At dawn, Salmon tops the horizon to enlighten us. In our spring years, we expect clarity to provide us with answers. As we develop, our focus moves beyond specifics to broader themes, like love, home and a deeper Knowing.
Just as dark clouds contrast dawn’s colors, life holds paradoxes. Rather than our once harsh, dividing lines, Salmon opens us to discerning wisdom, which allows for diversity.
In the same manner little birds nip at ravens’ wings during summer, strict principles cause us to demand that other people follow our practices and speak our language. But what if a juxtaposing expression is just the punch our voice needs? Should the sky remain, or change with Sockeye Salmon’s scales from silvery blue to reddish orange?
For humans, the route home is both demanding and full of joy. There are difficulties whether we embark on new paths or continue moving through the same ruts. Either way, Salmon can encourage us on the journey.
Early on, a school provides safety for younger salmon, just as communities can provide a sense of security for us. Later, salmon leave the group to travel back to their place of origin. We also come to junctures that invite us to individualize. There, we gather lessons from all our life experiences to come to a Knowing that differs from our former reasoning.
It is fall here, in New Mexico, and Raven’s parasitic birds have gone elsewhere. Eventually we too find ourselves in the autumn season of life, bothered less by other people’s nitpicking.
Fall is a time of releasing Summer’s fire to burn away all that no longer belongs. Though at times melancholic, the changing light invites us to trust Mystery, unlearning all of the things that keep us overly dependent, and bravely allow our own colors to emerge.
Before the ravens take their morning flight down to the river, Salmon covers the earth. If we top the mountain range on which she rests, we discover that Salmon is not there. Instead, she is swimming out farther, challenging us back to Sacred within. And therein lies the whopping paradox.
Sacred Ruminations*
“The glory of God is man fully alive.” Irenaeus
It is human nature to want to take people back to what we know. Can we; however, live fully without an element of the unknown?