Sometimes I receive animal signs when I am driving alone somewhere--a bird flies by directly in front of the car windshield, the sun spotlights a vibrant new spring color in the growth along the roadside, a raven does a barrel roll in the air as I pass by. But how to understand the meaning of these animal signs?
The meaning of animal signs has everything to do with what I was just musing about--the animal or elemental action is a direct response to the thought; the reply in the conversation I think I am only having with myself but am really having with all the consciousness I am moving through.
I think that maybe its a mistake to have so many drums because I personally don't play them very often; maybe my drums are like horses left out in the pasture instead of brought in to be ridden...just then a woodpecker flies swiftly past the windshield from right to left and because I know the woodpecker is called the drummer bird, I instantly have the thought, "My drums are voices from this world flying into the spirit world."
I wonder this constant looking to the other-than-human world for meaning is just something I make up--maybe nothing is really looking back out at me...and two ravens appear in the front left of my view and one does a lazy barrel roll just as I pass under their gaze. Something is definitely "looking out to me."
I wonder about the wisdom of applying for a solo show of my shamanic paintings next year to a gallery I know will be hiring a new curator. Maybe my work and the new person will not be a good fit. Just then the sun spotlights a clump of red osier willow in the roadside ditch--the stems glow a vibrant orange--a color I understand symbolizes warmth, attraction and action.
So how do I understand the meaning of animal signs? By first learning to notice what I am thinking at the moment something happens in nature that compels my attention. Of course sometimes a wet cat is just a wet cat, and the understanding is between the cat and the fish--just before the cat tipped over into the pond.
