Learning on Many Levels: The Grackle

Judith is the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual practices that nourish the soul and celebrates the journey from relationship to romance.

You may remember at the end of last week’s post I said I’d tell you a story about a Grackle. Here’s the story:

In 2014 when I attended the Desert Dreams Writers conference, a bird kept visiting my room. Well, not actually in my room, but it sat on the railing outside my room. My friend, Lois, told me it was a Grackle. Now Grackles are big and dark, resembling a crow or raven if you’ve never seen one. Being someone who believes that animals (including birds, reptiles, insects) bear messages, I looked up Grackle in Ted Andrew’s Animal Speak book.

Fast forward to 2017. I’m again in Arizona attending the Desert Dreams Writers’ Conference where I’m not only presenting a workshop but also participating in the Readers’ Experience. (More on that later). One of the things I needed for my “Book Club” was a stash of desert quartz. My friend, Lois, had some she was willing to share.

The day was Hot (especially to my Pacific Northwest self). We gathered the desert quartz but had another task to perform before returning to air conditioned comfort.

Grackle - we put nuts out so I could take pictures

Three large black birds sat on tree limbs a few feet away and were chattering away as if giving us advice on how to go about our task. At one point I turned towards them and had a ‘conversation’ with them, assuring them we would finish quickly and leave them alone, reminding them that we are all part of the larger circle of life, etc.

When we were done and had returned to air conditioned comfort, I asked Lois what those large black birds were. “Grackles,” she replied.

So out came Ted Andrews’ book as I refreshed my memory as to their significance.

What you don’t know unless you know me personally is that when I arrived in Arizona a couple of days earlier I was struggling with a conundrum of difficulties. I’d been obsessively talking about the challenges in my life. I’m sure my friends were sick of me chattering on and on about it—but even though I knew I was repeating myself off I’d go again.

Grackle=overcoming excess and emotional life congestion.

 We laughed out loud when I read this question.

Are we simple rehashing and talking about them without doing anything to correct the emotional situations of our life?

There and then I made a plan to figure out how to correct the problem and vowed I would not talk about it unless it was in the form of a solution. I’m not going to tell you an answer immediately appeared but as I write this, not only did it appear it has been implemented.

Seeking answers in innovative ways can solve problems in a more rapid and satisfying manner than just bemoaning the fact that there is a problem and we don’t have a ready answer.

Next week I’ll share a couple of ways I search ‘outside the box’ for the keys to solving sticky and sometimes just ordinary issues.

Sign up for Connections, my newsletter, and download a freee-copy of Lily.

Learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on
 my website.

Follow Judith on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB!

Power Animal Lessons

Judith Ashley is the author of The Sacred Women's Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual traditions that nurture the soul.

I’m talking about power animals this month. My main one is the snowy owl but I have other animals

Dragonflies help Ashley fight cancer

that show up in my life with lessons for me to consider.

The Great Blue Heron flies through my life several times a year. The Heron’s message is about waiting for the right time – or patience. If you wait, it will come. The Heron stands stock still in water and the fish come to it! Not that I can sit at my computer and the words magically appear. But when I write it isn’t far from that.

For my books, vivid, lucid dreams (both day and night) are the impetus for my writing. It’s not unusual for me to be surprised at the words I see on the page as I type (yes, my high school typing teacher would be very upset with me because she taught touch typing – you didn’t look at the paper (waay before computers) when you typed).

Some days I don’t write because the story isn’t vivid in my mind. I trust that the story will come back to me and it always does. At this point I’ve written well over 750K words on these stories and there are more to come.

There are crows that live in a tree across the street from me. I see them everywhere in the neighborhood. Seldom (and I’ve lived in my house over 40 years) do they come into my yard. Crows represent the magical world of creation. It’s larger relative, the Raven, adds mysticism to the mix. To some of my readers, the spiritual practices of my heroines is mystical, magical…a fantasy. To others, their spiritual practices call to them and they want to incorporate the prayers and practices into their own spiritual lives.

Stellar Blue Jay snubbing me

Look around you as you go through your day. If you work inside but have access to a window, what’s out there? You may see pigeons if you work in a city. What thoughts cross your mind as you observe them? Seldom do you see a lone pigeon. They are a vocal bird. There are several varieties-think carrier pigeon’s used in war time to carry messages across or through enemy lines.

Maybe it is a neighbor’s cat sunning itself on your deck (mystery/independence)? Or Robins looking for worms in your flower beds (new growth).

Ted Andrews wrote the books Animal-Speak and Animal-Wise. These books are a place to start learning more about messages from the animal world.. He also has an audio program to help people find their Spirit Animal. Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams is another resource. Ms. Sams’ deck of cards is easy to use and the accompanying book gives information about the spiritual traits of the animals.

Use a piece of paper to keep track of the animals that catch your eye. Although I’ve not tried it, if you are into Google, you might even try checking that resource to find out what message is there waiting for you to decipher it.

You can learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on my website.

Check out my Windtree Press author page.

Follow me on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

I’m also on Facebook

© 2016 Judith Ashley