(Thursday, June 25, 2015) Moon: waxing gibbous Libra / Tarot: Maat (Justice)
On my lunchtime river-walk today I glanced to my right and saw the full white wing of an egret perched in the top branches of a bush. Like it had fallen from the sky. I picked it up, gently, and looked around me to make sure I was alone, then hid the wing inside my light knit jacket. I remembered the time Rob brought an eagle feather to T’ai-Chi class. He had found not one, but two feathers, on a solo canoe trip to the Quetico. I was amazed that he did not seem to know that anyone who is not a registered tribal member needs a permit to possess an eagle feather. Maybe he didn’t care. That made me so curious I looked into it further and found that it is illegal to keep feathers or nests from any wild bird.
I walked a few more steps and saw the severed black leg of the poor egret in the middle of the asphalt trail. I carefully moved it into the grass. I tried to imagine how this could have happened: had an eagle attacked and dismembered the egret in flight? Big Rivers Park is full of bald eagles and red-tailed hawks. Coyotes too. The upper section of the leg looked as if it had been pinched clean by a powerful beak, not torn with canine teeth. To my eye.
I didn’t find any more evidence of the battle on the rest of my walk, but I did rescue a small green frog that was trying to cross Old Highway 13.
Near the end of my journey, after greeting the giant Grandmother Cottonwood tree that I love, I came around a bend in the path and saw a man doing T’ai-Chi in the middle of a beautiful grassy circle. I have never seen anyone doing T’ai-Chi in the park before. What a wonderful sight.
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I received a group email from Rob just this morning, so he was on my mind. He hasn’t taken me off his mailing list, even though it has been over six months since I attended his T’ai-Chi class.
The Egyptian goddess Maat is depicted in the tarot card I pulled this morning. She judges the dead. Her scales of justice hold a human heart and a small white feather. Karmic balance.
Tonight on the local news I saw a clip of an actress in an angel costume. Giant wings made of white feathers.