PEACE

  THREE FEATHERS
 
Sunday, September 19, 2010 - While finishing a walk around the neighborhood this morning with my husband, he noticed three beautiful blue jay feathers lying on the grass, each one unique.  I took the treasures in hand, wondering what might be their significance relative to the thoughts we had shared during our morning walk.

Just three days prior to this, while shopping at Wild Birds Unlimited for some bird food, I got into a conversation with the store manager, Suzanne.  I shared a story about a blue jay.  You see, one morning on looking out the kitchen window, I spied a cardinal on our picnic table.  Seconds after the cardinal appeared, a blue jay landed on the table, two feet away from the cardinal.  The blue jay took an aggressive hop forward and then suddenly stopped, stock still.  On the table between the cardinal and the blue jay sat a white badminton birdy, it’s bald head pointed skyward like the head of a dove.  “Three birdies,” I marveled to myself, “red, white, and blue!”

        
Mystical experience? Absolutely. By definition mystical is an adjective that means “spiritually significant or symbolic.”  Mysticism is really no more than that.  By definition, mysticism is a noun that means “the doctrine that it is possible to achieve communion with God through contemplation and love without the medium of human reason.”  Nature is mysticism in its purest form.
   

Ralph Waldo Emerson makes this observation in his book, Nature, “that the primary forms, as the sky, the mountain, the tree, the animal, give us delight in and for themselves; a pleasure arising from outline, color, motion, and grouping.  This seems partly owing to the eye itself.  The eye is the best of artist.”  Emerson later states...

1. Words are signs of natural facts.
2. Particular natural facts are symbols of particular spiritual facts.
3. Nature is the symbol of spirit.  

These ideas strike one as quite relevant with respect to the three blue jay feathers.

Words are signs of natural facts: ”Jay” is derived from an Old French word gai, meaning gay.  The Latin name for the blue jay is Cyanocitta cristata, which translates as “crested blue chattering bird”. 

Particular natural facts are symbols of particular spiritual facts: “In Christianity feathers represented virtues. In fact, an image of three feathers were made into signet rings - each feather symbolizing Charity, hope, and faith. These rings were worn as a symbol of a virtuous soul - they were also used as wax seals. The ring would be dipped in warm wax then pressed against documents to seal the closure. The recipient would know the documents came from a virtuous man by the indication of the three-feather symbol in the wax.” (from whats-your-sign.com) The seal would convey that within are intentions of goodness and integrity.
 
Interestingly the symbol of three feathers connects to one of the definitions of the word crest: a heraldic device, such as plumes, placed above the shield in a coat of arms and used separately on seals, silver ware, note paper, etc.

Nature is the symbol of spirit.  To Emerson’s third point, the blue jay symbolizes many traits, however, in the spiritual realm, the blue jay represents clarity and vision. In Native American symbolism, the azure of the jay against the blue sky indicated a “double vision” or double clarity. This visual “blue on blue” concept speaks of purity of the soul, truth of the heart, and clarity of thought. whats-your-sign.com

The significance of “The Three Birdies” is quickly evident.  A quiet dove intervenes between two aggressive birds.  A mediation of the bipartisan politics of the red states and the blue states come immediately to mind - a foretelling of events yet to unfold.  If one delves deeper into the symbolism of the dove, the meaning becomes even more clear, and leads us right “into the heart of pure potential that is revealed only by viewing the soul through the lenses of love.”

Upon hearing “The Three Birdies” story, Suzanne, the bird store manager, shared several facts about blue jays.  They are the vigilant watch birds of neighborhood, calling out warning to other birds if a hawk or owl is sighted.  Blue jays use a wide range of vocalization and are able to mimic other birds. As birds of clarity and intelligence, the cunning blue jay will cry like a hawk in order to scare other birds away from a bird feeder.  Does my husband exhibit the qualities of a blue jay?  Yes, as does all the best of humanity.  Purity of soul.  That is our nature of true humanity. 

As you walk outside among nature, try to attune yourself to the guiding signs will appear at your very feet.  Read more on our home page about Natural Law and at Rhode Island Netwalking