The Visitor on Sunday Night
The Visitor on Sunday Night
Seeing in the Dark
I sat on the front porch with my husband and our dog. The sun had set hours before and the night sky was an inky blue. It was still warm outside—fall comes a little later in this part of the country—but there was a hint of change in the air. As I listened to my husband talking, something huge whooshed past the porch at eye-level. It was silent like a phantom.
“Look!” I pointed. Ten feet away, perched atop my son’s basketball goal, was an owl. I’d spoken softly, but my voice rushed with excitement and my dog startled into a barking frenzy. I braced, expecting the owl to lift off at the sound of Chloe’s bark. But to my surprise, it did not. Instead, it moved its head around like a wheel, investigating.
My dog eventually settled down and was quiet again. In a hushed reverie, we watched the owl for several minutes. Its sheer size, close proximity, and unexpected visit generated a wave of awe. This creature’s visit was a gift. “The owl is the bird of magic and darkness, of prophecy and wisdom,” Ted Andrews writes in Animal Speak.
Magic. In observing the bird, I noticed my own senses sharpening. As if I could sync with the bird’s senses and let them inform my own. I could listen beyond the quiet and feel my way through the deep darkness that extended all around. A beautiful perspective.
Darkness. Owls see in the dark; there’s a lot of darkness unearthing in current times. Wisdom tells me that what needs to be healed, makes itself known. We can use Owl’s Message to see beyond illusions.
October, after all, is the month when the veil between worlds is the thinnest.
The owl stayed with us for about five minutes. Then as stealthily as it appeared, it took off, disappearing into the velvety night. So suddenly, so effortlessly, we were left wondering. Had it even been real?
This life is like a shadow play
the flickering of night and day
through which illusions in our minds
are manifest and intertwined
into a web that few evade
though they see through the masquerade.
Laurel Airica
Owl Image from LovePlusLino’s Shop on Etsy
Current Obsessions
Emma Swift’s “Blonde on the Tracks” This album of Bob Dylan covers hits the right spot between nostalgia and new music. I’ve played it on repeat in my house so many time that my family is sick of it :)
This talk with Laurel Airica, the linguist who wrote the poem I’ve included above.
So interesting to consider fully the power of language. As Don Miguel Ruiz writes in The Four Agreements, “Be impeccable with your word.”
My Winter Garden. I have broccoli, lettuce, celery, cabbage, and collards all growing. And I love my Vego Garden containers!
The pumpkin pie milkshake from the place around the corner. Topped with whip cream. That’s all.