Discerning the Messages, Part II

What if many of the things which happen to us or appear before us are messages from Spirit?  What if we are not individuals walking through this world all alone, but instead embodied spirits who are dearly loved and guided on a regular basis?  What if things happen for a reason and are opportunities to learn and grow?  What if everything that happens is for the good? 

Doesn’t it feel better to live in a world like this than a world in which we are tossed and tumbled about by fate?  Doesn’t it feel better than believing we are a victim?

I began writing about this theme in my June 12^th blog post.  Several things had happened over the course of a month and I finally realized there were some messages hidden within those incidents if I took the time to look at them.  A recent incident happened when I was sitting outside “innocently” eating my dinner and then discovered after I’d come inside that I’d been bitten between my toes by one of the ants which had been crawling about.

What can I learn about this bite?  Of course there are the obvious physical messages:

Wear closed-toe shoes; be more alert and aware, etc.  But what about the metaphysical messages? 

What does Ant symbolize?  What are its messages?

There are several books and websites available which talk about the “medicine” or energy of different animals.  Check out, for instance, Jamie Sans and David Carson’s Animal Medicine Cards, Ted Andrews’ Animal Speak, and Steven D. Farmer’s Animal Spirit Guides.

Let me share some of the highlights of Ant medicine:

• Ant is a communal animal.  One doesn’t often see a lone ant.  Instead there are often many scurrying about on a mission of which we humans are usually oblivious. Ants work together; they cooperate. That’s what they do.  (Community, Cooperation.)
• Ants do a job until it is completed.  They patiently do whatever is required to finish a task.  If they must move one grain of sand at a time over and over and over again for days or weeks at a time in order to make room for a subterranean colony for themselves, that’s what they do.  (Patience, Diligence, Focus)
• Ants are very, very small, but they are very strong, able to carry thirty times their own weight.  (Strength)
•  If an ant is stomped on or killed, it emits pheromones which draw other ants to the scene.  In other words, ants are unstoppable.  (Might)

The above is summarized well by Dr. Loretta J. Standley, who is of Cherokee descent:

      Ant’s message is about working non-stop toward your goals and forging ahead for the Good of the whole. Are you working on a project that benefits a larger audience? Have you been ignoring your tribe? Ant medicine cooperates with the tribe in harmony and wisdom toward a common goal, knowing that patience will be rewarded. Have you been cooperating with yourself on your own personal projects? Patience begets reward and it’s just over the horizon! (http://www.drstandley.com/animalmedicine_ant.shtml)

Her questions triggered a realization in me.  At the time of the ant bite, I was in the midst of both unpacking and recuperating from the second move in three weeks.  I was happy with my new home, but very tired from a couple months of a rather exhausting schedule and set of circumstances.  I was focused on getting the new home in order and on recovering some personal energy.  I did not, at the time, think I had much energy for anything else.  However, if I am honest with myself, I realize that my “tribe” did need me.

At the time I was telling myself that I didn’t have the energy to deal with it, but the truth is I was very, very aware of the wildfires in New Mexico and Colorado and I knew that I could have a positive impact with my prayers and my attention and intentions because I know that our focused thoughts can shift reality.  I could have taken time out to pray for rain.  But I am sad to say that at that time, I did not stop what I was doing long enough to attend to the situation in a focused and conscious way. 

Now when I look back, it seems very clear to me that Ant was saying, “Pay Attention!  Your people need you!”  That’s what the bite represents for me in this moment.  It was clearly saying “Pay attention!!!”

 

Phew.  This is a powerful and big lesson for me.  It took me a couple days to process it, and when I did, I got very clear that it was time for me to gather people together to do a prayer ceremony to call in the rain.  Immediately.  Once I got the message, I began to act.

The result?  It didn’t rain immediately, however the huge heat wave that had been expected never happened.  And the humidity began to rise over the course of the next few days.  The temperatures also began to get cooler.  In a couple days it did rain in the Colorado Springs area where the worst of the fires was.  At the time of this writing, the fire is reported to be 65% contained.  The tide did begin to turn.

Was it the prayer ceremony and the offerings that made a difference?  I believe ALL the prayers of hundreds or thousands of people across the country made a difference. It was the focused thoughts, prayers, and intentions plus the respectful requests of the elemental world that combined made a difference.  We, in the “civilized world” tend to be so left-brain oriented that we tend to explain away magic and miracles.  If someone suddenly gets better from a life-threatening disease, for instance, the doctors might say that there must have been a mistaken diagnosis or that it was “simply” a spontaneous remission.  Or if it begins to rain after horribly high temperatures and terribly low levels of humidity, people might say that thunderstorms often happen this time of year and that weather in the mountains is unpredictable.

But the fact is we really truly can make a difference.  I believe we ALL have the potential to impact the world around us.  Just like Jesus once said, “This and greater things will you do.”  His point was that if we have sufficient faith, we can do just about anything.  I completely agree that when faith is strong enough, it really can accomplish absolutely amazing things.

I also believe in the principles taught by Abraham, as revealed by Esther Hicks in many, many books and tapes.  These same principles were also explained to Neale Diamond Walsh in Conversations with God and are written about and spoken about by more and more people all the time, including some of the authors listed below.

·        What we focus on becomes reality.

·        Our thoughts are extremely powerful.

·        And thoughts combined with mental images (visualization) and emotional energy are extra, extra, extra powerful.

·        We can be, do, and have whatever we can imagine.

• “Whatever you clearly focus on, you do create, whether or not you want to.” (Sonia Choquette)  (ie, Focus on the fire?  Or focus on the rain.)

·        “As we align our own thinking to more positive possibilities, they shift toward probability.”  (Julia Cameron)

• “You are guided, you do have the power, and the Universe is actually conspiring on your behalf.”  (Michael Dooley)

(I could go on and on.   There are so many fabulous quotations on this subject.)

I also believe in the following shamanic principles, explained and delineated beautifully in the book The Urban Shaman, by Sergei King.

·        Everything is alive, aware, and responsive. 

·        Energy flows where attention goes.

·        You get what you concentrate on.

·        There are no limits.

I also believe the world of Spirit is only too happy to work with us.  I was once told that “they” (helpers in non-physical form – i.e., Guides, Angels, Benevolent Beings) need us as much as we need them.  That was extremely profound for me to hear as I had been feeling insignificant and I’d been putting them on a pedestal.  I have since realized that they don’t have the physical bodies we do, therefore they need us on the physical plane.  Plus, they are not supposed to intervene unless we ask.  Thus, they need us.  Ideally we all work together as a team to create the reality we want.

These are all hugely important lessons for us at this time on the planet.  There’s a good likelihood we will continue to be faced with floods, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc.  Not to mention unjust or unhealthy worldwide situations brought on by corporate greed and governmental misconduct, etc.  We have been entrained to feel hopeless in the face of all that is wrong in the world, but we do indeed have power.  Just like the tiny ant.  If we each do our own little part, we can move mountains of sand.  We can call in the rain and put out fires.  We can end apartheid/slavery/hunger/war.

Prayer. Faith. Intention. Focus. Positive expectations. Visualization.  United action.

It’s not necessarily easy.  It takes a lot of commitment and practice.  It requires faith and focus and diligence.  But change and shift and transformation are possible. 

Thank you, everyone, for calling in the rain.  I and the land and the people and the trees and the animals thank you.