw it as beauty! The dry clumps of weeds with water surrounding, the many different greens and a few drops of red from the skunk cabbage beginning to bloom. As we were standing giving thanks a red winged black bird flew past us and landed on an old cattail. I told Athena how many people think of Robins as spring but I always think of the red winged black birds as my sign of approaching spring. I shared with her how Robins are always around, common everyday birds, that were just always present so I didn't really associate anything with them. I basically took them for granted...

Moments after this conversation we came upon a Robin which looked to be dead on the side of the road. We could have chosen to walk on by, but instead we stopped. For some reason I felt connected to this "dead" robin. I can't even explain why... As we stood looking down on this bird I knelt beside her (I say her because the bird felt feminine to me) and scooped her up into my hands and began to unwind her chakras and pray. Within seconds I felt her heart beat and Athena and I saw her open her eyes, look at us, take her last breath and then close her eyes. We felt her last heart beat, saw her chest rise and fall one last time as she released her spirit from the physical body that had been her vehicle here. And as she closed her eyes and I felt her bodyheat transfer to me I was changed.

We carried the Robin home and talked about what we imagined her life to have been and thanked her for the gift she gave us. We did a ceremony (and by the way, how did Brutus know the Robin would need her nest??) to witness this beautiful creatures exit from earth bound beauty into spirit soaring. It was beautiful, the words, the feelings, the community (our small community albeit), the sacredness of life and death.

Today with that Robin I understood and I am changed.

Blessed be, Janet

The Blue Jay leads me into the heart

Today at our chakra workshop we were going in-depth into the 4th chakra, the heart. The heart chakra has two parts to it, the heart protector (green) and the pure light of the heart itself (pink or gold). I tell you this because my shamanic journey today was, like most of the journey's I take, very profound... Here's how it started:

I was running after, arms outstretched, a bright blue jay. The ground underneath me was a cobblestone street and as I run I am aware of the sound of my shoes (I think wooden shoes) clapping on the ground. As I become distracted by the sound and looking down at the shoes and cobblestone I lose sight of the blue jay. When I look up I am entering an open air market place. On the outside of the market are many vendors with colorful tents, ecclectic music, and celebratory voices and sounds. They are setup up in a circle on the outside edge (heart protector?) of the marketplace. When I arrive in the center I look around me and there are three dancers, dressed in black and wrapped in sheer colorful scarves. They begin to whirl around in circles (staying in one place) and their eyes are "glued" on me which seems to me to be their focal point to remain standing and not lose their balance. As they begin to twirl their scarves dance too and the colors "come off" the scraves and fill the air with a fine mist of color. The 3 dancers begin to sing. The song is Someone's knocking at the door, by Paul McCartney and Wings...

Someone's knockin' at the door
Somebody's ringin' the bell
Someone's knockin' at the door
Somebody's ringin' the bell
Do me a favor,
Open the door and let 'em in(repeat)

And as they are singing I look around me and I notice that the "awnings" of the vendors are rolling up and the sun becomes a spot light that is streaming on me and the dancers get closer and I am whisked into their hands that have formed a "kinds chair" and they are raising me up as if I am in a broadway play. And once they raise me up as high as their arms will allow I look around me and their is a glass staircase and on the edge of the glass staircase is beautiful purple and blue water as far as I can see and as I am taking in the vastness of seeing nothing but water forever and ever I hear "Just jump" and the journey ends and I am back in this physical reality.

So, what is the blue jay saying to me, what do I gleen from this wonderful adventure inward? Many truths and many things that will help me stay connected to my center, my heart, so that I can just jump and trust that the water will take me where I need to go!