My personal relationship with Jay Bird began in 2015 when I found a group of teenagers huddled around something on the floor, prodding and poking it. I approached to see what  the commotion was about. A lifeless Being lying there on the ground; a beautiful stunning Jay Bird. I ushered the youngsters angrily away from the poor bird so that I could ask Spirit what is needed, if anything.

At the time, I had a rush of anger running through me as the youngsters had not an ounce of respect for the dead bird or the life it had lived. On the other hand, the wise part of my heart hushed the anger inside me with a gentle awakening to the curiosity that we ALL had when faced of death when we were young. They were curious youngsters.

The calling was clear to me, as a bright cool breeze wafted through my curls and down the back of my neck.

“Take me Home,” she said.

“Home?” I responded, “I do not know where you come from…”

She repeated, firmly “Home”.

So I gathered the dusty pink and blue bird in my arms and walked her to MY ‘home’.

I sank into her request to go ‘Home’, and found the answer to mean ‘The Earth’.

I got to work and dug a small sweet resting place in my garden, just in front of my beloved Rosemary bush. The smell of sweet earth filled my lungs. I knew this was the right thing to do. To earth she must go and for her life to be honoured.

I lay her body with her pristine feathers into the holding space where I placed a number of flowers around her, that were growing in my garden at the time. With every flower head, a prayer of love was given and a remembrance of Flight this young bird once had – Freedom. A song sung in Non-ordinary reality to the beautiful Acorn Jay was gifted as I witnessed her soul exit and fly into the arms of ‘The mother of all Birds’. She was finally ‘Home’, whilst her body was laid to rest in the arms our mother Earth.

I felt blessed to simply be witness to this.

Many years later, after one of my shamanic initiations, I came home with the great urge to go and find the bones of this dear Bird buried in my garden. A great lesson was learnt that day as I sat on the ground, in front of my now HUGE rosemary bush, my bum in the air and head in the dirt, hands gently pulling away the soil within the area she used to lay.

With Sweat dripping from me, in the summer heat, feeling defeated and confused at the request from Spirit to work with the bones of Jay, I slowed my pace, still digging with my hands, until I witnessed something out of the corner of my eye. A large Jay Bird peering down over my shoulder into the hole I was now digging. I looked directly, head-on, at this Large Spirit bird and then down again at the earth in my hands and back again at the sight of this magnificent Jay standing right next to me. I couldn’t quite believe my eyes. How vivid she looked, how bright, how beautiful.

Jay spoke:

“What are you digging for Child?! You will not find me down there anymore!”

“I am HERE… all along, I’ve been HERE, following your every move. Through the woods and the trees, I’ve been here.”

I sat myself down on the earth and laughed at the situation.

“We humans often like to hold something physical to know it is real. Faith in the unknown at times feels like a great stretch”. I said.

“Well, what do you see? What do you hear? Are you making me up?”

“Possibly” I mumbled.

“Well, if that is the case, I shall continue to visit you, in your ‘imaginary’ world until you realise, this world is just as real as the next world. Your worlds both inner and outer are equal. Let the magic in, do not resist its call or stamp out its expression. We have work to do! Hop hop!” Jay said.

And with that, I went inside to collect an acorn from the previous years gathering and laid it down in the freshly dug hole, covering it over once again.

I thanked the Earth for its lessons.

I thanked Jay for visiting me.

I thanked my Heart for Seeing and Hearing Spirit once again.

I was never meant to find Jay’s bones. I was destined to experience this moment, to remind me that there is great power even in that of the unseen forces that have NO physical counterpart any longer. I was being taught that Jay lives alongside me, daily, and that her bones, in this story, were not needed to deepen my relationship with her. All that was needed was my willingness to hear and see. The effort I put into ‘finding her’ once again, was the very reason that Jay so powerfully appeared to me.

During the following years Jay has come to me as a guide and Spirit Ally on many occasions and accompanies me on all shamanic journeys, as seen within my beloved Jay bird sister Rattle hand crafted by Edward Green, my dear Clan Brother. I will speak about this soulful rattle in another blog post, for now I leave you with my honouring of Jay’s spirit, a Painting of Power for those who are also walking with Jay be their side.

Prints are available on Etsy and the original painting is available upon request.

I continue to offer my thanks to the Spirit of Jay Bird for ALL the sweet revelations and lesson she has given me.

These are the spirit acorns of my growth, the seed of my evolution.

Gratitude. Gratitude. Gratitude.

And So it is.

With love and gratitude,