Wonder Walk #425, 781

In a dark funk, I went for a Wonder Walk with my man yesterday. Expect amazement, beauty, and interesting things -- you'll undoubtedly find them. Our wonders:

1. Rubber bats flying above a doorway. The bat man joined us in admiring the big bellied spiders and their webs, so common this time of year. One spider was wrapping up bug bundles, making lunches for the week. A guy wire ten feet above the web anchored it in place from a high tree branch. Bat medicine and Spider Medicine = spiritual rebirth and creativity.

2. A tall tree stump carved with buffalo, bear, eagle, snake to honor native ways. The eagle's broken beak => challenge in grasping what is nourishing.

3. I retrieve a small plastic skull for the family who's dropped it from their porch above while stringing ghoulish lights. Returning awareness of death/dark as part of life/light.

4. Spying a few stenciled koi on the sidewalk. They are life-like with individual orange, white, and black markings. They turn the sidewalk into the surface of the pond. We recognize them as escapees from the school of stenciled koi in our neighborhood.

5. The silver 4" disco wedgies, Marc Jacobs wellingtons, and full array of baby shoes, sneakers, and boots now used as planters for succulents and perennials. They are lined up around one side of the restroom pavilion in the park. What shoes to fill, and with new life.

6. The soul-streaming golden light at the top of the park. Occasional squeaks from the toy that a standard poodle pounced on. The cool breeze that made us turn for home.

What wonders can you see with fresh eyes?

New Year Magic

I did a wonder walk through the fog with my man on New Year's Day. What I want to say about that: it's good to start your year daring to be a fool for love. On Van Ness Avenue, near the serious opera hall and spiffed up city hall, we looked up and found a hawk soaring. Fairly low, it looked down at us while hunting for lame pigeons. We do what we always do with high fliers. We stuck our arms out and echoed their soaring, swaying back and forth with our long fingery wings.

I called to one, then two of the beautiful relatives, that we love them. It's thrilling, my heart leaps when I see the wild in the city. I tell them I love them and thank them. People around us are giving us the hairy eyeball. We point, "Look at the hawks!" But they just pass us by and don't look up.

I believe that the animals, our relatives, only let themselves be seen by those with eyes. I have eyes, my man has eyes, and certain of my friends have eyes to see the magic in the world. I am grateful they are here. Hawks are messengers to Spirit, so whenever you see one, send a message of thanks, love, and blessing. Use that acute vision to hone in on what will feed you well. And ask for what you want.

I wanted to feel myself alive in the city I love, exploring with my man, being a body in joyful motion. And so it was.