Feather Bower Spirit: A Story of Friendship and a Search for Happiness and Truth

by Jenny Dixon

Overview

There is a moment in Miss Jay's life when she stops looking at the world and starts truly seeing it. She begins to notice strange and miraculous things-gifts from the universe to one who would embrace them as an absolute truth.

Birds and animals appear at significant moments, sharing wisdom and messages and allowing Miss Jay to understand how all life is connected. She forms special friendships with three very special birds: Bindi, a rainbow lorikeet with a feathered dot on her forehead; Kooky, a kookaburra with great spiritual insight; and Master Zen, the Magpie who holds shamanic energy and is connected to spiritual elders.

Soon, the birds and animals reveal answers about truth, happiness, purpose, meaning, and even God. Miss Jay's travels take her to the Red Centre of Australia to meet with the Grand Mother Rainbow Serpent at Uluru and to the depths of the Great Barrier Reef. There, she discovers a Crystal Light City and makes a new friend-Hira the great humpback whale.

Wise souls know that there is a need to balance the elements of earth, air, water, fire, and ether within our own Chakra systems, as well as around us. Isis, Osiris, and Horus appear and bring through words of encouragement and guidance.

Why do all the animals seem to know about Miss Jay? What is her sacred mission? Who is Vargo? Friendships are rediscovered and bonds secured as they all work together to help Miss Jay find the answers to the biggest questions she's ever asked.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452509822
Publisher:	Balboa Press
Publication date:	05/23/2013
Pages:	150
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.35(d)

Read an Excerpt

Feather Bower SPIRIT

A Story of Friendship and a Search for Happiness and Truth

---

By Jenny Dixon

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2013 Jenny Dixon
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-0982-2

---

CHAPTER 1

A Search for Answers Begins

A New Place and Introducing Master Zen

I woke up and wondered, how did I get here? Not for the first time I might add. However, on this occasion I really wondered how I ended up here, in this apartment. Adjacent to a long, meandering, 1850's, early settler constructed, sandstone wall. It seemed to divide the people on one side, from the wildlife, animals, birds and nature. The other side of The Wall revealed a National Park. Perhaps not so meaningful to some, but to me it meant I could look out through my window on the second floor and see a family of rabbits running about, an Echidna with a pointy nose, a very shy Bandicoot, many varieties of birds, a pretty yellow tree snake, tall grasses, and big shady trees.

It didn't feel like city living, but here in my little sanctuary, I was a mere thirty-minute ferry ride from the centre of Sydney. I was keen to bridge the divide and bring the Kingdoms together as one. It didn't take long before I knew that the next step on this spiritual journey was to seek the wisdom and guidance of Nature. I knew the questions I wanted answered but little did I know where this new journey would take me, how exhausted I would become before finding a true sense of freedom and peace.

Several years ago—well almost ten now—I set out on a path of questioning: who am I really? Why am I here? How do I reach my full potential and find my Divine Purpose? Is there a God and how do I find him or her? Along with the old favourite: how do I find happiness? Shortly after I began my spiritual path, the place in which I was living, fell to pieces. It had to be rebuilt from the ground up, and apparently so did I.

Time passed. I had done all the courses and classes I could do. I had meditated almost to death. When I had no idea who I was anymore or what I was even looking for, an Owl showed up on my white privacy board on the balcony, as the sun began to set behind it. I heard this strange noise like a HOOB, HOOB, HOOB. I thought it might have been my refrigerator, as it made odd noises. It turned out, the Owl had returned. He appeared several times during my ten years at that abode. On this occasion the Owl spoke. He said, "You have reached an ending of the old and a time of new beginning. It is done. Look to the East now for rebirth."

The Owl is my totem animal for the West. He brings wisdom and clarity. The Western compass point, on my Shamanic Medicine Wheel, represents death and rebirth. It was time to let go of the old, release the past and find something new. After Owl's appearance I suddenly felt very tired, I had to lie down and sleep. It was the same old dream I have had for many years. I am in a hall with dozens of students, sitting for an exam. I open the test paper and have no idea how to answer any of the questions. Not only that, I don't even know what the questions mean, what they are asking, or what language has been printed on the paper. I just don't understand or even recognise the words or their meaning. I look around me but everyone else seems okay and I wonder, "What is going on with me?"

Soon after Owl's visit, all the work was finished on my home, after several years of trade people traipsing in and out and making a mess. It was done. So I left.

Only a week earlier I had no idea where I would be living. I decided it was time to leave and find a new abode. A week later I woke up and saw The Wall meandering down towards the water, bushland beyond it as far as the eye could see, and the rising sun. My totem animal for the East is a snake, so it didn't surprise me at all the day I saw a snake abseiling down the stone Wall. Snakes mean regeneration, shedding of the old skin, rebirth as well as ancient wisdom. I knew I was on the right track. Well, as certain as I could be on this path of up and down, knowing everything one minute then nothing the next, clarity and fogginess, this daily life of duality and polarity.

First to welcome me was a Magpie. Not the usual type of Magpie because I looked it up on the Internet. I found a completely different description from the bird looking at me on my railing. This bird was agile, smaller than a normal Magpie. It had small beady yellow eyes, a black pointy beak, thin black legs, black leathery feet. Magpie was almost all black but for some white feathers under the tail, at the tip of the wing and the tip of the tail. This bird became my constant companion during the ensuing two years, my dear friend.

He would stand balanced on one leg, on the back of my outdoor chair and look at me, for hours. I thought he was waiting for food, so I would throw him some tasty morsels. He delighted in catching them mid-air, showing off his aeronautical and acrobatic skills. Very agile was he and quick. If I looked out my study window, he would see me from way off in the distance and charge over to a perfect landing on the railing. Then he would hop onto the back of the chair, bounce onto the table or over to another chair. Or he would land atop the divider and crouch down to see if I was approaching. He would swoop towards me as if intending to fly inside but stop short to avoid crashing into the screen door. Sometimes I would see him flying way up high. He is a great flyer, and I would notice his white markings under his wings and tail.

One morning, after many months of our daily routine of jumping and dancing and bouncing about over food, I asked him, "Magpie, why do you stand on one leg and stare at me?"

To my surprise, he replied, "Why do you sit in your chair with your eyes closed?"

"I'm meditating," I replied, indignantly. "What's your excuse?"

"Well," he elaborated, "I am practising balance."

I found his reply very interesting especially as we continued our chat. He asked "and why do you wave your arms about during your meditation?"

I calmly disclosed, "I am doing my daily Reiki to bring through balance and harmony within me and all around my being."

Magpie stood steadfast on one leg, silent, strong, staring at me with his small, beady, yellow eyes.

I had a strange feeling it was one of those, "the outside reflects the inside" moments. Was he mirroring me?

I inquired, "Shall I call you my Zen Master?"

He seemed quite pleased with that title. I continued, "so Mr Magpie."

He flashed back with, "Master Zen if you don't mind."

"I thought Zen Masters let go of all ego." I stated.

"Who told you that?" He challenged.

"Anyway," I said, "you don't look like a normal Magpie. I looked you up on the Internet. Normal Magpies are larger. They have bigger, brown eyes. They are more upright, almost Gothic looking birds with white patches across their shoulders, (like Epaulettes), chest, wings and tails, as if they have been splashed with white paint. There are also two of these types of Magpies who visit daily. So what kind of bird might you be?"

"How should I know, Mantis?" He said matter-of-factly.

"I knew it!!! You have been watching my DVDs haven't you?" I had a feeling someone had been rummaging through my collection. I wondered what mischief these birds got up to when my back was turned. On a couple of occasions I accidently left the screen door open and the other 'real' Magpie walked right in, to have a look around. One time a Lorikeet flew in thinking there must be a tree of sunflower seeds growing in the lounge room, then panicked when there were no seeds to be found.

"I like the Panda," Magpie almost cooed, "and of course, the Crane."

"Are you trying to be like the Crane, is that why you stand on one leg?" I persisted.

"I like it. It's comfortable for the most part, although now and then I need to stretch out my toes and my wings, then change legs." He replied, with a blink.

"I heard a loud kerfuffle last night and saw you chasing a bird. Did you kick your babies out of the nest?" I enquired, changing the subject without a clean segue.

The Zen Master looked very Zen and wise and noble. He said, "It was time. The young ones need to learn how to stand on one leg on their own. They must learn to fly the nest, stretch their wings and make their own way. Otherwise they will never know their own strength and capabilities. Sometimes it is through challenge and adversity, we then find out who we really are. Not the young of another Magpie, or the sibling, but a Magpie in one's own right."

This had been a lesson I had learned during my own Spiritual journey. After many years of classes and courses, learning and asking questions, there came a time when I knew I had to trust myself. It was time to listen to my own inner guidance and find my own way, my own truth, not someone else's. It wasn't easy. Especially the times when I felt I had been abandoned even by Spirit. Nobody was talking or saying anything, and nobody else seemed to understand but somehow we keep going. It can be a very lonely path but I suppose it is a very personal experience. I knew Magpie's babies would be fine. After all I had been helping to feed them too since birth. We were all One Family.

The next day Master Zen was standing on one leg looking at me from behind a pair of dark sunglasses, trying to look like a real Magpie.

I decided to ask him one of my questions so I quietly, carefully and gently inquired, "Master Zen, how do you find peace?"

He blinked behind his sunglasses, paused, looked and stood firm on one leg then didn't answer. I wonder if they only speak when I have figured things out for myself.

I decided to throw a curve ball and inquired, "Why did you steal my socks?"

He came right back with, "Who said I did?"

"I saw you! I must admit when the first one went missing I thought it might have blown off the balcony in the wind. A few days later I saw you take off with the second one. The thing is, I now have one pink and one purple sock, do you want to trade so I have a matching pair?" I asked.

"I can't do that, I lost one. It dropped out of my beak about two miles along the beach," he confessed.

I knew this to be true because I stumbled upon it during one of my walks, all dirty and wet in the sand. I thought it might be worth asking the question, "Do you happen to know anything about a Rhodochrosite crystal pendant? It went missing a while ago. Is it adorning Mrs Pie's neck?"

"I am not a common thief, I have you know. Native American Indians have me as their Totem!" He rebuked quite tersely and seemed to be offended at the implication. "Where did you lose it?"

"I think the last time I saw it was in my planter box, on my balcony garden a few years ago," I answered. I was not sure about the Native American Indian totem animal comment.

"Well if you choose to put your crystals in the garden, it's a case of finders keepers in my book. How would I know they aren't for general collection? Why did you put it in the garden?"

"I like to place as many crystals as I can, under the Full Moon light to recharge and bathe in the energy. I tend to place them on the floor of my bedroom or on the windowsill at this place, just so they don't grow legs and walk off," I replied.

"I haven't seen it," he answered, indignantly.

At least Magpie was in a better mood these days. From August to October he and Mrs Pie are very angry, feral birds. Irritable, they chased away all the neighbours and ran Kooky right out of town.

At that moment a large, glossy, black Crow flew down through the middle of the buildings shouting, "Storm Coming! Storm Coming! Stormmmmm Approaching!!!!"

Introducing Bindi

A group of six Lorikeets had burst onto the railing, one almost sliding right off again in a flash of red, yellow and green. Rainbow Lorikeets are beautiful and I love them dearly. They are funny, curious, cheeky, brave and very clever birds. My friend Short Beak, flew straight onto my head as he has done for many years now, following me from place to place. At my last abode I immediately knew it was he. Apart from his lightly coloured orange feathers and his short beak, as soon as I opened the window, he flew straight in and sat on my head. I was so delighted he had found me. Before long, word was out on Bird Net and the whole gang had turned up, as they had here too on my railings.

I love to watch these birds. They sit on my shoulder and my hand. They hop about and bounce and jump. They have red beaks, red eyes, green wings and body, blue or purple feathered heads, and red, yellow and orange chests. When they fly they are a flash of colour like a rainbow and they whistle and shout at the top of their voices. And they are they biggest sticky beaks you will ever find.

I will never forget watching the two birds over at the college, further down on the estate. They were jostling for pole position up high in the Palm Tree, nudging each other further in front to watch the filming of "The Great Gatsby." They almost fell off their perch in excitement. I must admit I too am a sticky beak because I was there watching the whole thing but mostly laughing at my two little friends and how big their eyes were watching all the action.

The film crew was directly beneath the Lorikeet palm tree. There were big lights, large industrial cranes, vintage cars, a huge fountain and lots of people all through the night. The birds hardly slept. I'm sure they are hoping to see themselves starring in the Baz Luhrmann movie. I spoke to the location manager and he said some Sulphur Crested white Cockatoos screeched and screamed and flew through a few scenes but as this was meant to be New York, they would be edited out. I haven't had the heart to break the news to the Cockatoos. They have been proudly telling the whole city about their acting prowess and newfound success on the silver screen.

Bindi was shouting, "Storm! Storm!" So I asked her to calm down or she would lose her voice, which she then did, with a strained squeak. Bindi has a pretty coloured feathered dot on her forehead, thus the name. Her friend is named Biggles, due to the black rings around his eyes. He hopped over onto my hand. Then they all shouted in unison, "ANY SEEDS?"

Lorikeets love to eat berries, nectar and pollens from Native trees like Wattle, Banksia, Bottle Brush and Grevillea and another favourite is the Palm Tree. But one of their most favourite treats of all time, better than chocolate or ice-cream is to us, is Sunflower seeds. They love them. So when they turn up I like to give them a few seeds as a little treat. The only problem is they tell all their friends and relatives so before long there are twenty-two Lorikeets squeezed along two railings. That in itself is okay, it's just the mess they make on my balcony and below and to the side that becomes an issue.

Bindi was splashing about in the water dish, so then the others wanted to do the same, just like children. They always seem to be so happy. Bindi asked, "What's your favourite animal?"

I replied, "I love all the birds, obviously, and all the animals equally." When she asked if I have a favourite I said, "I particularly like red pandas, elephants, tigers, white lions, squirrels, polar bears, Meer cats and Lemurs." By this time Bindi had lost interest and was hanging sideways from the chair. She flew onto the screen door, hanging precariously from the mesh and asked, "What's your favourite colour?"

I said, "I like all the colours of the rainbow but one of my favourites is blue." From then on they all called me Miss Jay because they said I was their lucky Blue Jay. As an aside, Bindi whispered she knows a lion and tiger. Bindi often flies over to Taronga Zoo to visit the animals. They are her friends. I mentioned quietly to her that I had also been there and to Mogo Zoo where I leaned up against the wire fence and fed a white lion (whose keeper is named Chalkie). I also fed the Giraffe, and played with Meer cats, Lemurs and Servals when I was a keeper for a day. It was a wonderful experience and at the end of the day my hair smelt like a barn, I had blisters on my hands and I almost fell out of the rowboat into the eel infested waters.

Then the Bullies arrived. These two believe both railings are theirs and therefore they claim the right to all the seeds. They puff up their feathers, lower their heads and charge up and down the railings, shouting and pushing. Other birds just fly up and over and land behind them, nibbling seeds. One day I asked, "Why do you do that? All that shouting and yelling and flapping about, knocks all the seeds off the railing. The other birds can just hop down onto the balcony floor and eat them, or else the seeds go over the side and no-one benefits."

The bigger bird could see the flaw in his plan for seed domination but he said, "You have to understand, there is a pecking order and Mrs L and I are King Pins, Top Dogs so to speak."

I wish he could understand that there was an abundance of seeds for everyone, and an infinite number of packets they could all enjoy. Alas, he seemed to have a limited mindset, stemming from limiting beliefs. Or is he showing me something about myself and humanity?

The Crow was still calling out about the storm, so I announced to all the birds they could take shelter on the balcony if they needed. By 3pm the storm had arrived, black skies, thunder, lightning and a deluge of rain. As I looked out from my lounge room, to the balcony, I could see sixteen Lorikeets standing on the backs of chairs or on the railing or on the table, preening, grooming, sleeping or just resting.
(Continues...)

---

Excerpted from Feather Bower SPIRIT by Jenny Dixon. Copyright © 2013 Jenny Dixon. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction....................     ix     

Part One - A Search for Answers Begins....................     1     

Part Two - The Red Centre of Australia....................     41     

Part Three - The Great Barrier Reef....................     73     

Part Four - A Surprise, A Celebration and Completion....................     113