Chapter 3
Nature Speaks
Nothing seems to speak louder than nature. Some of my most significant synchronicities have been presented by birds, rabbits, snakes, coyotes, dogs, insects, rainbows, clouds, feathers, rocks, and water.
Look up any animal in a sign dictionary such as The Secret Language of Signs, by Denise Linn, and you will get a clear idea of what the associated sign may mean. For instance, the monkey is a sign “to loosen up and embrace the wild, carefree, mischievous part of yourself.” Sometimes, it doesn’t matter what type of animal is providing the sign; rather, it is the animal’s message that is important, such as when I received confirmation that it was indeed time for this book to be written.
When driving on a quiet road toward Boulder in recent months, I decided and immediately declared that it was finally time to fulfill my destiny. At the exact moment I stated in my mind, “I’m going to write my book about synchronicity,” a hawk flew right in front of my car window. Birds had flown close to my car before, but never a hawk. I’ve always found hawks to be powerful signs, but whenever I spot them, they are flying high or at least perched on a pole or tree; never before (or since) had one swooped down in front of me.
This was undeniable validation that this book needed to be written and that I had the Universe’s support. I became filled with gratitude and embraced the firm resolve to move full steam ahead. In this case, the animal’s presence relayed the message. The type of animal delivering the sign wasn’t as significant, just like when my friend and I were lost in the East Mountains near Albuquerque.
It was dark and late as we drove throughout an isolated area in the mountains, and we couldn’t find our friend’s home. We were lost, and this was before either of us had a cell phone. So we prayed together out loud and asked for a sign for help in finding our destination. Seconds later, a rabbit darted in front of our car and ran onto a narrow intersecting road ahead of us (that we kept passing by). We immediately regarded this animal as our messenger, so we took that road, and, sure enough, it led us directly to the right place.
When my son and I started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it was on the eve of the millennium in our new home in New Mexico (we moved from Michigan to New Mexico, and now presently live in Colorado). As you may know, in the first chapter, owls are mentioned several times. After tucking my son into bed, I heard a bird call that I’d never heard before. I went onto our deck, and there, perched above me, was the first owl I’d ever heard making the whoo-whoo sounds. Owls are well-known to represent signs of transformation. Of all the nights on which these events could have simultaneously occurred, were a couple of hours prior to the new beginning for this world, the first day of the next thousand years.
Before we moved to the Southwest, snakes terrified me. But after we relocated, and knowing we would encounter snakes from time to time, I decided I needed to somehow address my fears and change my perception. It happened in an unexpected way during a visit to a children’s science museum.
I did not want to project my own fear onto my children, so when I noticed a group of kids gathering to hold a bull snake, I encouraged my kids to touch it, although I was ready to jump out of my skin. I then forced myself to touch it as well, trying to hide my true feelings. Somehow—and I truly don’t know how it happened—I found myself holding this incredible creature, and I allowed it to move all over me. I truly fell in love with this snake, and my lifelong fear dissolved in a matter of moments. No one could have been more surprised than I was.
Following that experience, we became familiar with a resident bull snake on our land. No, I never picked it up, this one being in the wild and quite large. But, one day, it was waiting for me on our welcome mat. Holding groceries, which I nearly dropped, I spotted it just before nearly stepping on it. A bull snake looks very similar to a rattlesnake, and you need to look at the shape of its head and check whether the tail has a rattle, very quickly in this case, to identify it. After recovering from the surprise, I knew that it had a message for me, especially since it was poised right at the entrance to our home.
Denise Linn’s sign book expresses that a snake “is not a sign to be feared.” One meaning identified the snake as a symbol for healing. I was about to experience a significant emotional and physical healing at that time. Had I not changed my mind about snakes, I perhaps would not have acknowledged the sign and maybe would have even feared the symbolism or rendered it negative. Perception is everything.
Yesterday, I was shoveling our driveway after all of Colorado experienced a major blizzard that dropped more than two feet of snow. Being outside in the snow filled me with bliss, as I fully enjoyed that peace and quiet that follows a storm. However, my gentle communion with the magical white flakes was interrupted when two birds began to make an unusually loud racket. They got my attention and made me look up. Directly beyond those birds was the only opening to a whitish blue sky on a very cloudy afternoon. And through that slight window past the clouds was the sun. The winter solstice was only hours away, and I needed to recognize it.
As I sit in my favorite coffee shop writing the paragraph above, the man at the next table is telling a story about “two birds.” How often do people speak or write about “two birds”? Now, don’t think I’m in the habit of honing in on other people’s conversations, but when this kind of synchronicity happens, I cannot help but hear. I feel that I automatically tune in, as voices seem raised when I need to be aware. See how connected we really are? Nothing has ever personally felt so Divinely inspired and guided as the writing of this book. Imagine getting this kind of validation when you live your purpose, because it is there.
Earlier that same morning, I watched the local news, which I rarely do; I wanted to find out about the blizzard’s aftereffects and the forecast. The second I turned it on, the anchorman said, “And look at this picture of the sun.” And it was a phenomenal view of the sun on the solstice. I need to be aware of the solstices and equinoxes, because they are always powerful and transformative. When I forget, synchronicity will step in to remind me.
Do you think that those in the Heavenly realms can give you clear and direct messages by writing them in the sky? Clouds are one of my favorite signs. I believe they speak volumes—such as the time I flew to Denver and then took a van from the airport with nearly a dozen people on the way to Breckenridge to attend a spiritual conference. We all were stunned to see a magnificent stream of clouds that together perfectly formed an image of an angel with arms spread wide open as if welcoming us. When we arrived at our destination, we saw that the theme of the conference all had to do with angels, and the promotional signs, badges, and programs all featured an image of a beautiful angel.
An unforgettable sighting of a cloud occurred when I once felt Jesus’s presence with me and heard in my mind the words “anchor in My love.” Just then, I looked up and saw a cloud perfectly shaped like an anchor, and it then dissipated very quickly. It was a deeply profound experience.
After attending a financial abundance seminar—and after having just seen the movie The Secret, which features Aladdin’s lamp in some segments—I saw a cloud that looked exactly, to my great shock, like the genie’s lamp. This spoke to me the message, “Your wish is my command.” How’s that for validation?
Signs, such as a rainbow, appear just when you need them. If you suddenly spot a rainbow when you weren’t even looking for one after a storm, you were probably being nudged to notice. When you see a rainbow, or a cloud shaped like a feather, angel wing, or even an exclamation point as I have on occasion, consider what is going on in your life or what thoughts you are holding in that moment, because you may be receiving a grand validation.
I had never seen a cloud that even vaguely resembled an anchor, or Aladdin’s lamp for that matter, until these specific, perfectly timed occurrences.
As I’m writing this, a woman near me loudly proclaimed, “There is a God!” in an animated conversation with her friends.
Oh yes, there is. And He speaks to all of us all the time, through clouds, animals, strangers, families, and friends. He speaks to us through the song on the radio, the shadow on the sidewalk, and the feather blowing in the wind. He speaks to us in our dreams and meditations. And so very often, our hearts are spoken to directly. We are always being given messages from God and from Heaven. We need only believe it and listen, with our ears, eyes, and feelings.
The song that began playing on my iTunes (which is always set to shuffle mode so that songs are played in random order) as I wrote the last sentence of the paragraph above was “Listen,” gorgeously sung by Beyoncé in the movie Dreamgirls. So allow me to put special emphasis on the word “listen.”
Months after writing this chapter, I’m now rereading it for editorial purposes, and, again, the song “Listen” came on as I reread this same paragraph! As the song says, you must start listening “to the sound from deep within.” Obviously, this message is being synchronistically emphasized for you, the reader.
Water is a beautiful and powerful visual sign; and it even asserts itself in unseen ways. When I practiced hypnotherapy, I shared with every new client the visionary Masaru Emoto’s book, Messages from Water. Dr. Emoto took pictures of frozen water crystals after the water had been exposed to various words, pictures, or music. His research proved that the same distilled control water was changed and affected by each stimulus. For example, water exposed to the word love, produced a beautiful, well-formed crystal, whereas a crystal formed after exposure to the words you fool was unattractive and erratically formed.
These experiments dramatically show that water responds to the energetic vibration of what it is exposed to. Our bodies contain roughly 70 percent water. Doesn’t this mean that basically everything in our awareness is affecting the water in our bodies, whether positively or negatively? This includes most especially our thoughts, our feelings, what we say, and what we do—specifically, the music we listen to, the television shows we watch, the news we expose ourselves to, and the people we spend time with, because there is energy in all things, and we are responding to it all.
Through Dr. Emoto’s book I attained visual proof of what I already believed—that everything we think, feel, say, and do affects our reality. After seeing the frozen water crystal photos for the first time, I began writing positive and loving words right onto my water bottles and suggested to my clients that they do the same.
My personal experience with water (or any liquid) is that whenever I spill it on myself, it is something to blessed, and not cursed for clumsiness. It is a sign that my cup will overflow with abundance of some kind. My first awareness of the meaning behind water spilling happened in Las Vegas of all places.
I met my parents and brother in the City of Lights, and although we were having a great time together, I kept losing. I was down to the last $40 I’d set aside to gamble with and began playing at a roulette table. Because I was immediately starting to lose, I told the dealer, “Color in,” which means “I want to cash in.” She said, “Are you sure you want to leave so early?” I had a feeling that she “knew” something I didn’t, so I decided to continue playing the double digits—11, 22, 33, and 00—on each spin.
Just as she spun the ball inside the wheel, a man knocked over his drink. Okay, it probably held something other than water, but the spilled liquid made a perfect beeline toward me at the end of the table. I instinctively felt that this was a good sign. Sure enough, 11 came in. I built up my bets, and 11 came in again. I piled up my bets like never before, and 22 came in. I left the table with $2,200, more than I had ever won. I intuited, during these exciting moments, that there was a link between water spilling and the presence of good fortune. I went to another casino and grossed another $1,500. It seemed as if I couldn’t lose, but I needed to leave for my flight home.
The abundance heightened on the plane when I met a man with a beautiful spirit who happened to be a pastor at a church in Albuquerque. During the course of our conversation, I mentioned that it was my greatest hope that our recent move to New Mexico would help my son’s asthma condition. He invited me to his church, and a few weeks later we did indeed attend as a family.
We were the only Caucasians attending this African American parish. We had never felt more welcome anywhere than we did in this small church with a huge heart; nearly every parishioner in the congregation went out of his or her way to meet us, shake our hands, or hug us. I was deeply touched by such an unusual display of warmth and kindness from people we’d never met. I remember thinking to myself that if everyone treated each other like this, our world would change in the blink of an eye.
Following the conclusion of the service, the pastor did a very special and dramatic healing on my son. Ever since that day, Scott has been off of his daily asthma medications. The synchronicity of being seated next to this man on that one flight brought us together for a blessed purpose.
Water signs continued years later when I attended that financial abundance seminar in Denver. We broke for lunch, and I went with a friend to a very busy pizza place. I was holding a tray with a glass of water, waiting for a slice of pizza, and a man bumped very hard into me, causing the water to spill all over my blouse, including my conference badge. My initial reaction wasn’t one of joy, but as soon as I realized that it was actually a blessing and a sign, a smile spread across my face. Again, I connected the spill of water to good fortune, especially because I was in the mode of learning about attaining wealth.
When returning home, two city workers were releasing water from the fire hydrant across the street from my house. The water was gushing directly onto our front lawn. Had that happened any other time, I might not have thought much of it, but having just attended this conference about gaining financial freedom, I saw particular relevance in the timing of water spilling onto my property. Just a few days later, I found almost $1.00 in coins on our lawn—another symbol of abundance.
Whenever I see people spill water or any liquid on themselves, I say to them, “It’s a good sign.” They probably think I’m just trying to make them feel better or less embarrassed, but my sentiments are genuinely expressed. Most seem surprised at the idea that it would represent a positive personal sign for them.
I join in the belief that we are in the age of abundance—abundance of joy, peace, love, health, money, et cetera. We’re being told this by a multitude of messengers, healers, visionaries, and teachers. As will be described further in this book, we are being taught to consciously create that which we desire. When we allow synchronicity to carve the path to conscious creation, so often through all the miraculous aspects of nature, we indeed make our dreams come true.
Nature entices us with its most awesome signs, to draw us out of our homes and busy lives in order to connect with the real earth. It inspires us to commune with the miracles in our everyday existence, even if it involves nothing more than noticing a ladybug crawling up your arm or taking a moment to look upward at the clouds in the sky. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator.”
Copyright © 2008 by Mary Soliel
Publisher: iUniverse
Available in Paperback, Hardcover, and eBook
ISBN (Paperback): 0-595-45860-2