Speaking of Spirit

Photo Credit: (c) 2018 Linda M. Rhinehart Neas When I was, as my mother would say, a wee sprout, I had my first experience with hearing that soft whisper that has warned me, inspired me, and on occasion, nagged me. Perhaps because I was raised in a household where being "fey" was looked at as normal, I never questioned that this was not real.  I can't tell you what the first thing I "heard" was, but I do remember talking to my mother about it when I was about six years old. We had had a lesson in school where sister had told the class about a saint who heard "the whispers of the angels." I asked Momma if that was who was speaking to me.  I still remember her looking very seriously into my eyes and saying, "Lindy, it might be angels, it might be what artists call the muse, or it might be what some people call, 'the voice of your ancestors or guides.' I don't know, but I do know you need to listen and pay attention to what you he...

Hope His the thing with feathers  That perches in the soul,  And sings the tune without the words,  And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard;  And sore must be the storm  That could abash the little bird  That kept so many warm.  I’ve heard it in the chillest land,  And on the strangest sea;  Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.  Emily Dickinson   Hope is needed in great quantities these days. Sometimes, we actually need a reminder that there is always hope, even in the darkest moments. I had one such reminder as I watched a flock of robins feeding on the lawn. One was up on a branch singing to beat the band. Emily's poem popped into my head, along with the reminder not to despair. Then, my teacher's mind realized this was a teachable moment!  In many cultures, birds are messengers from the Great Spirit, the Creator, God. Birds are symbolic of angels. They can be found everyw...