The Butterfly, the Spider and the Bat

I was in Pottstown, PA for work yesterday and on the way home (up Rte. 100) I stopped at the Padre Pio Shrine in Barto.

A witch - a self-professed pagan - stopping at a shrine for a Roman Catholic priest who lived and died with the stigmata? You got it! Spirit is everywhere - especially where there is serenity and there is wonderful calm and serentity at this center.

I usually walk into the chapel and sit quietly in its coolness. I walk the grounds that look over rolling hills. On occasion I've lit candles for friends and loved ones, saying a prayer to the little Father who lived in Italy. Witches can and do pray often - at least this one does. It's not against any "rules." I believe that all beliefs are the "true" belief - many paths to the same destiny. I'm sure Padre Pio recognizes a heart of love - and that's what I take to the Center each time I visit.

Yesterday the grounds were full of birds and butterflies. The birds were brown and white - a type I didn't know. And the butterflies were Monarch size but yellow and black. I spent about 40 minutes at the center and then got in my PT Crusier and back on the road home - looking forward to a quiet evening at home.

I was tooling down a blissfully empty Rte. 100 when I looked out my windshield and noticed something yellow and black fluttering on the radio antenna like a small scarf. A butterfly had been caught on the antenna, killing it but leaving the insect wrapped around the slight silver rod - yellow and black wings on either side.

I hate killing any living thing and watched the fluttering butterfly remains with sadness. But then I thought about what Butterfly was trying to tell me. Butterfly is a symbol of change, of transformation. Thank you, Butterfly.

Near my office door is a banister. At one end of the banister is a huge spider web, connecting the top of the banister to the ground. Virtually invisible, you have to know it's there to even see it. "You'll see it when you believe it." I think I'm the only one in my office that knows it's there. I'm the only one that "sees" it. Grandmother Spiderwoman is one of my goddesses. The Spider comes to you to show you that you are part of a the large web of life. Thank you, Grandmother Spiderwoman.

Today as I drove back to my office from picking up lunch, I saw a hawk trying to catch something flying just below a tree. The hawk missed and the bird flew towards my office building. After I had parked the car and got out I noticed that the little flying being was no bird, but a small bat - stranded in the daylight and flying in circles, keening in a high bat song. I stood watching him for several minutes - hoping that he would be safe from the hawk. Thank you, Brother Bat for visiting me. Now I must learn what you are to teach me.

There were so many blessings the last two days - and I saw only three.
But some didn't even see that many.