When I was a kid, every child knew who Jack Frost was. The first elegant white tracery on a window was cause for celebration, since it indicated the arrival of sledding and skating weather. We all know Jack's legend, which is timeless and full of charm. Read on to hear more from Jack himself!
Posts filed under Nature
Squirrels: Beyond the Cute
Squirrels. They're everywhere. They're so common that you kind of block them out after a while. Then one day you're driving along minding your own business, and suddenly one of the furry hoodlums sprints across the road right in front of your car. It's almost like he was actually waiting for your car so he could give you a heart attack as you desperately try to avoid squashing him without causing an accident! What was that little maniac thinking, anyway?
Prepare to be amazed.
Only A Glimpse
I am a summer person living in Michigan, walking around half heartbroken, not being able to keep myself from anticipating what is to come, which is not-summer for another three seasons. Since I know the value of mindful presence, I look for things that’ll help me stay in the present. Even though I am more of a mammal lover in general, at the moment the antidote to my mind’s tendency to hijack me to the future comes from the insect kingdom as they remind me to be in the present, to savor the magic of the moment, and to contemplate the mysteries. I had written a blog about fireflies before so will focus on the butterfly this time around.
The Slugs of Summer
By Peggy River Singer
I've always enjoyed slugs and snails for their energy and cheerful nature, and their cute little faces. I've even kept them as "pets". They've never caused any problems in any of my gardens, until I planted marigolds here at my lakeside apartment for the first time.
Did you know that slugs REALLY LOVE marigolds?
Each plant was stripped, from the ground up, so they all ended up looking like tiny little topiary trees. I would have thought such a spicy-smelling plant would be immune to slime-trailing snackers, but that's not so.
Worried about my beloved marigolds, I asked to speak with a representative of the slugs in my garden. It was unproductive: I got a flat NOPE when I asked about a truce or a compromise. (I'm sure it would have helped if I had waited until night to connect, instead of trying to negotiate during the day when the slugs were sleeping!)
Meanwhile, my Sage plant was also getting chewed on, and I asked it what I could do to help. To my surprise, the answer was: "Nothing. We can handle this."
That evening, Sage had more to say when it connected with me during Dreamtime:
"I do not mind a nibble here or a nibble there. Sometimes the slugs come to us for healing substances we can provide. Only the weak and sick plants are harmed by slug dining.
"Yes, marigolds are medicinal for the slugs. There is so much poison used here [insecticides] and it makes the slugs sick. The marigold essence helps them.
"Yes, they do LIKE the taste of marigolds; that is part of the scenario. They are not mindless; they have awareness of the consequences of their actions. As in, if they eat every bit of a plant it might not grow anymore and they must seek elsewhere.
"Their mind processes are quite basic/simple and they live in the day, the Now. Focused on their little bit of the big world. Big matters are not part of their awareness. They experience bliss, joy, fear, affection in a limited way. They would tell you that life is good, until it is not, then it becomes good once again. What else is there? What else would they possibly need?"
Well, Sage gave me a lot to think about, and as a result I've let go of trying to "fix" this situation. I'll continue to send loving Reiki energy to everyone involved.
At this point, you might be expecting me to share advice about how to cope with slug damage on YOUR plants. Nope. You'll find plenty of ideas online. You'll also find lots of fine articles about the spiritual aspects of slugs, and what we can learn from them.
The rest, I leave up to you!
Peggy River Singer is a heart-centered animal communicator, medium, faerie ally, Reiki practitioner, and lifelong writer. She combines her gift for communications with her psychic abilities to help create harmonious relationships among all who share the Earth. Connect by phone at 734-548-0194; and by email at newbluecanoe@aol.com. She shares her experiences and insights on her blog, angelsfairiesandlife.wordpress.com.
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MOTHER EARTH
While environmental scientists across the world were working hard to finalize the assessment of the 2019 UN Report on the State of the Environment, I was eagerly descending the steps to my basement art therapy office on Main Street, Ann Arbor so I could put the finishing touches on my latest painting. I’ve felt this space to be particularly compatible with psychological work that requires a quieting of the mind chatter in order to be able to access inner wisdom.
Jasper the Cat Talks About Some of His Nine Lives
By Peggy River Singer
I have provided Reiki and animal communication services to Jasper and his family since early December of last year, when Jasper was in the early stages of a long and difficult illness and physical decline. This reading is from about a week before he transitioned on March 11. We are still working together; he is developing a new variety of Reiki from the other side of the veil.
River: Are you ready, Jasper
Jasper: Yes. I've had many lifetimes as other kinds of animals. Hawks, owls, hares, beasts of all kinds. Every life teaches us something. Animals and humans are alike in that sense.
Now, then. I remember a tiger, I think it was my mother parent. That was a very short life, I was very weak at birth, the last to breathe air [the runt of the litter], and it was hard, so very hard, to lift my head. My mother SO BEAUTIFUL SHE WAS, in body and spirit, grieved for me even as I slipped away, darkness came upon me as I felt her great tongue gently, gently blessing me with love and HOPE. My heart fills with the emotions even now, recalling that moment so vividly...
The next life after that was my choice, and I chose to be a lion. A lion of India you understand, I had decided to stay in India after being a tiger cub. It was my hope that I would be able to meet my tiger mother in physical form, but it was not to be. The Gir Lions [living in the Gir Forest] are quite different from what I have heard of African lions. We are more graceful, more lightly built is a good way to say it, seemingly less massive in muscle, very beautiful in our way. In this life I was a male, a young male ready to find my own way in the world as my father lion did not wish me to challenge him, as is the way among lions.
So I set off away from all that was familiar, walking many miles and days. I had a male friend with me, we thought we might start our own lion family together, this is not unknown among lions.
River: Did you have any ideas about which way to go?
Jasper: We had listened to the elders' stories about what lay in each direction, so we had what you call a mental map in our minds of the terrain, dangerous places, and good places to hunt, that sort of thing. We knew it was best to keep away from humans, but had never so much as sniffed one before in our young lives. Plenty of stories gave us plenty of reasons to avoid those ones!
It was one day when we smelled rain that something wonderful happened! We also smelled a girl tiger! My friend immediately took the lead and we found her resting, licking blood from her muzzle. What a beautiful sight she was, so sleek and serene...
River: What happened next?
Jasper: Sorry, I was enjoying the remembering. Well, I cannot say she was glad to see us, we were lions, after all, and she had a kill to protect. And though the time of matings approached, she was not yet feeling that power. I shall say she sneered at us as unworthy creatures and beneath her notice, and she commanded us to move on.
And so we decided together to continue our travels. We had heard of a great forest, a forest within a forest, as you might say, where very special lions dwelled. Naturally we desired to be Very Special Lions ourselves! [joke] It was a very long journey, as much as a moon, before we realized we had found the place.
River: And what was it like?
Jasper: [A long, low moan.] It was death, it was all death. The humans had come before us. The great trees were felled, the stink of humans was everywhere.
That night we grieved with those who had died there in that naked, ruined forest. With the trees and the animals and the plants, we grieved…
[Jasper closes his eyes and starts to sway slightly back and forth, singing the song of those who were lost.]
Oh beauty, oh vibrant life, oh springing joy!
In this place of burdens, let the life return in its own time.
Too much to bear is this sorrow.
Too heavy lies the burden of death.
We sing our grief, we sing our sorrow,
We sing hope for the future, the future forest,
Which is greater than Man's greed.
And we opened our eyes, our amazed eyes, and saw the spirits of all those who had died, singing and laughing in the sunlight and the moonlight, joyful in death as they were in life, dragonflies playing in sunbeams. All were there just as they had been before Men came. And we were told: "Your hearts have been heard by the All Highest. This place will bloom again. Go in peace."
[Jasper opens his eyes, he is very intense.]
Do you see, do you understand? All hearts are one heart, a great heart, too great to be permanently harmed by the Darkness.
We are done.
Peggy River Singer is a heart-centered animal communicator, medium, faerie ally, Reiki practitioner, and lifelong writer. She combines her gift for communications with her psychic abilities to help create harmonious relationships among all who share the Earth. Connect by phone at 734-548-0194; and by email at newbluecanoe@aol.com. She shares her experiences and insights on her blog, angelsfairiesandlife.wordpress.com.
It's Not Easy To Be a Tick!
A few years ago I spent a weekend at an Animal Communication class out in the country. While we were taking a break on the back porch Saturday afternoon, I discovered a tick walking up my arm. I'd never met a tick before, but recognized it right away thanks to all the media hoopla about Lyme Disease. "Oh, look," I said. "It's a tick!"
A Conversation With the Constellation Delphinus, the Dolphin
This constellation reminds us that humans and dolphins have shared a long relationship. One of the best-known Greek versions of the story of this constellation is that it represents a dolphin who saved the life of Arion, the most famous singer/musician of his time.
A Snake Charmer Tree Spirit and the Honeysuckle
It is impossible not to grow in awareness and fondness of nature in general, and birds and plants specifically, while living in a town like Ann Arbor. I’ve been learning things organically, without a need to study deeply, or have a specific interest in plant life (which I admit I don’t). We lucked out with a house that has a huge backyard with many trees, a small pond that hosts a snapping turtle I’ve seen only once in the eight years that we’ve been here. Ignorance got me close enough to get this photo of her.
Mother Nature
I have been paying close attention to our backyard for many years now, and know which tree will be the first to turn green (the little willow by the pond), which wildflowers will bloom first, how much progress the moss has made in its fight for territory over the grass. Because I am unable to convince others let alone my husband that our attachment to lawns is not the best idea, we have plenty of it in our backyard, but due to our lack of chemical warfare against Mama Nature’s preferences, moss and some clover types are beginning to make their claim
The Heart and Soul of Bird Watching
Birds and other animals are fully "plugged in" to the energetic world around us, in all its unseen complexity; and this permits instant communication among them. It also helps them pick up on our energies, especially our emotional energies. They can easily perceive when they're being watched by humans, especially when that attention is magnified by the unblinking "eyes" of binocular or camera lenses.
A Conversation with a Leprechaun
For this interview, I asked to be connected to a spokesperson for the Leprechaun folk, someone who would be allowed, and willing, to share information about his or her people.
Thinking Outside the Box
I was pretty convinced that my wild woman would be of the earth, probably covered with some dirt, have long un-styled hair, and maybe, bit of a crazed gaze that warned the beholder that she is not to be messed with. That she is to be feared even. Western society has burned even the tamest of wild women (wise women and healers) for centuries to make sure there is no question that our psyches equate wild with dangerous. In fact I am bewildered more than anything that this archetype has survived and is coming through in our imagery at all given how long and hard mankind worked to eradicate it.
Every THING Has a Voice!
found this little six-inch Christmas tree at a dollar store, the perfect size for my small apartment. When switched on, it changes colors and is very soothing to look at. I've been practicing and broadening my telepathic abilities, and since the little tree was right in front of me on my desk one day, I decided to try connecting with it...
River: So, my sparkling little friend, is there anything you'd like to talk about?
AUTUMN ADVENTURES: A Fall Feast with the Fae Folk!
Though I've always known in my heart that fairies are real, I never thought about creating a real relationship with them until the late 1990's. By then I'd been working with angels long enough to raise my personal vibration so it was close to the frequency level of most fae, which simplified connections and communications. And I figured that working with fairies would be a natural next step. After all, fairies have been described as taking care of nature the way angels take care of humans!
Lessons From the Trees
Have you been to a redwood forest? Or laid flat on your back watching the stars? Or seen a person that you’ve never met, that you are certain that you “know”? There are so many ways that people feel connected, and conversely, so many ways that we forget we are connected and tell ourselves that we are all alone.
Dreaming a Bridge: Merging Human Imagination with the Living World
A fire is dying to rose-colored embers in a brazier. A sound like branches being broken drifts down to us from high overhead. We cannot see the blue heron flying above us. It calls, wrapped in folds of night, and its dream touches ours.
Cretan Labyrinth
The last sentence of my last blog almost a year ago was: “Oh, the discoveries that await!,” referring to the permanent walking labyrinth I was hoping to create the coming spring. Boy, did that turn out to be prophetic! I did create the labyrinth, last spring, and have been walking it, if not daily, regularly. It is one of my proudest creations because I was so convinced initially that I couldn’t do it.
Snow Labyrinth
Springs feel to me like Saturdays, where you can really relax, go with the flow, and procrastinate with zero guilt, since they are followed by Sundays. Summers are the best, but there is a lurking awareness of transience that can put a damper on things. Even though falls in Michigan are rapidly becoming another favorite of mine, they are followed by winters, which require serious preparation for psychic survival.
The Man Who Talks with Trees Expounds. . .
By Lenny Bass
For those of you have read my previous essays about the on-going conversation I’ve been having with a Spruce Tree stationed in upstate New York near the heart of the Allegheny Mountains, I am inclined to further elaborate on some of the matters that were touched upon during these — how shall we call them — “episodes” of intra-species lucidity (others might be more inclined to call them “anthropomorphized psychosis”...to which I have little defense...)
There is something romantic and melancholy about the Earth Mother closing out the heat of summer and preparing herself for the cold winter’s embrace. We instinctively feel the shift and are compelled to engage with the natural world, seeking to bask in the cascades of warm yellows, reds, and oranges in the trees and almost methodically find our way to apple orchards, pumpkin patches, and forests to take in the beauty and bounty of the season.