L'oeuf au miroir

Sometime last month, while out on a walk with Syd, I noticed a cardinal feather on the grass in front of our house. The feather had landed with the quill end sticking in the ground, as if the dirt were an ink well and the feather an idle writing implement.

I bent down to pick it up. That was the impulsive child in me reacting. Almost as immediately, the serious adult in me stopped my hand before it reached the feather - don't pick that thing up! There are germs on feathers! As a kid, I didn’t see any negative to gathering beautiful objects from nature. I had extensive collections of rocks, feathers, shells, pinecones, and driftwood. When did the serious adult in me take over? Hmm. Good question.

Syd lingered and sniffed messages left on the ground by previous dogs. I hovered over the feather while my serious side and my impulsive side debated what to do. In all my years as a nature buff and watcher and feeder of birds, I’ve never found a cardinal feather. I hadn’t actually seen a cardinal before I moved to the USA. This feather was a gift – too precious to leave on the ground to get trampled and destroyed. Impulsive Zelda won out, I picked up the delicate red plume (and promised Serious Zelda I'd wash my hands immediately upon entering the house).

When I showed my treasure to E, he reacted exactly how I expected (and probably how I would have if the feather were in the other hand, so to speak).

"What are you doing with that?"

"Ah! But look at it," I said, grinning.

"Oh, it's a cardinal feather!"

We examined the intricate red barbs and agreed to give the feather a place of honor on our bookshelf.

A few days later, while we hiked in the woods, E pointed to something. I followed the line from his finger to a blue jay feather on the path. With barely a hesitation, I collected the blue, white, and black masterpiece and tucked it into a safe corner of my bag. Another first - I'd never found a blue jay feather before that day.

Patterns and repeating incidents always pique my interest - I see them as signs that the universe is trying to get a message to me, but what message could these feathers bring?

I did a little Internet surfing and found many people wonder and write about the meaning of finding feathers (just do a Google search for "meaning of finding a feather" and you'll see what I'm talking about). People, entire cultures even, tie deep meaning to feathers.

I won't attempt to summarize the numerous beliefs and theories out there - I'll let you research for yourselves and come up with your own conclusions if you’re interested. I will tell you that for me, finding a feather is a gift from the universe - it's a message to slow down, to listen to my thoughts and feelings from the perspective of my lighter side, and to have confidence that I am headed down the right path. I'll cherish the cardinal and blue jay feathers as reminders of this new lesson.