Turtles, Dragonflies, a Dead Deer or Two and Synchronicity: Part 2

Go here for Part One.

The second year we went to Michael's cabin, I ran right down to the water's edge as soon as we got there and on the bottom step leading to the water I spied this newly emergent dragonfly (still attached to the shell of the nymph). I knew something was up…

Sidenote: When I got home I found this about the significance of dragonflies…

The Dragonfly

No bird or insect has the flight maneuverability of the Dragonfly. They can twist, turn, change directions in an instant, hover, move up or down, and even fly backwards. The power that dragonfly brings to the tapestry of life is skill. They are experts at what they do and do it relentlessly. Dragonflies spectacular colors sparkle with iridescence in the sunlight. These colors take time to develop reflecting the idea that with maturity our own true colors come forth. As newly hatched nymphs, dragonflies live on the bottom of ponds and streams. As they mature and go through metamorphosis they move to the realm of air.

Since water represents the emotional body and air represents the mental, those with this medicine will often find themselves trying to maintain balance between their thoughts and emotions.

Children with dragonfly medicine are often very emotional. They feel things deeply and respond to situations with great passion. As they reach adulthood, and through experience, they learn how to balance their emotions with greater mental clarity and control. This gives them the compassionate quality necessary for any type of work relating to healing or counseling.

Dragonfly has the ability to reflect and refract light and colors and is often associated with magic and mysticism. Just as light can bend and shift and be adapted in a variety of ways, so can the archetypal forces associated with dragonfly. It conveys the message that life is never what it appears to be. By helping a person see through illusion dragonfly awakens ones true vision. Flying at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour they can spot movement forty feet away. Flying into and around things from different angles, they challenge rigid awareness and prompt the energy of change for anyone who holds this medicine.

And moving from land to water...a lot like last year's turtle and the Tarot card crayfish in Part One, right? But we were on a lake, of course, so on one hand this isn't that unusual, although honestly I had never seen a JUST hatched dragonfly before.  At the very least it was cool (if you are a bug girl like me).

But was that all it was? Just cool?

I don't know how much you do or don't subscribe to this kind of stuff, but I like to take note of it simply because it primes my brain to think about my life on a more transcendant level. If you start to look at your own little dramas in the sense of more universal themes, it helps you get the stuck parts loosened up. Paying attention to symbolism and sychronicities helps one do that, or at least it helps me. It's a place to jump off into meditation, journalling and reflection. Doesn't have to be big mystical magic and it doesn't make you a nut. It just expands your awareness.

Why did my mind need expanding? What made this a synchronistic event?

As I have discussed elsewhere, I have had to face the reality that Michael, due to his quadriplegia, does not have the same expected lifespan that I do.  In fact, he's survived far past his odds.  At the time of this trip I was deeply in the throes of survivor guilt as I was becoming more and more aware of just how much it takes Michael to function in the world and just how devastating aging with this level of disability can be.  It is hard to be happy for the blessings in your own life while watching someone you love struggle. 

I was also in the throes of anticipatory grief, realizing who he is to me and just how significant a loss his death would be to me. At that time, I felt like my time with him was so painfully short that I tried to pack in as much as possible into it. I will admit it that really contemplating his mortality, let alone my own, was a little overwhelming for me.

All of this swirling together of my worlds was in my mind when I picked up Selected Poems by Denise Levertov the next day. While the guys were doing cabin renovation, I spent most of the morning reading her poems as I sat on the dock looking out over the lake. From the very start, just the intro bio grabbed me. Poem after poem she spoke to me…even about me…in a way that I don’t think any poet has ever done before. She captured for me the paradox I have often feel between the different parts of me. The plain woman hanging laundry on the line and tending her home and the “turbulent, moon-ridden” one who appears to be clamoring for attention more and more. I was comforted to read Levertov because of her honesty in admitting these parts of herself don’t mesh well and that there isn’t anything to be done about it…one cannot be amputated from the other.

She expressed in one poem that she hoped her husband could live with both of her. I have to admit, I find it a challenge sometimes in my own mind, wondering if the turbulent moon-ridden one within me should even be married. Not that I want to be single and it has NOTHING whatsoever to do with Scott!!! I'm silly in love with him but I just wonder if I get to be a bit much sometimes. But then again, he does seem to understand the moon-ridden one inside me and has been known to encourage her on occasion. Even so, it’s still hard to not worry a bit. Sometimes I wish I was more normal for him, but he assures me he would get bored. : )

And, just as I was feeling the vibe of this turbulent moon-ridden woman I saw the dragonfly pop up in Earthwoman and Waterwoman. Hmmm...interesting.

And then, of course, there was The Dragonfly-Mother while I was sitting just above the place where the hatchling emerged the night before. The "messenger that I had to heed." Some metamorphosis was on its way. Some shedding.

To be continued...

Comments

[robyn]

I have heard that dragonfly are the gate keepers for other dimensions... I have always loved watching their flight with this in mind.

[Ruth Housman]

Hi, I was looking up the significance of dragon flies, because I love them, as I do butterflies, and I have put them this week on the outside of my Diary. I decorate a new cover each time the old one fills and I often use stickers and words. Strangely, what I write on the outside of the Diary so frequently will be contained on the inside, so it seems I am prescient in deep ways. This Diary is a record of near total astonishment of connects via story and words and I call it in toto, My God of Coincidence.

I found your blog just now in a serendipitous manner, as I have said, and I find it fascinating that the dragonfly entry mentions coincidence.

With best wishes in your journey. I do believe all journeys take us to the same place and that we are more connected to each other than we ever thought possible.

Cheers, Ruth Housman/Newton, MA

[Laura]

What a wonderful share, Ruth! Yeah, it's funny how our paths cross and weave. Your journal cover decoration sounds like an excellent ritual. I may play with that myself...