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Articles/Essays From Pagans

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November 22nd. 2009 ...
 Rethinking Pagan Discrimination
 Caveat Mentor, or Watch That First Step!
 Ten Dumb Reasons To Join A Coven
 Interview With Openly Pagan Elected Official, Jessica Orsini
 Creating My Book of Shadows
 Intolerance: A Curable Disease
 Loving Spiritual Diversity
 Good Vibrations

November 15th. 2009 ...
 Recovering From a Bad Coven Experience
 You Are Not A Tool
 The Dangers of Virtual Reality and Magickal Life: A True Story
 Diary of a High Priestess
 When Religious Intolerance Destroys Friendship
 Thinking With Your Heart
 Beauty in Death
 In that Moment: “Understanding Born From Sorrow”
 Raining Down A Different Kind of Peace

November 8th. 2009 ...
 Why Many of Us Will Never Be Christian (No Matter How Hard We Try)
 Making Your Life Magical
 Soul Connection: The Means to Finding Your Life Purpose
 How I Met My Soul Mate. Twice
 Perfect Love and Perfect Trust: Thoughts on Love and Loving
 Love and the Use Of Magick
 Spiritual Transformation
 Follow the Yellowbrick Road: Sometimes Staying on the Path Takes a Miracle!
 The Path: A Spiritual Chautauqua

November 1st. 2009 ...
 My Magic Doesn't Work! (Because It Sometimes Doesn't)
 Avoiding the Pitfalls of Paganism
 The Breath and Faking It
 Coming Out Of The "Broom Closet"
 Profound Fruit Loops
 Magick and Science
 I Want To Live A While Longer
 "Me Time"

October 25th. 2009 ...
 Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone Touring East Coast USA for Samhain
 Lemon Magic
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 Autumnland: Pagan Path and Paradise
 The Modern Coven: Importance of Documentation
 Crossroads Rite (Version 11)
 Perceptions of Life
 The Challenge of Acceptance
 The Circle of Life

October 18th. 2009 ...
 Honoring Our Elders, Leaders and Teachers
 Space Clearing: A Fresh Look at a Classic Tradition
 Group or Solitary: Which Is Best For You?
 Which Witch is Which? The Importance of Scientific Terminology.
 Soap Making 101
 How I Maintain My Spiritual Practice in a War Zone
 To Be or Not To Be – In Pagan Business
 "Fusion" Magick

October 11th. 2009 ...
 Italy, Clavicles and Witchcraft
 The Fairies of Samhain
 Horns of Gold, Horns of Red: The God as a Sacred Focus
 The Veil as Seen Through the Eyes of a Witch
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 A Celtic "Young Goodman Brown"

October 4th. 2009 ...
 What Should I Put In My Book of Shadows?
 How Do You Draw Your Pentagram?
 Your Book Of Shadows
 How I Became a Wiccan
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 The Responsiblity of Elders of Pagan Paths
 My Curse
 Thoughts on Death
 Dinosaurs and Druidry

September 27th. 2009 ...
 When I Was A Christian Wiccan
 Shamanism: Seeing in the Dark
 Dream Invasion: What It Is and How to Stop it
 The Warrior Archetype and the Reemergence of the Goddess
 Twittermancy and Open Sourcery
 Past Life, Present Mission
 The Burning Times: May We Never Forget
 Ophiuchus, the 13th Constellation: A Call for Change
 Changes: Facing Them and Making Them

September 20th. 2009 ...
 How I Found My Craft Name (and Tips on Finding Yours!)
 Life Without End: Death From A Pagan Perspective
 Creating Your Reality
 My Road To Wicca
 Officiating At A Crossing Over Ceremony

NOTE: For a complete list of articles related to this chapter... Visit the Main Index FOR this section.
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Article Specs

Article ID: 3727

VoxAcct: 13651

Section: words

Age Group: Adult

Days Up: 2,923
Times Read: 3,799

| Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center

Author: Don Waterhawk [a WitchVox Sponsor]
Posted: November 23rd. 2001
Times Viewed: 3,799
Osiyo Fellow Humans,
I sit here today (Thanksgiving), pondering a lesson that Grandfather has put before me. I sit here today wondering why the Creator has chosen for me, this particular species of creatures to become and belong to, the Human race. I sit here today, as the odor of cooking food surrounds me, wondering where I should begin my thanks and prayers, as a Human being. I sit here today, ready to eat what I am going to talk to you about, a Bird. (No..not Kokopelli, although that has crossed my mind a few times in the past), but of one that has been killed for me, and that I was going to eat. It is of its Tribe that I wish to talk about. The Walkers of the Sky Nation. It is about a Clan within this Tribe that is in trouble. It is about Walking in Balance with the heart of Gratitude, and it's Sister and Brother, Honor and Respect. It is about Sharing as Equals within the Wheel of Harmony. I sit and trust that I can speak well enough for those that cannot, our friends the Birds.
There is a place in Tavenier Key, Florida that has become very close to my heart. It has become one of the greatest teaching lessons that I have been gifted with. This same thought is shared by many. It is run by an Elder named Laura, who, when one looks into her eyes, see the absolute lesson of love for the Creatures that fly. This smallish in stature, wiry, torn shirt (always), Band-Aid holding her glasses together, stoop shouldered (from carrying fish buckets to the *Moochers*), covered in blood, feathers and fish scales (she's always like that each time I see her), never stopping to rest (unless someone asks her a question), no bullshit, and fiercely determined Lady, has earned the Respect, Honor, and Gratitude from not only the 100, 000's of Birds (and people), but has earned it also from the Creator. This Grandfather has told me, but he didn't have to..I knew that already. Each year that Daniella and I make the trip to the keys with friends of the Pagan community, we have asked them to come with us, for at least a few hours, to the Bird Sanctuary of Laura's. Each time this happens, I get to share with new eyes what I had seen the first time I went there..and each time, about half through, my eyes well up with tears of both sadness of what had happened, and joy for what is happening now, then back to sadness for what may be. Laura has told me that she may have to close the Center, for there is no longer any money coming in. As her eyes filled with water from the emotions that she was emanating from her heart, she put her buckets down and told me what was going on. There was such sadness coming from her heart, mixed in with bitterness of her feelings towards her own Tribe, us Humans. I had asked her how she was, she shrugged, and said that there was something more important to deal with. She said that, with all the compassion being shown to the turmoil's that have recently happened to the world of people, and the coming of the holiday seasons, that the normal donations that come into the Center have dwindled to very little and sometimes nothing at all. She was afraid, as she looked around, that this would be no more. In her heart, this is what life is about, sharing with creatures in trouble. So I stood before her, feeling my own emotions rise, tasting the bitterness of who I was and what I belonged to, and placed my hand on her shoulder, looking into the eyes that held the energy that I could only hope to have a small part of, and told her that I would talk to the Clan of my Tribe, my community.
Talk to you about the first time that I walked the old boardwalk, smelling the strong odor of fish, slapping mosquito's from my face, and getting shit upon from an Emperor Pelican that I had not seen sitting on the rooftop above me. About the time that I sat in front of a Bald Eagle tearing apart some fish and stopping to look at me. And me noticing that it only had one wing which meant that it will never again fly its world. And how I tried to temper my anger from what one of my tribe had done to it. But Grandfather made me look into its eyes, that great Bald Eagle, and to see the Honor that this bird has and the Honor that it felt its life had become. For this Eagle is now a teacher, this Eagle is a healer, this Eagle has completed its Wheel of Harmony, and now it is the Giveaway. This Eagle is Honored to sit inside a cage and to look each person in the eye, and say "Thank You!", thank you for looking at me, and seeing what I have become for my kind. And that Eagle will give a lesson, a gift, to each person that see's. It is a lesson about our arrogance from walking away from the Wheel of Harmony. It is about that it is never too late to turn around and walk back in.. Talk to you about trying to get a baby Pelican (that had been thrown out of its nest) to eat, by using a puppet Pelican with fish in its cloth beak. It worked, by the Goddess how I cried when it finally ate. Talk to you about what its like walking the boardwalk and being shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of Great White herons, Great Blues, Egrets, and Pelicans, who were unafraid of us, as they understand that this place was sacred and they need not fear us here. Talk to you about the rare "Muppet Bird" (night feeder) that we had found and brought to Laura's and watched and helped her try to save the bird. It died, and how I cried. Talk to you about 23 pagans who came down one day to help build one of the cages, do surgery, separate frozen fish (messy) clean, feed, as we were surrounded by wild birds, uncaged, as they watched us build and cry with the energy that surrounded us. And the pride we feel everytime we see it. Talk to you about a wonderful Elder who with two 25lbs. buckets of fish, would walk to the waters edge to feed the Moochers each day at 4:30PM. (moochers are Birds that have been rehabilitated, but that come back when in need of love, safety and care) Talk to you about what has started, and what could end.
I would love to go on and on, I have so much more to say about this place. Laura receives no money from the Federal, State government. She asks for none. Its about control she says. I believe her. Local fisherman give her whatever extra catch they can for the Birds. Veterinarians volunteer their time continually. There are no paid staff. Not even Laura. Even the well stocked gift shop that has been dedicated to Princess MoonFeather (Tsalagi) has no one in it, Laura truly believes in Honor.
So what am I asking, to look into your heart, to feel the Medicine and Magic of the Wheel of Harmony, and if possible, to send donations to the Center. They are tax deductible. Tell Laura you are from the community that WaterHawk talked about, she would like to know. I feel an urgency, like I have never known, about this. So why, Don, should we expend the energy for this when there is so much else to do? Well, have you listened to the sound of the Bird's this morning? Have you seen them flying over you this afternoon? Do you understand the Medicine and Magic of the Birds? That they may have the key to the door of the Wheel of Harmony? That they give us the medicine wings to fly high above ourselves and see the full picture of our lives, and where we stand, as an equal, within the Sacred Circle of All Things.
And if you ever get down that far South, the Keys, and you stand under the roof, and a Pelican shits on you, I trust that after you clean it off and deal with the major body huzz of yuckiness of being shit on, that you will smile just as big as I did, Nyeh Weh!
Send Donations to: Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center MM 93.6 Bayside 93600 Overseas Highway Tavenier, Florida Keys USA 3370 Website: www.waterhawkcreations.com
ABOUT...

Don Waterhawk
Location: Fort Myers, Florida

Other Articles: Don Waterhawk has posted 33 additional articles- View them?
 Other Listings: To view ALL of my listings: Click HERE

Email Don Waterhawk... (No, I have NOT opted to receive Pagan Invites! Please do NOT send me anonymous invites to groups, sales and events.)

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