Chapter 9: The Empowerment of Surrender
– Miracles manifest and flow with grace.
My divinely manifested brand new 2011 Suzuki car, shortly after driving it home.
(In 2015 it manifested another miracle – that story will be included
in Book 2 of “Sacred Possibilities”!)
The sacred and significant dream-catcher I created for my new car.
(Includes a feather from Great Horned Owl gifted during one of my Nature walks,
other feather gifts from Nature, brass bee bead and brass Thor’s hammer pendant
created by a Norwegian artist, different beads of stone, lava, crystal and wood
and leather strips of multiple colours.
***
My urban backyard from 2002 – 2011, which I transformed with many,
into a Nature oasis (this is what it looked like pre-transformation).
Note: All images of the yard, plants and wildlife, were captured with
film photography (before I went digital!).
The first plants – “red osier dogwood” seedlings, being investigated by a robin.
Plants emerging and leafing, in the transformed yard’s fifth Spring (2007),
complete with two seating areas and stone paths.
The blooming season transforms the native prairie plants into
beautiful gardens – a feast for pollinators!
The following photographs are of various wildlife with the indigenous plants,
taken from 2003 to 2007.
A monarch butterfly chrysalis hanging from a “wild grape” vine on the trellis.
Monarch caterpillars feeding on a blooming “swamp milkweed” plant.
A monarch chrysalis in the beginning of its phase.
A monarch chrysalis at the end of its phase
(shortly before the butterfly emerges).
A newly emerged monarch butterfly that flew onto me.
A newly emerged female monarch butterfly.
A monarch butterfly feeding on a blooming “meadow blazingstar” plant.
A painted lady caterpillar feeding on a blooming “everlasting” plant.
A painted lady butterfly feeding on a “New England aster” flower.
A painted lady butterfly feeding on a “narrow-leaf sunflower” blossom.
A newly emerged painted lady butterfly feeding on a “black-eyed susan” blossom.
A black swallowtail caterpillar on the stem of a “golden alexander” plant.
A black swallowtail butterfly feeding on minerals in the damp
(chemical-free, naturally organic!) garden soil.
A black swallowtail butterfly feeding on the blossoms of a “purple boneset” plant.
A juvenile cottontail rabbit feeding on the seed-heads of wild grasses
like “switch grass”, bowing over the path.
A bumble bee feeding on a “New England aster” blossom.
A female meadowhawk dragonfly sunning herself on the
buds of a “Canada goldenrod” plant.
A tiny skipper butterfly feeding on a “black-eyed susan” blossom.
A male goldfinch feeding on the seeds of a “tall coneflower” plant.
An anglewing butterfly species (the question mark) feeding on blossoms
of a “swamp milkweed” plant (that smell sweetly like caramel!).
A monarch butterfly feeding on a “black-eyed susan” blossom.
A flower fly that imitates a wasp or bee for protection from predators,
feeding on a “New England aster” blossom.
A red admiral butterfly feeding on the pretty spire florets of a “culver’s root”
(a species of wild plant has become rare in its natural habitat).
A honey bee feeding on a “black-eyed susan” blossom.
A cloud sulphur butterfly feeding on blooming clusters of a “stiff goldenrod” plant.
A Milbert’s tortoiseshell butterfly feeding on a “New England aster” flower.
A female meadowhawk dragonfly sunning on a “Canada goldenrod” plant.
A bumble bee flying towards a “wood rose” blossom.
A red admiral butterfly feeding on a “false sunflower” blossom.
A bumble bee feeding on the blooming florets of a “culver’s root” plant’s spire.
A bluet damselfly perched on a wild grass stem.
Honey bees feeding on a “wild rose” shrub’s blossoms.
An anglewing butterfly species (the comma) feeding on the sweet juice
of overwintered native “wild grapes”.
***
My special Navajo ring of green turquoise and silver, worn and charged
at the sacred Navajo canyons in Arizona.
