In August of last year I wrote about a small blue and yellow bird which keeps banging on our lounge room window which, lined with a film of reflective sun protection, is in essence a mirror - trying to connect with what it believes is another bird but which is really itself.
At the time I said:
Synchronicities abound in life and more so when we become aware of them. There is a little bird, gloriously, shimmeringly blue, which bangs on our lounge-room window at various times of the day.
And now, as of this past week, we have another bird doing the same thing but this one is black and white and much larger. The closest I have found to it is the White-headed Black Chat although I am not sure it is this bird. It looks like a version of our Australian magpie, akin to the size of the Piper Magpie.
The noise as it bangs against the glass and the image of itself, mistaken for something other, is much, much louder. It is three times the size of the small blue and yellow bird. Is the cosmos upping the ante on the message it is sending me? I am beginning to think the answer is yes.
Black and white are opposites and birds are believed to be symbolic of a link between heaven of earth; between the material and the spiritual; between ego and psyche.
Given that my ponderings of late have been around beliefs, rights and wrongs, blacks and whites, Self and other, this 'message' may well be a reminder that when I 'bang my head' against the 'mirror' which is my life, I am doing so because I see the image as 'other' when in fact it is me. This fits of course with the philosophy that we are all connected and what we do unto others we do to ourselves. It also fits with one of my favourite maxims: 'That which we condemn in others is that which we deny in ourselves.'
So given the pointlessness of the bird banging at the glass because it wants to connect with what it believes is another bird, the message for me perhaps is that 'banging away' at the 'glass' of division which I see as a separating barrier between myself and others in terms of belief, is just as pointless.
There are many aspects of my life at present where this is relevant. Just as the bird is mistaken in believing the image is 'other' so I am mistaken in believing in a similar image whether it be of individual or belief. I would not have thought I was like this but the cosmos is wonderfully frank and blunt when it speaks to us and this is the language of synchronicity, just as it is of dreams.
We talk about 'banging our head' when we are trying to be understood, to be heard, to bring about change and in essence that is what the bird is also trying to achieve. He or she wants to connect, to join with the image, which is perceived as other - it is in essence a reaching out but one which achieves nothing because there is no 'other' and the image is mere illusion.
The world is a magical place and never more so than when we see through the language of symbol and meaning. Jung said symbol was the lost language of the soul and given my almost desperate search for answers to current problems, well, perceived problems, and issues, in recent weeks, and given the lack of anything approximating an answer, perhaps this is it and my cosmic guides are saying;' turn away from the false image, the mirror reflection, the illusion that something is other and return to the certainty and the centre of Self.
The language of Soul has never been so precise, nor so beautiful.
NB: It is Sunday and the same bird is now flinging itself against my bedroom window which I can see from my desk when the door is open. There is no sun-protective film on this window, so no mirror reflection, but s/he kept at it for a while. Perhaps I did not heed the message well enough. And it does fit with an experience last night where I pondered who and what I was and wanted to be and then had a dream about being pregnant and giving birth which always reflects a birth of Self, particularly at my age.
And the meaning of the magpie in symbolic terms offers insight:
Quick List of symbolic traits of the magpie:
- opportunistic
- intellect
- perceptive
- flashy
- refined
- communicative
- social
- deceptive
- illusion
- expressive
- willful
The magpie's obsession with shiny things is symbolic of our tendency to chase after false ideas or perceptions. When the magpie comes into our lives it is often a reminder that we may have to re-evaluate our priorities. Are we chasing after unsuitable desires? Are we serving a false ideal? Are we putting materialism ahead of matters of the soul?
The magpie builds its home in the thickest "V" of trees. Forks or V's in nature are symbolic of gateways or paths into the spirit realm. In this fashion, the magpie asks us about our level of spiritual perception. Specifically, the magpie asks to keep an open mind in matters of the spirit. She also asks us where our spiritual foundation is and encourages us to open the gateways of higher (spiritual) vision.
http://www.whats-your-sign.com/magpie-symbolic-meanings.html
So the message is about communication but the way the magpie appears makes me think that when it comes to communication I am 'banging my head' against the glass - glass ceiling perhaps - because I mistake the 'image' for reality. I am also thinking that when I feel conflicted in discussions, or about things I have said, it is when I am talking to men. I find women can have differences of opinion more easily and discuss in robust terms and with passionate input without giving or taking offence, far more than men can.
What I am not sure about is whether the message is to say more and trust my own path to truth or to say less and leave the 'speaking out to others.' Perhaps it is time to ask the I Ching or the Tarot, or both.
The I Ching gave Hexagram 13 which is Fellowship with Men. (True fellowship is founded on fellowship with the Sage. Exclude the Sage and there can be no true or lasting fellowship.
The achievement of peace and harmony with one's fellows is the natural drive of the human heart. We often receive this hexagram when some adjustment or change in attitude is needed. Either we need to make sure that what we require of others is correct, or we need to search out hidden reservations in our attitude which isolate us from the Sage. (The sage is the term used by the I Ching and refers to the spiritual, Higher Self, God, whatever works for the individual.)
By correcting our relationship with the Sage we correct all relationships. From A Guide to the I Ching, Carol K. Anthony.
The gist of this seems to be that problems occur when we go along with something which is incorrect and this takes me to the nub of my problem - I feel guilty about speaking out about what I believe is right and just when others do not agree. Despite the fact that the debate last night which triggered a dream about 'giving birth' and the bird at the window, was in regard to the extra-judicial murders carried out by the United States and supported by omission or commission by allies, including my country, Australia, I still felt guilty about taking a stand. Why on earth should I? Perhaps the Virgo in me.
As I said, and the discussion was with a male, and he was the one who brought the topic up by saying he was glad Osama Bin Laden had been killed, when so-called developed nations establish a precedent which betrays the foundations of the civilized and democratic world, by carrying out, allowing, or supporting such things like assassination at will or whim, or torture for that matter, or arrests without charge .... then they put in peril the future of the modern world.
After all, if the US can charge someone like Osama Bin Laden with a crime and then just murder him without trial in a court of law, then anyone can murder anyone. If an Iraqi, or Afghan, or these days a Pakistani, assassinated George Bush or Barack Obama for their crimes then how would it be different? It wouldn't. Setting one 'bar' for yourself and another for the rest is not only unjust it is hypocritical. The United States may have great military power for the moment, and plenty of toadying allies, but that does not give it the right to murder people, no matter what they are 'said' to have done, when it takes their fancy.
When we betray principles of law and justice we betray all those who will follow us and mock the blood and suffering of those who fought so hard to bring it into being in the first place.
The message seems to be: Your responsibility is to God and God at work in you, and not to others. What matters is speaking the truth despite what anyone may think of you.
At least that is how I read it but there will be more pondering required I am sure.
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