Recently,
there have been several dozen dragonflies randomly circling individually in my
backyard, in and around my pond. Dragonflies hunt in flight and eat a wide
variety of insects, including mosquitoes. They are welcome to stop by anytime
and hang out at my place.
Many
years ago, I wrote a newspaper column about dragonflies, which also became a
chapter in one of my books, titled 1111 HAPPY TRAILS ROAD -- included below.
A Dragonfly Tattoo
Women
are a mystery -- the ones that are easy on the eyes are never easy on the
nerves. They speak several languages, one of which is verbal.
I
once stood in line in at Wal-Mart behind an attractive woman who had a tattoo
of a dragonfly on the small of her back. I asked her if she knew the
significance of the dragonfly whereupon she asked me if I knew the significance
of minding my own business.
As
relationships go, it was remarkably short.
Dragonflies,
much like tattooed women, have their fair share of weirdness. They make
themselves invisible to airborne prey by using a system called “motion
camouflage.” It tricks the victim’s retina into perceiving the dragonfly as a
stationary object blending into the background. Thus, the dragonfly becomes
“invisible” even though it’s moving forward. Often, the pursuing dragonfly will
fly away from its target rather than toward it to maintain the disguise.
I
had become familiar with the dragonfly years earlier when I lived in the
Arizona desert where a man who claimed to be a shaman gave me a reading using
44 Native American Indian medicine cards. He explained that as we come into the
Earth Walk, there are seven directions, each aligned with a particular ability
or challenge, surrounding our bodies -- East, South, West, North, Above, Below,
and Within.
Then
I drew seven medicine cards representing the seven directions in my Earth Walk.
·
East
– Wolf. The wolf awakens the teacher within to understand the Great Mystery of
life.
·
South
– Armadillo. The armadillo teaches us to define our boundaries or space.
- West – Dragonfly. The dragonfly reveals the illusionary facade of physical reality.
·
North
– Hummingbird. The hummingbird encourages us to enjoy the succulent nature of
life.
·
Above
– Bat. Bat medicine teaches that to become your future, you must die and be
reborn.
·
Below
– Whale. Whale medicine people have the psychic ability to tap into the
universal mind.
·
Within
– Antelope. The antelope empowers us to honor the gifts sent from the Great
Mystery.
The
West medicine card reflects the internal solution to your present life challenges
and reveals how to reach your desired goals. In my case, this is represented by
the dragonfly.
According
to the shaman, this world is full of nature spirits. Dragonfly medicine
indicates knowledge received from the spirits of the four basic elements of
air, earth, fire, and water. Dragonfly medicine is the essence of the winds of
change. Messages of enlightenment and knowledge were supposedly being
communicated to me, especially during the dream-time, causing a transformation
where illusion was being replaced by true wisdom.
I
was indeed going through a transformation at the time. The physical world
seemed more like a robotic world of worker bees toiling in a giant rat race to
maintain an economy that seemed more like a pyramid scheme than an intelligent
way of life. Humanity was being duped into a self-perpetuating system of
servitude to a formation of suffocating governments and mega-corporations whose
only purpose was to ensure their own growth.
For
a government or mega-corporation, it meant survival -- to an individual human
being seeking peace of mind, it was madness.
When
I returned home from Wal-Mart, a dragonfly was perched on my mailbox, reminding
me to always be aware of the world around me.
For
example, a woman who wears a tattoo is a woman who wants to be noticed. And a
woman who wants to be noticed is a woman who wants to be admired. But the
moment you express a hint of admiration, the same woman will instinctively
reject you. Men may rule the world but women rule the men.
A
dragonfly tattoo is a subtle form of camouflage – you can admire it but must
pretend you don’t notice it.
___________
Quote
for the Day – "You think I am a fool, but you are a greater fool." Sitting
Bull
___________
Bret Burquest is the author of 12 books. He lives in the Ozark
Mountains with a few dogs and an imaginary girlfriend named Tequila
Mockingbird.
___________
-
-
No comments:
Post a Comment