Happy Spring!

(not the birdbird from this morning but one from a couple of summers ago)



This morning I was visited by a bright blue male bluebird on our back porch/deck. According to shamanic mumbo-jumbo bluebirds represent "modesty, unassuming confidence and happiness" (Ted Andrews, Animal-Speak), and their time of power is at seasonal changes (interesting, no?). We have lots of bluebirds around here, but one has never perched so close to the house before (that I have seen). And of course, by the time I grabbed my camera it had flown up into a tree. In his book Andrews suggests that bluebirds might come to us as a reminder to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. That is always good advice. And the color blue corresponds to the throat chakra which is concerned with expression. Bluebirds are gentle and non-agressive but will become quite fierce if threatened. Andrews suggests that the bluebird's symbolism as happiness is a recent idea and that bluebird didn't play any large parts in Indian mythology. I think that implies a commonness, not in the sense of being inferior or lacking in any way but in the sense of being present and ubiquitous, like the good that's always around us if only we'll notice it.

So, happy Vernal Equinox! The equinox also represents balance, which perhaps the bluebird might also represent.