A dove's gift.

A while ago in an other post I briefly mentioned the baby dove whose body I buried in a pot in my own patio garden while I was at the apartments. She has safely traveled here and I am please to announce that all fledglings in my yard have made it to flight! They have survived immense winds, the feral cat that formerly lived in my wall ( yes she visits) and perils of falling from great heights. I see the little lovelies pecking at the earth in the back yard aside their parents peacefully cooing.

However, there was one find that reminded me once again of the energies of the season. Letting go of that which has not come to fruition and returning it to the fields. As some of you know, I have trimmed up the palms; they were in woeful disarray when I moved in, but I had to wait until I knew the doves were done nesting. Seeing the fledglings fly off was the signal I had been waiting for. My daughter had found an eggshell that had yet to be hatched, it was still wet with yolk. It was unfertilized and did not thrive to hatch and therefore, before the adults abandoned their nest, they must have pushed it to the ground. Upon pulling one of the palm fronds down I found that nest. I placed it beside the pot where my baby dove lies to rest.

The other night, after a day of trying to find the shells of the cicadas I had started to hear, I saw a live cicada. We had a brief conversation about how the transformation for me at this time is complete until the next cycle. Why was I looking for the shells of the immature? True to the cicada's words. . . I have yet to find a shell. Actually, I have stopped looking. I do, however, keep seeing the mature cicadas sitting in branches, screens and clinging to posts.

In my mind's eye I keep seeing a shaman beating a drum by a fire with smoke rising toward the stars. The question on my lips is now: what have I become? I think I will only find that answer if I let go of what I have been and walk forward. I suppose my next meditation will be based upon what it is I need to let go and when I find it I will be placing those things in that egg shell and placing it in the empty nest out in the yard. It is time to take the dove's gift and do the season's bidding.