Beauty of the Vulture

My Dad and I are buying a house. Dad is vigorous for 82 years on the planet. He plans on fishing and maybe getting a part-time job. I am nearly finished writing a book, and will be working on getting it published.

The process of buying a house is new to me, and yesterday I was down in the dumps. A dear friend took me for a drive in the country, which was lovely. We went some places in the county where I had never been. I learned that Lake Whatcom is HUGE! We stopped on the way at a country store - lots of different things for sale. I bought some baby brussel sprout plants. We shared some espresso chip ice cream.

And the icing on the cake was watching a gorgeous turkey vulture swooping back and forth over the large mowed grassy area across the road. It was really quite stunning and beautiful. And then the vulture flew off.

Now many people think vultures are not beautiful. Some people think they are dirty. What is real is these scavengers play an extremely valuable and necessary function, preventing the spread of disease and keeping the environment clean.

So when I got home, I checked out Ted Andrews view of vultures in “Animal Speak.”

In alchemy, the vulture was a symbol of sublimation, particularly because of its resemblance to the eagle. The vulture was considered a sign of confirmation of a new relationship between the volatile aspects of life and the fixed, the psychic energies and the cosmic forces. It was a promise that the suffering of the immediate was temporary and necessary for a higher purpose was at work, even if not understood at the time. It reflects that no matter how difficult the life conditions, rescue is as imminent in your life as was the rescue of Prometheus by Hercules.

This fit so well - I had been stressed and the beauty of the vulture in flight was restorative. Today, I spoke with the realtor, who is doing her job perfectly. I know that very soon we will have a wonderful place to live.

The First Robins of Spring!

This winter has been crazy! It is cold, windy and snowing where I am and a few days ago it was sunny and the temperature was around 50 degrees. The birds are as confused as I am. There were four fat robins in the tree one morning a couple of days ago, huddling against the cold and blowing snow. Is it actually spring? Because it sure doesn't look or feel like spring.

As I meditate on the idea of spring I remember the maxim "Hope springs eternal." The word "hope" has been bandied about for the past two years. But isn't hope based on a real possibility? Nowadays we are hearing more about the time it might take to repair the damage of greed and an economy made of air and deception.

Still, spring does always come. We will do what we need to do to survive and even thrive in the midst of chaos and change - remembering the Chinese word for "crisis" includes parts of the words for "danger" and "opportunity". Many times in known history we have been on the brink of disaster. According to Malthus, for example, there are too many of us to actually feed. Yet somehow we are still here - all 7 billion of us!

We will find ways to live more in harmony with our beautiful Earth. Who knows, we may seed other planets in the future.