Thursday 22 November 2007

Be kind to Magpies

I am sitting here in my office - as I have been since I arrived back from America or so it seems. This is such a busy time for everyone, including me and like a lot of women, I am wearing umpteen different hats at a time scheduling next Spring's workshops, preparing for the Cambridge Mind Body Spirit Exhibition on the 1st/2nd December, and working with my wonderful new website designer to re-build my website. My only daytime company are the magpies who play and entertain me just outside my office window as I work. So many people moan about magpies, including my husband but I don't mind them at all, especially since I know the story.......

It is said in the sacred stories of the Lakota that all the animals and birds of the universe gathered at the Black Hills to run a race that would decide who would thrive and who would struggle. The two-legged animals raced with the birds on one side and the four-legged were on the other. If the two-legged and the birds won the race, they would eat the four-legged but if the four-legged won the race, they would eat the two-legged and the birds. During the race, a magpie perched on the ear of a buffalo and stayed there and just when it looked like the buffalo was in the lead and about to win, the magpie suddenly flew off his ear and won the race on behalf of the two-legged and the birds. The magpie was officially declared the winner and was presented with a rainbow - which is why the magpie's tail is today so colourful.
So next time you look out of your window and see magpies, think of this story and be kind to them - please.
The photograph above is one I took at Mato Tipila (Bears Lodge) in Wyoming and it is SO calling me back. If you click on the photo, you can see it full size - it really is surreal.