The Lessons of the Dove

Two beautiful doves have set up a nest in an overhang of my back patio. Each morning, Momma Dove is nestled on the nest, while Papa Dove waits patiently on the patio fence or the nearby tree. They call out to each other, in reassurance that one and the other is close and okay. I love listening to them, for their sounds are of peacefulness, calmness, and simple surrender.

When my dear friend Barb named me "Soaring Dove," I was touched though I didn't understand at the time the "why" of the spiritual name. Nonetheless, I embraced it for it was an honor to receive it from someone who I admire and love dearly in my life. The name was the spark for my spiritual business, Soaring Dove Connection, which I've used for the last three years. Only recently have I fully understood the significance of Dove in my life.

Doves always have been around me. As a child, doves were everywhere at our home place, and loved hearing their calls in the quiet stillness of the country dusk and dawn. For my high school graduation, I received a beautiful musical box of two doves, an item I've treasured and cherished with great care for twenty plus years. In my study of the Native American’s animal medicine, it never struck me until recently that the dove is a life lesson animal. The Dove's medicine is feminine energies of peace, maternity and prophecy. As a ground feeder, it reflects my need to keep in contact with Mother Earth, to stay grounded in times of upheaval and change. More interestingly, its sorrowful tones teach me to mourn what has passed and awaken to the promise of my future. Given the nature of the many spiritual deaths and rebirths I've experienced in my lifetime, Dove guides me in these "Between Times" to take heart and see what I can and am able to create in the process of rebirth.

I've mourned a great deal the last year and the Dove calls to me to invoke new waters of life through the rain of my tears. Despite all the changes and transitions life bring, Dove helps us to remember that no matter the conditions of life, new life is always possible. Dove helps me to use these transitional times, the "in between" times to see the creative process active within my own life.

What a blessing to be graced with the honor to witness this teaching firsthand through the nesting process of these two beautiful doves on my back patio area. Their presence really brings this teaching home for me. Whenever I am wondering what lies ahead, and the point of my present experience, Dove calls out to remind me that I am Life, and Life is rebirthing, creating through me, as me, for me. And so as Momma and Papa Dove patiently wait for their new life creations, so do I.