Showing posts with label Stellar Blue Jays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stellar Blue Jays. Show all posts

Monday, June 20, 2016

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.


Follow me on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

I’m also on Facebook


© 2016 Judith Ashley

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

A Fun Story About Blue Jays



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

Monday, I promised you a funny story about the blue jays.

I’ve friends who have a cabin in the woods and I’m invited to visit with them at least once a year. My visit in 2015 coincided with my writing Gabriella. In Monday’s post I talked about the blue jay being Gabriella’s power or totem animal. I was delighted to see many blue jays in the trees, at the feeders and mingling with the deer.

Inspired I got my phone out, figured out the camera part and pointed it at the birds to take their picture. As soon as I did that they flew off. I tried again and again and each time the birds flew into the Douglas fir trees.

One time I even held the camera down by my side in an effort to trick them.

Nope. That didn’t work either.

Finally I put my phone away, determined to just enjoy their beauty.

I was back a week later and even though the blue jays were all around the cabin, I didn’t even try to take a picture.

As I was sitting on the deck under a canopy, visiting with my friends, I heard the beat of wings and felt the rush of air as one of the birds buzzed me. Startled as the blur of blue flew over my head, ---the bird had flown under the canopy from one end of the large deck to the other!

We all had a good laugh over that.

Guess that showed me!

A week later I received an email from my friend.

They did get a little more cooperative after I told them that it was no way to treat a guest and reminded them that we still controlled the food to some degree!

And after the text were these pictures.
Who Me?



















Well, Really!!!

If that's what you think, I'm leaving

If I just ignore them, they'll go away.


Guess they believed her – lol!

Pictures from Lois Neuman. Captions are mine.

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


Follow me on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

I’m also on Facebook


© 2016 Judith Ashley