I have a secret. It’s a secret little something that I do when I’m tired or overwhelmed or just need a boost to keep me from scraping bottom. I was there yesterday in the predawn hours when I was trying to pray myself back to sleep. I knew I needed a bit of magic to lift my spirits and imbue my life with an extra dose of delight. So I prayed for sparkles.
My pleas for sparkles have always been answered with miracles, large or small… and sometimes it is the little things that are the most uplifting. Perhaps that is because they are the most believable, or maybe it is because they let me feel that I really am in conversation with something bigger than myself. No thunderclaps or parting of seas, just quiet conversation.
Yesterday’s sparkles started with an unexpected divination. Every morning I do a two card spread with the Spacious Tarot and then pull a single card from my Womanrunes. The message was clear: No matter how dark the night, the sun always rises – the worst of the storm is over, there are still good things to come. And as if speaking directly to my middle of the night anxieties about claiming my own writerly soul, the rune message was the Egg, the rune of naming. Words of power. An assurance that I will be heard in unexpected places, in unexpected ways.
Once we were up and about, Jeff and I went for a morning walk in our local woods – being out in nature always serves up delights, doesn’t it? November finally opened to herself with a bit of sunshine to interrupt our recent spate of endless grey skies and we crunched our way through giant not-yet-mulchy golden leaves, picking out the biggest ones as we searched for mushrooms in amongst the trees. It was a quiet Monday morning – only a few people were out, most of them with dogs. No birdsong (I wondered if a sparrowhawk had just gone through and sent the usual chatterers into hiding?), no human conversations. For my part, I felt physically strong and I was loving the fact that my knees no longer hurt – they were so bad for so long, but consistent gentle exercise and a careful diet have let me heal. That is an ongoing miracle.
Amongst the joys of nature we discovered signs of human wit and whimsy. Those matter right now! Throughout the woods the local council has worked to balance conservation with invitation and has installed a series of carvings on stumps left sitting by the sides of the path – a fox, an owl, various mushrooms – clues to the natural life of the forest that might not be seen on daylight rambles.
The wise barn owl sported a message that went straight to my heart. After my sleepless night filled with existential angst and a lot of tossing and turning, here was Our Lady reminding me that she is, indeed everywhere! Never before have I ever seen an owl wearing a Miraculous Medallion! What a sparkle!
Reposted from Substack