Signs

Do you believe God sends us signs?

I do. I have received too many not to.

Yet, I can tell you that being able to recognize and interpret a sign, whether it comes through someone's words, a dream or a "coincidence" in having something cross your path, is an art.

It takes such awareness and practice that aboriginal people depended upon a Shaman to understand the messages God was sending them.

A friend, Caryn, e-mailed me about a book that she has found useful and illuminating. It is The Secret Language of Signs by Denise Linn. Caryn also sent me a story about an amazing experience she had receiving signs. This is what she wrote:

I am where I am because I asked for a sign to guide me. According to Denise's book, feathers are a direct message from our Creator.

How fortuitous.

It was another hot and muggy day in southern Alabama. I had been lovingly varnishing the teak handrails on “Destiny”, my Southern Cross 31. The pelicans were very active this day, swooping and diving for dinner. I decided to take a break and watch their acrobatics.

After careful observation, I closed my eyes and joined one [through her imagination] in its flight. Flapping, gliding, swooping, diving . . . splash. Wow! What fun! Let’s do it again. Over and over I flew as a pelican.

Something changed.

I was now soaring over lush green hills. The landscape looked familiar, but I didn’t remember ever having been there. I spied a small cottage in the trees and decided to take a closer look.

Flap, glide, swoop. There was something special about this place. Even though I seemed to be alone I knew that I wasn’t. I asked “Who’s there?”.

The answer I received was immediate. “You’d be surprised.” I knew the voice. A warm and loving feeling swept over me filling me with awe.

I had more questions, but somehow I knew they wouldn’t be answered yet. I was to be patient. I took to the sky again to get a better look as to where I was.

“Not yet.” said the voice. I must be patient.

I woke with a start. I was back on my boat. Wow, now what do I do? I knew I had to find this place. Where to start?

That evening I was watching a movie where a little girl asked her dying mother to send her a feather from her wing when she reached heaven. Her wish was granted. I thought, “I can do that!”
So I firmly planted my tongue in my check and asked for a “sign”. I explained that I didn’t want to get lost on my way to this wondrous place and could the universe please send me a sign to let me know that I was on the right path. “Feathers would be nice.” I said.

The next morning lying on the deck of my boat were numerous feathers. I thought that my cat had caught a bird. It was my sign that I was heard. I knew I had a great adventure ahead of me.

Since the place of my dream was inland I sold the boat and bought an RV. I had already seen most of the stuff around the edges and now it was time to see the stuff in the middle.

I headed north stopping in several places along the way. Feathers were showing up in some of the strangest places. I love how this universe works!

I met a lot of fascinating people. Each one with another piece of the puzzle. This one would tell be about that one and down the road I went.

While following the feathers I found Chase County Kansas. I had a feeling that I would find what I was looking for here. At the local diner I was told about a place to park my RV. It was in a small town just down the road. The directions that the waitress gave me took me down a back road. Wow! I knew I was close.

I parked the RV and started looking around town. This was a very small town. Most of the houses were empty. It saddened my heart to see all of these places abandoned.

One little house caught my attention. It had been neglected for quite some time. It was completely overgrown with trees and vines. Most of the windows were broken or missing and there was a hole in the roof.

It didn’t have a front door so I decided to take a look inside.

The floor was completely covered with feathers. I had to laugh. You couldn’t see the floor for the feathers.

As I looked around this little house I could see each room finished. I even knew what color the walls would be painted. It definitely was meant for me.

I found out who owned the house and bought it for $1,200. A deal we were both happy with. I had a lot of work to do to make this house a home. I knew I was going to do all of the work myself. So I started, one small bite at a time.

I lived in my RV and worked on the house. I finished the outside first and started on the inside. Then came the flood. The town was well known for its floods and this one was a doozy. My little house had eighteen inches of water in it.

For several weeks we all worked together to clean up the little town. People came from all over the state to help us. Even though the people of this community didn’t completely understand what I was doing, they liked me and were concerned that I might leave because of the flood. So I was given the opportunity to move my little house to another location.

Outside of town, in the middle of the prairie, was an old two story farm house that had not been lived in for over forty years. I decided to take it down, one board at time, and move my little house to the old homestead. It wasn’t until after I moved the house that I stepped back and realized exactly where I was.

Yes, it was the location in my dream.

Caryn not only received signs, she had an experience of Shamanism.

So what is Shamanism?

It is a direct experience of spiritual knowledge applied in a deeply personal and holistic way. The reason that it is so powerful is because each healing is tailored to the needs of the individual as opposed to proposing a "one size fits all" approach.

Shamans work with the spirit or the soul. They heal illness at the soul level. They gain knowledge and insight from working with the spirits of nature such as rocks and trees, the land, and they gain knowledge from working with spirits of animals and humans such as their ancestors. For the shaman everything is alive and carries energetic information that is sometimes labeled spirit, energy or consciousness.

Shamanism is practiced by Christians and non-Christians alike and it is not a religon, per se, but a way of communicating with our Creator.

Caryn, apparently, is on excellent communication terms with our Creator, for she was led to her ideal home.

The lesson for all of us is this: God is always ready, willing and able to lead us to our highest good. Let us cultivate a willingness to understand His ways of communicating.