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A look at the Gull card in the Go Deeper oracle |
When I lived in Edinburgh, I used to love waking up to the raucous (and extremely loud) cries of the chimney pot gulls that perched and nested on the 3-4 storey tenement buildings that make up so many of Edinburgh's streets. The echo created by the narrow paved streets, stone buildings and slate roofs amplified their laughing cries to a window rattling volume totally unlike anything you hear at the sea shore.
| Of course, there was a down side. The city organised its rubbish collection via plastic bags picked up by the council bin men and in some areas the gulls made quite a mess ripping these open to extract the contents before the bags could be collected. The birds also sometimes nested on roofs, and became territorial about the ground level space around their nest area. In one house I lived in, we had a gull's nest on the roof, and it was not unusual to hear the rush of air as this bird flew within inches of my head as I got in and out of my car in the driveway. As far as these birds are concerned, the world belongs to them. They require cliffs on which to nest and raise their young, and a good source of food nearby. They don't worry about natural vs unnatural or who the cliffs belong to. These things are for everybody, right? It's just a question of boldly taking what you want! |  Gull - A free spirit. A laughing intruder. |
Another inhabitant of my world in Edinburgh was my friend Jonathon (yeah, that wasn't really his name). He was also a free spirit. He was a musician of the highest calibre. I'm sure that Jonathon possessed a piece of the Dagda's harp within his soul -- for he was one of those rare musicians who could cause his listeners to laugh, cry, dance, fight or be lulled into sleep with his music. Being a musician myself, I enjoyed his friendship very much, and we also enjoyed a similar, taboo-free, sense of humour that is rare to find.
Of course, there was a down side. Jonathon was one of the most irresponsible people I have ever known. He was the house guest from hell. He drank too much, smoked too much, messed up people's houses, seduced their wives if he could, and was difficult to get rid of when you got tired of him. He got barred from pubs as routinely as other people do their washing. He had a home to go to, but that wasn't nearly as much fun! Most of us put up with this, to whatever degree our patience allowed, because of his talent, because he was a lot of fun, and occasionally because it was just easier than the alternative.
The good people of Edinburgh were often up in arms about those annoying gulls, and various plots were hatched to get rid of them, but I always found myself siding with those noisy, messy creatures. They weren't very good neighbours, admittedly, but their wild laughter and free spirited approach to life filled my heart. I can be shy, reserved and overly cautious much of the time, but I see that the world needs wild freedom, too. Wild freedom rarely has much regard for the comfort of others. It stirs things up, it makes a lot of noise, and messes up our tidy lives.
I believe that having contact with free spirits is good for us on several levels. It teaches us to loosen up, to have a good time and stay up late and have some fun once in awhile, even though it's Tuesday. It teaches us that we can't control the behaviour of others all the time, and that we don't always need to. It teaches us that we can find creative strategies to protect our territory sometimes, and that we'd better learn to live with it when we can't.
 Go Deeper Reading In depth reading by email. More information about my readings at this link. $ 40.00 | I would love to do an oracle reading for you! After you click the "add to cart" button and make your payment, you will receive an email from me outlining our next steps to get your reading underway. (More information on this page.)  |
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