Sublime and/or Spiritual Experiences of the Natural World..

[Innocent Warrior]

Every afternoon my son and I used to go for a walk and play in the parks near the harbour of a town we lived in. There’s a pod of dolphins who live in the area and we kept our eyes out for them, hoping to spot them. We briefly saw them a couple of times but one afternoon they treated us to their company for hours.

I had bought my son a colourful, diamond shaped kite and we went down to a luscious green grassed area right next to the water, to fly the kite. It was a perfect afternoon, blue sky with small fluffy clouds, perfect temperature, sun low enough not to be shining in our eyes too much as we watched the kite, the smell of the ocean and the sound of the sea birds. Shortly after we began flying the kite we heard the blowholes of the dolphins and were excited to see them right beside us in the water.

We watched the dolphins playing there, surfacing constantly for some time before my son got bored, still keen to play with his new kite. I watched for a while longer before I lay down on the grass, looking up at the sky, watching the kite dance in the breeze, as I listened to the dolphins play. Gorgeous afternoon. I thought to myself, we’ll leave once the dolphins do, but they never did and we had to leave them as time was getting on and I had to get home for dinner.

***

More delightful than sublime but here’s clip of a bird dancing to the music of a busker (in Melbourne I think).

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...com.au%2F&_rdr

[Flash]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
I'd love to share a marvelous little anecdote that (alas!) isn't mine, but told to me by a good friend.

When my friend was a tiny girl, she often went hiking with her mother in Yosemite. One day, she and her Mom rounded a bend on the trail, and immediately found themselves facing a Momma bear with its little cub.

The two Mommas and their cubs stood very quietly and gazed at each other for a long time. Then they slowly and carefully passed one another without incident, and both families continued on their way.

50 years later, my friend remembers it all like it was yesterday. She was certain that each Momma deeply recognized the sanctity of motherhood in the other, and pledged they would do no harm.

yes, i can witness that mama's recognize each other predicament, cross species.

I was very pregnant with Mini Flash, quite large belly and awkward walking gait, walking on the street in my neighborhood. All of a sudden, a pregnant female cat started walking beside me. We walked together for a while, looked at each other in total understanding. I finally told her: yeah, we are both quite pregnant aren't we? she miaued as if saying yes.

While we are at it, I have a wonderful yet sad story that went on with Mini Flash when she was a child.

I had discovered a speech therapist, Dr Flowers, who was working with children and dolphin, in Florida. I had heard about the capacity of dolphin to help children with autism and other ailments, and I thought that would be a wonderful experience for my daughter, potentially helping, and at the same time, allow me to have some vacation on the sea.

So there we went for therapy in a dolphin aquarium with two little spotted dolphins (they are only 150 pounds about and quite shy). The dolphin were trained in working with children. The team (dolphin trainer and speech therapist) were very nice too.

When we got there, one of the dolphin was sick and the team did not want her to work with my child. But both dolphins were competing to get Mini's attention and work with her (dolphin do chose whom they are working with, sometimes one would refuse to worlk with a child and nothing could be done, other times they both would want the child attention). But, as I was observing them in the pool, I had the strong feeling that the sick dolphin was not sick, but quite depressed.

So I told Dr Flowers to let the depressed dolphin work with my daughter, telling her it would help both of them daughter and dolphin. So they tried, thinking at first that the depressed dolphin was better in the morning and therefore working fine, then changing the schedule to ascertain that she could still work in the afternoon, etc, to discover that she was in fact depressed.

Mini Flash and the presumed sick dolphin worked together for more than 2 weeks, one hour a day. The dolphin was doing fine and my daughter went through a huge developmental step with her having to do with understanding sequences and being able to follow up to 7 consecutive instructions, from only 2 when we started. These skills are very poor in partial aphasic children but are a must for adequate schooling.

Furthermore, Mini Flash, not being able to speak properly and with regular rythm, did not have friends. So for her, Daphne the dolphin was her first real friend in life, apart from her cat. But with Daphne, she had real communication.

So real, that when we came back, 6 months later, at Christmas, she dreamed that we were going back in Florida the following summer but that Daphne was not there anymore. I e-mailed Dr Flowers and asked her if Daphne was fine, telling her about the dream. She answered that she was doing real fine.

We went back the following summer, and as by the dream, Daphne was not there anymore. She had passed away about 2 months after my daughter's dream. They had been somehow linked.We worked with the other dolphin. My daughter did dreams of the deceased Daphne coming to talk with her at night quite a few times.

So, back at school, when the teachers were asking the children what they did in the summer, daughter would tell she played with dolphins, and also that she made a new friend called Daphne, not telling that this new friend was one of the dolphin, so that other kids would not laugh at her. They all believed she had also made a human friend.

On my side, after few weeks in therapy, my daughter had to get me in the pool and show me which instructions to give the dolphin to do all kind of tricks. This is where I saw she could manage 7 sequences together. wow.

Then I looked at the dolphin and called her, but she would not come. She was observing me, not trusting. I understood she did not know who I was, My daughter was beside me, so I pointed alternatively to my daughter and to me, a few times. All of a sudden the dolphin eye light up, she had understood I was the mom, she came fast and jump on my lap, all emotional. I could feel her emotions and intelligence. It really felt like encounter of the third kind, a live, emotional and intelligent other specie.

--------------------------

I admire your way or writing, all of you on this thread, with detailed pretty descriptions of the environments, feelings, sightings, and all the hues and subtleties language can carry. Gosh you have nice text, Rachel, Running Deer, Forest, Constance and all others.

I am sorry, but I do not have this talent, still less in English, I wish I had, to convey at least 50% of the experiences.

But, I love to read you all.

[what is a name?]

Lovely tales! Or should I say tails...

About 6 years ago I was 'released' from employment and my parents, who spend a month each year vacationing in a a village in Turkey call Turunc, said why not come over?

On arrival the village location was by the sea and behind it the mountains rose to the sky - time to get fit and walk some hills!

So on my first meanderings I ended up in an area with dense vegetation and I thought if I just keep going I will eventually come to an area less dense which will allow me to get my bearings.

An hour later with legs and arms having greeted every thorn bush on the way, and coming to the conclusion that I was lost, I came across a large intact fallen tree across a gulley. "Ah, a bridge that will save me going down and up through those jaggy wee buggers"!

On the 2nd step onto the fallen tree my leg went right through the tree and my foot out the other side - the tree was rotten right through - the bark was holding the the whole thing together. Getting my leg back out of the tree probably only took a few minutes but my head was now going into 'fear' mode, expecting that whatever decimated the inside of the tree was now crawling up my shorts to find a new host!

Having calmed myself (and checked nothing was in my shorts) I walked up to a large (standing) tree, wrapped my arms around it and said "please help".

Having never communed with nature in such a way before I didn't expect anything, and nothing did happen, except a calmness that came over me and held me...

After 10 minutes I walked off and within a short period of time I was able to find my bearings and wander back to the village.

I spent the next 3 weeks all over those mountains and have no doubt that it was Nature giving me an initial 'slap in the face' to wake up to the beauty and life that surrounds us.

[RunningDeer]

what is a name? and Forest Denizen’s posts reminded me of a couple more. The first was a conversation with a Tree. The conversation was brief but the connection lasted for hours after I left. This is what Tree said and we connected:

WhiteCrowBlackDeer

I live in the country, so it is not unusual to see wildlife. On July, 2010, I asked for confirmation on a pressing question. Less than an hour later there was a 100% white crow caw-cawing in the pine tree just 50 feet away. It happened that my mail carrier came by twenty minutes later. I had just finished the story, when as if on cue, WhiteCrow did a fly-by.

And again early morning, on September, 2010, I looked for a synchronicity. Several hours later, there was a 100% black deer right in the middle of a country road waiting for his buddy to cross the pasture while my dog, Wolfie, and I were out for a walk.

In both cases, I was not aware until I researched that there are 100% white crows and black deer.

Side note: When I first came to Avalon my name was WhiteCrowBlackDeer.

[RunningDeer]

White Blue Jay, White Squirrel

I lost Michael, my son in December. By April, I stop looking out the window when a car drove by to see if it was him. I asked God or the Universe or anyone that would listen for a sign that things were going to turn around. Well, I got two. A blue jay flew down by my office window that was only about a foot or two from ground level. At first, I wasn’t sure and as if reading my mind, she hopped a quarter of a turn, so I could get a better look.

Blue jays are skittish. I knew I had but a few seconds to check her out. This blue jay had reverse color markings: completely white, and she had purple feathers rather than the blue where typically the white markings would go. And just when I began to doubt her, another blue jay flew right down beside her and let out a big squawk as if to say, “Now, do you believe?”

Then, I got a second sign a few hours later. I was on the main floor of the house when I got an inner knowing to look out the window. And there was a 100% white squirrel scurrying across a branch. The first time I saw a white squirrel was the fall before my son died.

[Constance]

It is so touching and heartwarming and magical to hear all of these stories!

@Flash, your story about mini Flash and the dolphin was wonderful!!
-------------------------------

A short anecdote that was told to me by a friend.

One afternoon, John, was playing a game of cricket with some kids in a country where cricket is revered.

The kids were absolutely loving it; John was having such a magical time with the kids.

At one point, one of the kids hit the ball way out of bounds and it went flying out into the marshes.

John, who was so in the moment, ran to get that ball.

The kids were yelling at him because the marsh was quite boggy, full of water and they had lost balls in there before.

They said, "John, John, don't go in there!"

But John, in his excitement, wasn't listening and grabbed the ball from where he found it, and ran back to the kids.

The kids were in an absolute frenzy. They told him that they had seen him running OVER that water.

He lifted up each foot to check his sneakers and sure enough, they were dry.

[RunningDeer]

Animal Connections

The landlady’s horse was grazing at the other end of the field. I sent him a stream of heart-hellos. Without skipping a beat, he ran full speed towards me, shook his head and whinnied.

I was out for a walk at a ranch in Nicasio, California where I was staying. There were about ten California Condors feeding on a carcass. I watched until one looked up. I spread out my arms in slow motion and sent from the heart center. He did the same back. Twice we communicated in a powerful silence.

When I was seventeen, a bird pooped on my head. Little did I know one year later I’d hitch-hike across the state line with only a brown paper bag filled with clothes and a couple of books to begin a new life. My first job was right there at that card shop where the bird christened me.

♡

[Joe Sustaire]

Wow, I haven't been around here in a while, but what a wonderful thing to come visiting and find this thread with all these magical experiences! Thank you my friends, I needed this...…...

[Dennis Leahy]

Ah, Joe is here! Joe has a few stories smack dab in the zone of the title of this thread.

(I'll come back and edit a post into this slot, I just wanted to catch Joe because of the synchronicity.)

[greybeard]

One day in the kitchen a beautiful butterfly, of a kind I had never seen before, landed on my chest--over the heart--it remained there for hours. Evening came and it flew on to the window.
In the morning no sign of it--windows not open --no obvious way it could have left.

At that time I had a healing centre and was asked by a friend to do healing on a retired race horse that had lost the will to live--she had a stable and kept older animals. Next day the horse was running around like a foal.
There just seemed to be some energy connection when I put hands on the horse.

Chris

[RunningDeer]

Gray Wolf

A couple of weeks after my son’s burial, two friends and myself took a trip to a Native American shop. As soon as I stepped through the door it felt like I stepped into a déjà vu.

I felt the gentleman watching. I looked over in part to reach out to someone to ground myself. As I did, he stepped my way. I explained that I buried my son recently and I’ve been having strange experiences. This is the first time I’ve been here but I know this place. I know you.

He was the store owner and asked me to step into his office. As he introduced himself, he took the power bag from around his neck and said, “My name is Gray Wolf.”

I can’t recall all of what he said but something to the effect that he was expecting me. And he added, “This is for you.” As soon as he placed the power bag over my head, my heart whooshed. My whole body felt like it was a warm, healed heart.

Afterwards, my friends and I walked through the blustery December wind. My body held onto the welcomed solace from the physical and emotional pain. My body shook but it was not because of the cold.

That meeting was a gift that kept on giving in those dark moments of “Should I stay or should I go?” It’s one of those immeasurable influences that help me remember that life is filled with blessed wonders that far exceed the fears of pain, loss and death.

♡

[Caliban]

1987, the Harmonic Convergence, August I think.

I was with some of my acting school buddies and we went to the gathering in Central Park that night. I didn't know much of what it was about but the atmosphere was great -- pot, incense, great lookin' chicks. There was a very long meditation going on with thousands of people.

Towards sun up I felt really sick to my stomach and my friend took me back to her place. We're walking up some Manhattan street with the sun starting to blind us and suddenly this crazy flock of birds (NYC pigeons), maybe a hundred, swoops down! right over our heads. We looked at each other, shocked, and looked back up at the sky --- the flock whirls back around in absolutely perfect exquisite layered formation -- and seems to pause for a long second (in that perfection) - and then scatter away...

[amor]

Since these stories are about nature connection with animals, there is one of mine which may fit in. I have spent long periods of time alone, communicating with lizards, birds, stray cats because there was no one else around. One day in the tropics, I sat outside on the deck and broke pieces of bread for the birds, keeping one eye on the stray cat I was feeding to make certain he did not pounce on a bird. The birds, took their bread hastily, aware of the cat, when suddenly a Mouse appeared. Somehow I felt it was a She. She slowly collected more than one of the larger pieces of bread, having difficulty carrying them in one trip. My heart went out to her. No one interfered with her, the cat being well fed. The mouse knew I was looking but continued. I was fascinated at its bravery and intelligence and could only feel Love for it.

[Forest Denizen]

Okay, this is about an experience that I still remember vividly.. a seminal moment in my development. A moment that heightened my awareness of who I was and what I believed and what I felt was right and what was wrong.

In June, the year that I was five years old going on six, we packed up our bags and went to spend the summer in Rockland County, not more than 40 minutes from our apartment in New York City. This was where my mother had spent her childhood, and where many of my relatives lived.

We stayed in a magical house that had been built by an old family friend, an artist and craftsman, long dead now. Each stone and every beam had been selected with care or hewn by hand and lovingly laid into place.

The house nestled in its woodland setting so comfortably that it seemed almost to have been willed into being by the woods themselves, sprung from the rock and the leaf mold of the forest floor.

Not much more than a mile away stood the house where my favorite uncle and aunt lived for many years (having moved in after my grandfather had decided to build a new house nearby).

An ancient Dutch farmhouse, even in summer it smelled of cool smoke, baked into the stone of the enormous living room fireplace. The dark, wooden floor, worn smooth and glossy from centuries of use, and the hand plastered walls throughout, lent an air of timelessness.

A waterfall spills into the ravine behind the house and along its course yawn caves dark and wet, smelling of moss and full of mystery.

Late one morning I was out wandering about, in search of whatever the woods would yield in the way of interesting critters to study.. salamanders, toads, crayfish.. looking for logs to overturn, burrows to probe, when I hear the sound of laughter somewhere not far from me.

I follow the noise down a long, winding dirt drive until I come upon the spot where my friend Andre's driveway forks off through the woods. The voices are louder now, I continue towards Andre's house and as I round a bend, I see them.

Andre, his older brother, and a friend of his are there looking over the edge of a small stone arch bridge into the dark waters below. They take turns throwing stones into the water.

“What are you doing?” I ask.
“There's a turtle in there.” Says Andre's older brother.

He is bigger than either Andre or myself and at nine years old is given to bullying us both. I am surprised that Andre seems to be eagerly participating in the activity.

I look over the waist high stone wall of the bridge. Below, I see only our reflections in the dark pool, disembodied heads grinning jack-o’-lantern-like all in a row.

“Why are you throwing rocks at it?” I ask.
“I don't know.” Shrugs Andre's older brother. “Why not?”

He picks up a stone that is lying in the dirt near his feet, takes careful aim at where he imagines the turtle to be, and hurtles the stone into the water below us. The woods are silent save for the scolding of a titmouse from a nearby tree.

“Do you think we got him?” Asks the friend.
“I have an idea!” Exults Andre's older brother, and from his pocket he pulls a large
firecracker that is silver in color with a bright green fuse issuing from its center.
“These are waterproof!” He exclaims.

The look in his eyes frightens me. I feel small and helpless and only watch quietly. From his other pocket he retrieves a book of matches.
“Oh boy!” Giggles his friend gleefully.

Andre's brother lights the firecracker and drops it into the water. Images of submarines being pounded by depth charges leap to my mind, residue of some TV show that I never should have watched.

A couple of anxious seconds pass. BOOM! The firecracker explodes with a splash.

“Wow!” We gasp in chorus and gaze transfixed as the ripples reverberate around the pool. I wait for the battered carcass to float to the surface but the dark waters yield nothing.

“Bet we got him that time!” Says the friend.
“I like turtles.” I say.
Andre looks at me but remains silent.
“You would!” Laughs his brother. “C'mon, let's go.”

He and his friend start off down the drive to Andre's house. Andre is looking into the
water below the bridge.

“C'mon, Andre!” His brother yells back over his shoulder.
“I'm staying here.” Andre says, resolute.
His brother and the friend laugh derisively and continue on down the drive.

“Why didn't you stop them?” I ask Andre accusingly.
“What do you mean me, you didn't do anything!” Andre says.
We gaze into the water. It is calm once again, and again we are greeted only by our
reflections.
“I hope he's O.K.” I say.
“Me too.” Says Andre.

[Valerie Villars]

After the death of my son, I went to Sanibel Island, off the coast of Fort Meyers, Florida to try and heal. I stayed in a little cottage from the fifties, right on the Gulf of Mexico.

One morning, before going to the beach, I thought to myself, "I wish I would find a sand dollar."

I went to the beach and down to the water's edge. There, lying in the edge of the surf were three perfect sand dollars.

[RunningDeer]

Foreshadow

A couple of weeks before Christmas, I was doing Tai Chi when I got a flash that something big was about to happen. My inner knowing understood: it was the greatest challenge of my life, I had no control over it and I had to accept it. Then I heard, “We're never given more than we can handle."

I covered up my fear with a cocky attitude of “Bring it on!”. And that was that; that is, until after work. I was on my way to the bookstore when I felt an inescapable panic. A presence filled the back seat of my car. I checked the rear view mirror and saw nothing. My son, Michael flashed in my mind. It was too painful, so I blocked it out. When I returned home, I told a dear friend where my personal papers were and that I had a feeling I was going to die.

A couple of days later, I got a call to go over to my ex-husband's home. On the drive over, I made all kinds of deals with God. No words were needed. I saw it in his Dad's eyes.

Night Before Michael’s Burial

I muffled my screams in a pillow the night before my son’s burial. No one answered my pleas to be buried with him. Then the darkened room filled with a beau-ti-ful blue.

“Mom, this was the plan. Remember the plan.”

The bedroom was stacked with packed up books. I tore through a box and grabbed the “Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah". Michael answered my questions through the random pages I turned until peace and silence filled me.

I was directed to go to my office which was two floors down. I pulled open the computer keyboard shelf and there was a feather. On the “Illusions" cover was a feather. It was an important turning point in the story of a teacher that died and floated a feather onto the grieving student.

I preserved the precious gift in a transparent baseball envelop, and tucked it in my power bag. It brought me strength and assurance that Michael was but a thought away. A couple of days later the feather gift was gone. It’s purpose was served.

♡

[Valerie Villars]

Running Deer, your beautiful story reminded me of another incident, which I would do well to remember during the times I get frustrated over having to piece my life back together. I need to thank the good God above for all I DO have.

After Dustin's death, I was in the library of my house and had an appointment to see a counselor. I was so exhausted that my heart was going a mile a minute and I really thought if I didn't sleep I was going to have a heart attack and I was so very thin from not eating. I was a physical and emotional wreck. So I called and cancelled.

Then I lay on the couch in that beautiful room and fell into a deep sleep. What follows is not a dream, it was a healing.

I was in a beautiful small, round room which had a warm and beautiful little fireplace going. The bed was all white and I was laying in it. I felt a whoosh, whoosh, as the layers of covers were gently pulled off of me and a very loving presence. There was a door leading out of the room and I was floated over to it as it opened and set gently down.

There was this most beautiful, bright light; the brightest I had ever seen and yet it didn't hurt my eyes. There was nothing but this light.

At that moment, the phone next to my head rang and woke me up. It was one of my son's best friends calling.

To this day, I believe she kept me from crossing over, by calling and waking me up.

[avid]

Oh Paula, that is such an immense load of memories, so wonderfully awesome, so personal and heart-rending, yet giving those with huge losses, or ongoing loss, hope. You give your memories throughout the years, so precious, so special, and yet still absolutely important every day to those whose trauma is similar.

You are so brave - so inspiring - and a great reason we are here together - I can’t describe the thankfulness for you here, and how much we are in your debt. You encourage folk to look forward, and all around for positivity.

Hence - on a lighter note - my garden was fluttering with light coloured feathers today, good news - the ring-necked dove has safely escaped, but just been given a wee bit of a ‘plucking’ by naughty neighbour’s cat, who looked at me when I said “naughty chap” innocently, trying to disguise the feathery claws - ‘who me?’ His owner is coming again tomorrow to visit me, at least we have a great love of a wee naughty critter between us, and our rediscovered love of our families as my parents and hers were such great friends. Wee furry reconciliations - brilliant, thank you for bringing us ‘common denominators’

[RunningDeer]

Posted by Valerie Villars (here)
…To this day, I believe she kept me from crossing over, by calling and waking me up.

Valerie, thank you for sharing about Dustin and the rawness of your pain and how synchronicites happen in miraculous ways. It opens others to the possibility of the unknown richness of life and helps to re-ignite others’ life stories.

Posted by avid (here)
I can’t describe the thankfulness for you here, and how much we are in your debt.

avid, I’m not blowing smoke when I say, “It is me that’s soooo thankful and grateful that I can share with you all.” Also it reminds me on those days when I’m asleep to the dimensional self to keep on keeping with discovery.

♡

[Valerie Villars]

Paula dear, I love you with all my heart and soul. And your son Michael. I'll bet he and Dustin are high fiving each other right now; happy that we understand the impermanence of death.

Our two guys are very brave souls for having crossed over first.