READY FOR FREEDOM

Is this Good Luck? A Bird Pooped on My Head

God, I hope so

As I was unlatching the gate a couple of mornings ago, letting myself out for my morning walk, I felt something warm and bigger than a raindrop land on my head. I brought my hand up to touch it and when I looked, sure enough, it was not a raindrop but poop. Bird poop. Fortunately, I was wearing a buff.

Years ago, when I was living in New York City, a friend was riding the Staten Island ferry and a seagull anointed her head. And though people made fun and teased her about it — the mess it made of her carefully styled hair, her stylish outfit — she wasn’t too upset: she’d heard that a bird pooping on you is actually a blessing.

I remembered that and went on with my walk. And when I returned, I searched the internet to see whether this was actually considered a good omen.

Indeed, it is.

Birds symbolize freedom and spirituality. Each bird has a special “medicine” — its own healing quality or power.

With my medicine cards, I love pulling Eagle, which is the highest card in the deck. By far, the eagle is the most revered by Native Americans. It is a symbol of spiritual and mystical power. Even its feathers are protected by federal law in the US.

But chances are not that good of your being sanctified with eagle poop, or droppings from any larger bird. I knew it wasn’t an eagle that dropped its load on me.

Hummingbirds represent joy — definitely in my experience, that’s what I feel when I see them.

Ravens are associated with magic; Crows with the law.

Geese and domestic fowl signify home and family.

Egrets connote good things to come, grace, purity, peace, travel, beauty, transformation, prosperity and divinity. In many cultures, seeing one heralds good fortune and prosperity because, in many places, egrets aren’t that common.

They are, however, rather common here in Tiruvannamalai. I see them during my daily walks, out in the rice paddies, flying overhead. Lots of them.

And they nest in the trees around this house that I’m renting. I saw them bursting out of their perches during Deepam, frightened by all the fireworks.

And I see their white feathers, which are also associated with good luck, inside and outside the gate right here where I live. I’ve got a collection of them on my puja altar.

If you see the same bird again and again, it’s a sign of protection by the spirit world, and the promise of whatever medicine is associated with that bird. So I can look forward to good things: beauty, grace, purity, peace, travel, transformation, prosperity and divinity.

And they carry magic. When their poop lands on you, they’re passing all of these blessings onto you.

Onto me.

Though thousands of birds fly overhead, and there are eight billion people roaming the earth, chances of a bird dropping droppings on you are less than chances of winning the lottery. So some people who get pooped on run out and buy lottery tickets.

Some people never have and never will have the benediction of a bird crapping on them. For others, it has happened more than once.

I was broke growing up, went to college, got a scholarship, was always good at basketball I guess, had to sit out that year because I ain’t pass my ACT. So not a lot of things were going well for me, next year I was going to practice, I got shit on right on top of my head. I had a bald head at the time, that stuff was disgusting, had to keep walking to practice, my teammates was laughing at me. Long story short, I had a very good year. My team was ranked within the first week of the season, and we went to the NCAA tournament. It was a very good year, things started to turn around for me. Shit on my head don’t sound too bad.

So this is my second year playing now, walking to class one day, shit right on top of my head. I had a hat on that time … I ended up being All-American that year, ended up going to the Final Four, ended up getting in the draft that year, and I ended up getting drafted №5.

Wade looks up to the sky and says…

“Shit on me, please.”

NBA’s Dwyane Wade

It’s been a harrowing few weeks. I’ve felt ugh, awful about something that I can do nothing about. I have a friend who has been suffering and I do not have the skills, the talent, the means at all to fix the situation.

So I’ve worried, fretted, plumbed the depths of the emotional cesspool over a situation that no matter what, I can do nothing about.

And I know that worry, doubt, fear, dread, kicking, screaming, and weeping bitter tears will not change it. I cannot change it.

What can I do? I can only change myself. I can only change how I see and feel about the situation.

After the egret crapped on my head — pointing to the area of my corporeal reality that needed changing — it came to me.

This is a smart young woman. She has a long, long history of spirituality. Perhaps she orchestrated this situation for me, as much as herself, so that we could finally be free.

What has happened is an awakening-level event, with the potential to catapult both of us out of our illusion: in her case, the need for corporeal perfection, and me, the need to fix things.

Perhaps, and God, I hope so, this benediction from the egret will confer this great, great freedom. It remains to be seen.

Today, my heart is buoyant in a way that it hasn’t been for weeks. I surrender, which just means, I’ve quit fighting. I’ve turned this situation over to the One who has all power.

I’ll keep you updated.

Thanks for reading. More from JonesPJ