Once upon a time, when I was entering into a new and potentially risky venture, I saw an omen or a sign. Without sharing too many gory details I'll just say I had made a decision that I wasn't entirely confident about. Here comes the omen: As I turned off our road and set out in earnest on this new path I saw a fox run away from the fence line and toward the woods on my left. At the same time an owl flew away from the fence line and flew toward the woods on my right. I told myself that this was a sign that I was making the right decision and that my doubts and concerns would prove to be unfounded.
I was wrong. My doubts and concerns were very much warranted. To be fair, I don't completely regret taking that risk. I had some good times and learned a lot about myself, about interpersonal relationships and life in general. I also learned a lot about pain and regret and guilt. So, it was perhaps an invaluable learning experience but also probably the second most painful time period in my life. If I had been a little less selfish I would have taken the opposite interpretation of the omen seriously. Or maybe I did but quickly discounted it.
They say hindsight is 20/20. And this is no more true than when speaking of omens. The above example is just one of the omens I've seen and either didn't recognize or interpreted incorrectly because I didn't take the time to think, meditate and perhaps research them. I know better now. If it strikes me on an emotional level I know the universe or the spirits of the land or the gods are trying to tell me something. This is especially true when I see something I've never seen before. I see it now and I know it.
To be fair, not all odd occurrences are necessarily omens. Sometimes a bird is just a bird. Sometimes there's nothing to learn. When I see a young eagle cruising a field and it's only mildly interesting to me and not visually startling then I know it's not an omen. It's just nature gracing me with a glimpse of its magnificence. The trick is something I've only learned with the passage of time. I've learned to trust my intuition, to listen to my instincts. May it be so with you.
6 comments:
I've learned with time, also.
My dreams are more reliable information sources than anything in waking consciousness - that's one of the things I've learned.
Good to hear from you again!
Love,
Terri in Joburg
I think you're spot-on here, Livia. The 'omen' is recognised as a combo of varietal factors, but intuition, for me, is a heavily deciding factor. Usually takes three or more "clues", and then some consideration...
Great post as usual, Miss Indica!
Slainte!
I'm trying to "recognize" omens or signs in this way, too--if they startle me, seem out of place or reappear again and again, then I should probably pay attention. But I still think maybe I'm just making this all up!
And then I wonder if we really need omens. I guess we want assurance that we're making the right decisions, and that isn't a bad thing. But it certainly is much more difficult just to say I made a decision and it turned out badly.
I'm certainly no expert on this! Just blabbering on...
Hi Terri, I've had an on-again off-again interest in my dreams that has come back to me in recent months, hence the dream journal. I don't know if I can ever "decoded" them but I'm working on it.
Hi Cygnus, I guess time really is the ultimate teacher!
Hi Riverwolf, I guess we could making things up but then that would some underlying part of our brains trying to tell us something...which is all good in my book! Feel free to blabber on, that's about all I do!
For a period of time I tested the old counting crows/other corvids verse (using crows, since they were local", the one that started out with "One's sorrow, two's mirth". The result was nowhere near impressive enough to suggest anything but random correlation.
Hi Lupa. In my experience applying scientific methods to nature is just asking for trouble. The gods/spirits/whatever don't seem to be interested in being quantified by our human standards.
Post a Comment