As usual Jan, your experience and thoughts are uplifting and transcending. A bird has yet to perch on me but many years ago when I was in a marriage that was stifling me, I was at Willoughby's coffee shop outside with a friend when three little birds flew over me one at a time and pooped on my arm. A woman sitting near me noticed and with a stunned expression said, "What are those birds trying to tell you?" Because of that experience, I found the strength to go home and tell my husband I wanted a divorce. Something that offered me a chance to breathe and become me. I was raised Catholic and left the church to seek the divine in my own way. Oddly, during two different meditations recently two different hymns have come through strongly. I am simply sitting with it but have wondered as Burt Bacharach said, "What's it all about Alfie?"
Hi Laurian, I suspect the three birds and their "message" were a synchronicity, an outward happening that meaningfully coincided with your inward state. I sense there is something shifting in our collective and your experience of two different hymns coming through has to do with it. You are not alone in this kind of experience, I'm starting to hear about similar things all over. Happy Easter.
Thank you for such a deeply felt and richly observed article — well illustrated too.
I wonder if you are familiar with “The Ballad of Mary Magdalene,” by (onetime divinity student) Richard Shindell and sung by him and Dar Williams on the Cry Cry Cry CD with Lucy Kaplansky? It brings me to tears every time, and I’ll look for it and put it on the player today. I don’t know of a sadder song.
By the way, if I come across an unfamiliar acronym without definition, I skip the article altogether and move on.
Hello Pete(r) thanks so much for being part of Hedge Mystic and taking the time to leave a comment. I checked out the Ballad of Mary Magdalene, deeply moving, thank you for sharing it.
Thank you and Seasonal Blessings to you! I enjoyed your share and relate. A powerful touch of Spirit you were gifted.
I celebrate the liminal and synchronicities as gifts of Grace. Small everyday things. I am an artist too, love Jung and been a disciple of so many Divine Feminine expressions of Sophia and the goddess.
Also the collages are sweet ruminations of your experiences.
It's a whole world of overlapping and intersecting ideas isn't it? Jung in particular provides a fascinating framework for the spiritual, creative and archetypal to interact.
I am inspired by your willingness (nay, need) to revisit the canonical stories of your past and allow them to inform and merge with the more mystical awarenesses of your present. While not so intimate as your experience, I too was recently led out of suffering by a community of birds - chickadee, flicker, pileated woodpecker, bluebird all came to help me learn. Such beautiful messengers! (https://elizabethbeggins.substack.com/p/to-this-day) Thank you, Jan. This was a lovely, timely essay - and I read every word.
What a wonderful assembly of birds, I have them all in my woods too. Birds with their ability to fly and sing have such a potent connection to spirit, they seem to be natural messengers.
Thank you for the musings! One of my images for the liminal landscape is the moment a trapeze flyer lets go of one trapeze and is suspended in air for a second and then is catches the next trapeze. Birds in all shapes are there to catch us and bring us to the next higher trapeze. Soulful Flying to all
Hello Elle, I LOVE that image, letting go, suspended in mid-air, before grabbing hold of the next trapeze bar. That moment of suspension certainly captures the essence of liminal space.
Wow! A true miracle. Beautiful. And I’m so sorry for your pain 🙏
I remember when the traditional Catholic upbringing, that I had walked away from at the age of 18, came roaring back to me in this same kind of way. I remember at first thinking “this is what it must be like to deny something in me that greatly wants to come forth but I’m embarrassed to admit it is real.” After-all, I’d faithfully adhered to being a “recovering Catholic “ for years.
Fast forward I’d been suffering an illness that was beyond my control and flipping my whole world upside down. I did not know how to be with its debilitation, its in relentless suffering it was causing me and my family- even my workplace. And guess what, the king of suffering arrived in what you’re calling a liminal space in which I guess miracles/transformation/transfiguration occur. And it was transformational for me, and miraculous. Had I really in that moment become a Jesus freak? Well, not like that, but yes, I fell in love with Jesus and his essence, The Christ, and its consciousness in one big bang of a moment that I didn’t see coming whatsoever. “Why did it have to be him? How embarrassing,” I thought. I didn’t even tell anyone- I felt totally ashamed. Because Jesus, on a very different level, is advertised at Superbowls! Talk about cheesy. I even made fun of baby-Jesus just like Will Ferrell one of my favorite comedians. I was totally anti-Jesus.
And yet here he was, blatant and inescapable. I realized that he had come to teach me about suffering , to be with me in my suffering, to hold my suffering, to somehow love my suffering, to stay with it; and it changed my whole life. I even eventually went on to take my Buddhist vows since that tradition seemed more (too much in the end) embedded in suffering and its place in our lives on this plane than modern catholic traditions. I guess I had become a suffering freak ;-0 . However, life is ALSO joy. And that’s another story that became more evident after the suffering eased and transformed into joy and yes Cynthia and Richard Rohr, and the St Thereses, et al. In fact I went to Palm Sunday mass but now experience it completely differently - I can’t say I love it, but I can say I receive it and its commune-ion though a very different slant now.
Hi Debbie, thank you so much for sharing your powerful experience. Spiritual realities, unfortunately, but inescapably, get covered in cultural clutter, like the Superbowl. Very, very often it is a life threatening or life altering "dismemberment" real or symbolic which just like a Shaman's initiating experience shakes loose the cultural garbage and allows us to encounter the Divine in its essence. Eventually we see with different eyes, looking past the cultural distortions to the truth. Cynthia Bourgeault, Richard Rohr and the St. Thereses are wonderful guides and mentors. Their books and writings help illuminate what is worth finding.
Reading your account of Mary Magdalene has inspired me to delve more deeply into her story. She is one of my spiritual guides and my interest in her has taken me on a journey in Southern France to follow in her footsteps. This Lenton season has helped me establish a new daily practice that I hope will extend beyond the 40 days. In addition to my reconnection with the rosary I am welcoming Mary Magdalene into my daily practice. Thank you for this inspirational awakening.
Hi Cathy, I believe Mary Magdalene is an often overlooked spiritual guide, but she is perhaps the best guide we could possibly have when looking deeper into the meaning of the old stories.
Hi Lisa, spiritual journeys are peculiar things. The way is never quite clear, and the path never as straight as we would like it to be. What is reliable though is the Divine Love that leads us on.
So glad we "met for lunch" via my article. There's lots more about the donkey, who seems to represent all of the natural world in this bit of the story. He was young and "unbroken" that is had never been ridden before yet he recognized his creator and carried him gently. A donkey carried the pregnant Mary and the donkey "worshiped" at the manger. There's an awful lot of symbolism in these stories, much more than people usually realize.
What a read, thank you ❤️
You're welcome so glad you enjoyed it.
As usual Jan, your experience and thoughts are uplifting and transcending. A bird has yet to perch on me but many years ago when I was in a marriage that was stifling me, I was at Willoughby's coffee shop outside with a friend when three little birds flew over me one at a time and pooped on my arm. A woman sitting near me noticed and with a stunned expression said, "What are those birds trying to tell you?" Because of that experience, I found the strength to go home and tell my husband I wanted a divorce. Something that offered me a chance to breathe and become me. I was raised Catholic and left the church to seek the divine in my own way. Oddly, during two different meditations recently two different hymns have come through strongly. I am simply sitting with it but have wondered as Burt Bacharach said, "What's it all about Alfie?"
Hi Laurian, I suspect the three birds and their "message" were a synchronicity, an outward happening that meaningfully coincided with your inward state. I sense there is something shifting in our collective and your experience of two different hymns coming through has to do with it. You are not alone in this kind of experience, I'm starting to hear about similar things all over. Happy Easter.
Thank you for such a deeply felt and richly observed article — well illustrated too.
I wonder if you are familiar with “The Ballad of Mary Magdalene,” by (onetime divinity student) Richard Shindell and sung by him and Dar Williams on the Cry Cry Cry CD with Lucy Kaplansky? It brings me to tears every time, and I’ll look for it and put it on the player today. I don’t know of a sadder song.
By the way, if I come across an unfamiliar acronym without definition, I skip the article altogether and move on.
Peter
Hello Pete(r) thanks so much for being part of Hedge Mystic and taking the time to leave a comment. I checked out the Ballad of Mary Magdalene, deeply moving, thank you for sharing it.
Your writing really captured me. Thank you for sharing and expounding on your amazing halo bird
Thank you Kerri for reading and taking the time to comment. "Halo Bird" I simply love that!
Thank you and Seasonal Blessings to you! I enjoyed your share and relate. A powerful touch of Spirit you were gifted.
I celebrate the liminal and synchronicities as gifts of Grace. Small everyday things. I am an artist too, love Jung and been a disciple of so many Divine Feminine expressions of Sophia and the goddess.
Also the collages are sweet ruminations of your experiences.
It's a whole world of overlapping and intersecting ideas isn't it? Jung in particular provides a fascinating framework for the spiritual, creative and archetypal to interact.
I am inspired by your willingness (nay, need) to revisit the canonical stories of your past and allow them to inform and merge with the more mystical awarenesses of your present. While not so intimate as your experience, I too was recently led out of suffering by a community of birds - chickadee, flicker, pileated woodpecker, bluebird all came to help me learn. Such beautiful messengers! (https://elizabethbeggins.substack.com/p/to-this-day) Thank you, Jan. This was a lovely, timely essay - and I read every word.
What a wonderful assembly of birds, I have them all in my woods too. Birds with their ability to fly and sing have such a potent connection to spirit, they seem to be natural messengers.
Thank you for the musings! One of my images for the liminal landscape is the moment a trapeze flyer lets go of one trapeze and is suspended in air for a second and then is catches the next trapeze. Birds in all shapes are there to catch us and bring us to the next higher trapeze. Soulful Flying to all
Hello Elle, I LOVE that image, letting go, suspended in mid-air, before grabbing hold of the next trapeze bar. That moment of suspension certainly captures the essence of liminal space.
Wow! A true miracle. Beautiful. And I’m so sorry for your pain 🙏
I remember when the traditional Catholic upbringing, that I had walked away from at the age of 18, came roaring back to me in this same kind of way. I remember at first thinking “this is what it must be like to deny something in me that greatly wants to come forth but I’m embarrassed to admit it is real.” After-all, I’d faithfully adhered to being a “recovering Catholic “ for years.
Fast forward I’d been suffering an illness that was beyond my control and flipping my whole world upside down. I did not know how to be with its debilitation, its in relentless suffering it was causing me and my family- even my workplace. And guess what, the king of suffering arrived in what you’re calling a liminal space in which I guess miracles/transformation/transfiguration occur. And it was transformational for me, and miraculous. Had I really in that moment become a Jesus freak? Well, not like that, but yes, I fell in love with Jesus and his essence, The Christ, and its consciousness in one big bang of a moment that I didn’t see coming whatsoever. “Why did it have to be him? How embarrassing,” I thought. I didn’t even tell anyone- I felt totally ashamed. Because Jesus, on a very different level, is advertised at Superbowls! Talk about cheesy. I even made fun of baby-Jesus just like Will Ferrell one of my favorite comedians. I was totally anti-Jesus.
And yet here he was, blatant and inescapable. I realized that he had come to teach me about suffering , to be with me in my suffering, to hold my suffering, to somehow love my suffering, to stay with it; and it changed my whole life. I even eventually went on to take my Buddhist vows since that tradition seemed more (too much in the end) embedded in suffering and its place in our lives on this plane than modern catholic traditions. I guess I had become a suffering freak ;-0 . However, life is ALSO joy. And that’s another story that became more evident after the suffering eased and transformed into joy and yes Cynthia and Richard Rohr, and the St Thereses, et al. In fact I went to Palm Sunday mass but now experience it completely differently - I can’t say I love it, but I can say I receive it and its commune-ion though a very different slant now.
Hi Debbie, thank you so much for sharing your powerful experience. Spiritual realities, unfortunately, but inescapably, get covered in cultural clutter, like the Superbowl. Very, very often it is a life threatening or life altering "dismemberment" real or symbolic which just like a Shaman's initiating experience shakes loose the cultural garbage and allows us to encounter the Divine in its essence. Eventually we see with different eyes, looking past the cultural distortions to the truth. Cynthia Bourgeault, Richard Rohr and the St. Thereses are wonderful guides and mentors. Their books and writings help illuminate what is worth finding.
Reading your account of Mary Magdalene has inspired me to delve more deeply into her story. She is one of my spiritual guides and my interest in her has taken me on a journey in Southern France to follow in her footsteps. This Lenton season has helped me establish a new daily practice that I hope will extend beyond the 40 days. In addition to my reconnection with the rosary I am welcoming Mary Magdalene into my daily practice. Thank you for this inspirational awakening.
Hi Cathy, I believe Mary Magdalene is an often overlooked spiritual guide, but she is perhaps the best guide we could possibly have when looking deeper into the meaning of the old stories.
Beautiful and relatable, thanks for sharing.
Hi Lisa, spiritual journeys are peculiar things. The way is never quite clear, and the path never as straight as we would like it to be. What is reliable though is the Divine Love that leads us on.
Yes. And learning to trust that it does has taken forever but it's happening. It's finally happening...
Read the whole thing (whilst eating lunch!) and found it fascinating.
Not catholic but went to a catholic school, and yet I never realised the signifcance of the donkey...
Love the inclusiveness here.
So glad we "met for lunch" via my article. There's lots more about the donkey, who seems to represent all of the natural world in this bit of the story. He was young and "unbroken" that is had never been ridden before yet he recognized his creator and carried him gently. A donkey carried the pregnant Mary and the donkey "worshiped" at the manger. There's an awful lot of symbolism in these stories, much more than people usually realize.