From day to day, season to season, nature signs speak to everyone. Sometimes it’s a totem reminding us to tap into our gifts and power, other times it is a reappearing animal that our guides have sent with a message. Everything we come across in our daily way of life is a sign. Bird songs, a familiar shape seen with unusual frequency, sometimes even a familiar car is a sign of communication from the person you associate with that vehicle. Signs may come to you from your guides, or perhaps from spirit. These signs may be given to you in response to a wish or a prayer you’ve expressed, or perhaps they’re helping to give you a little push towards a healthy life choice.
Nature can also send messages from a loved one to let you know they are always with you, that the love you shared is eternal. Personally the robin has come to be a sign of my beloved father who has passed on. A neighbor has a specific butterfly that she feels is sent to her from her husband, while another has a shape that comes from a loved one passed too soon. Do not discount such impulses, the universe is a complex and wondrous place, it is completely possible for your loved ones to send you messages and care.
Do you have a nature sign that greets you every day? This too could be one of your totems, or it could be a sign about a life lesson you are currently going through. One of my totems is the cardinal, and it never fails that there is one in the tree outside my bedroom window when I awake, calling its glorious song to the world and to my soul. A friend of mine was woken daily by mourning doves when her marriage ended, another had hummingbirds hovering near her frequently during a particularly joyous time in her life, while another came across dead birds every time she passed a hurdle during a difficult time in her life. The messages don’t have to be so complex either, they can be simple. A cricket or a hawk may be letting you know a message, a communication you’ve been waiting for is on the way, while a butterfly may be telling you to flourish, to transform.
In my life, the more frequent visitor of late has been a beautiful green grasshopper who seems to have taken a liking to my hedge roses. He sits steady and sure as my daughter and I trim and dead head the flowers, a gentle heart song emanating from his energy. We greet each other daily, and I’ve begun to notice more of his family throughout my fairy garden. Grasshoppers are unusual for me, and as they’ve been placed in my line of vision I know that I should pay attention to what the lessons this beautiful creature has been chosen to communicate with me. Grasshoppers are a nice positive message of uncanny leaps forward into sunny situations.
Nature signs work with our people to bring us encouragement, and information. How can you be sure it’s a sign? Frequency is often the first indication. Other times it is how the sign strikes you, impacts your awareness. If you are out in nature, bring a small note pad to jot down what you’ve seen, eventually patterns will emerge, and you’ll become more aware to how nature calls out to you. Music players and phones should be left in the home when you are outside; this only desensitizes you to what nature is trying to communicate. Be patient, be open to everything, and listen. You’ll soon be well on your way to discovering what nature wishes to communicate to you.
Most people look for the sacred in the unusual and the often dramatic, supernatural experience. But the irony is the Divine mysteries are found in the ordinary, the mundane and the natural aspects of life-softly whispering to us. ~Ted Andrews.
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There are a few books that help you understand nature messages, as well as help you learn how to discover your animal totems. Animal Speak and Animal Wise by Ted Andrews are two of my favorites.