Blue Heron
Blue Heron 28.5.22
I wrote a blog on Tuesday about birds, recalling those that frequented our garden. I can’t believe I omitted the blue heron, my favourite bird. Whilst a heron has never landed on our section, they are certainly a common sight flying over the house, often squawking loudly to announce their presence. We also see them feeding on the shore line during walks from time to time, or in the nearby paddocks, when driving to town. I counted a dozen of them one day, although their sightings on the town trips are quite rare.
The blue heron has certainly been significant in my life. Almost every place I have lived at, there have been blue heron nearby, almost signaling to me that, yes, you are in the right place at this time. Some years ago, I came across a beautiful bone carving of a blue heron that was gifted as a raffle prize. I immediately bought a ticket, thinking it would be a perfect gift for my son Daniel if I should be lucky enough to win it. Well, I did, but Daniel didn’t like the carving and told me to keep it. This taonga (treasure) took on even more significance after his death and I still wear it on special occasions.
When I was a journalism student, we had to find stories and write articles each week, often submitting them to the local newspaper. One or two stories from our class of 20 would find their way into print, the rest would be discarded. Back in those days, I carried a lot of fear about my articles being published. While others would celebrate, I would be fearful. This fear came from my past when I was put to death for my writing in two of my former lives.
Finding stories each week, was the difficult part of this exercise, so I was excited when I became aware of a carver, that was about to decorate an arch for a reserve near my house. I phoned him and organised the interview, where he showed me the plans of his intended design. The majority of the carving would feature birds. I mentioned that my favourite bird was the blue heron and he told me he would include one of these in the carving, ``just for me’’. Soon after this, I moved, but when visiting the area some years later, I was chuffed to see a blue heron among the other birds in his magnificent piece of work. Unfortunately, on my side, I didn’t ever submit the article that I wrote to the paper, although I did present it to the tutors. I am sure that lovely man would have looked expectantly at the paper each day, wondering when the article would appear. We did explain to the people we interviewed, that we were students, and only one or two of the classes’ works would be printed each week. Perhaps he felt that was the case. I still carry guilt that I didn’t send that article on. Even if the story hadn’t been accepted, at least if I had submitted it, I would have done my part.
The blue heron features in two sets of inspirational cards that I have. In Ted Andrews set, the blue heron represents assertive authority and counsel, and would be equivalent to the King of Swords in a tarot pack. In Steven Farmer’s cards, the meaning is: to make a stand for what you believe in and do what feels right, in spite of any judgement or disapproval from others. That seems ironic that I didn’t do what was right with that article, why, because of fear of judgement and disapproval. Maybe that has been why the heron has been so significant in my life, reminding me to put aside my fears and do what feels right, regardless of any negative outcome.