Allowing the Wild Storm

Sacred Rebels Oracle by Alana Fairchild

Since it was the weekend, I decided to draw a card for the coming week. What was my focus for the coming week? What was the most important point for me to keep in my awareness? What showed up: After the Storm.

From the Guidebook:
"There is, in life and in the creative process, a need to allow for wild storms. There will be those precious moments of peace beforehand, and the release and revitalisation that follows, yet the storm in the middle is essential! ...[T]he storm wisdom offers you the gift of bringing things to a head, and clearing them away, so that the energy can be freed from a pattern that has had its day, and is ready to become something new."

I've spent a good chunk of the past year weathering the storm. There have been bright, sunny, blue-sky spots as well as dark, forbidding, sudden-squall spots. I've been blessed with friends both new and old who have ridden out the shifts and changes with me. I love that this card has shown itself at this precise moment in time. It's the blossoming force of the creative process that has provided the life-changing, mind-altering energy to keep me moving forward, ever onward.

It isn't lost on me that the creature flying in the bright creative moonlight after the storm is an Owl. Owl has guided me through dark times for many, many years. It was my high school mascot. No matter where I've traveled, Owl has insisted on being a Light Bearer and guide for me. This beautiful, moon-faced barn owl is haunting and hunting me, leading me through the darkest moments of the storm. I am grateful.

What storm is brewing in your life? or what storm has recently passed? How does your creative energy express before, during and after the storm? Do you fear the storm? or find it exciting? What's your next creative step?

Silly FB Questionnaire

When I logged onto FB the other day, I was greeted by one of those silly questionnaires. This one wanted me to answer the questions to discover my totem animal. My immediate thought was, "What the heck? I might as well give it a go and see what happens." So I did. This is the result:

"What animal walks by your side? ... Your totem animal is the owl,... Owls represent wisdom, and the ability to see what others do not. This means your mind is unique,... You observe situations in a 'positive' aspect, meaning you probably suggest that there is good in everything. Owl people make excellent spiritual teachers...
Some additional details about owl totem: Intuition, ability to see what others do not see; ...change; capacity to see beyond deceit and masks; wisdom; traditional meaning...is the announcer of death, most likely symbolic of a life transition, change."

I have to chuckle about this. It's almost as though Owl wants to remind me that It is in my life for the long haul. My high school mascot was an owl ~ Its presence began there. Five years ago, I attended a Women's Dreamquest where we drew power animal cards to place us into groups. I drew Owl (along with 4 or 5 other women). Three years ago, I spotted a recently killed young barn owl at the side of the road and felt called to do a ritual to send Its spirit home. In short, yes. I already knew my connection to Owl and Owl's connection to me. It was, and is, humorous to think that a FB questionnaire would identify the connection as well.

Have you taken any of the FB quizzes? Have you 'discovered' anything that you didn't already know? What do you think of these kinds of questionnaires? Do you consider them fun? serious? educational? helpful? What animal has shown up repeatedly in your life?