Suddenly Spiritual Moments

[Maps]

Oregon is good for those kind of Nature-based spiritual experiences. I grew up there, but didn't fully appreciate what it was like until I had moved away. In the times I have visited since, I have made a point to revel in it. One significant experience occurred at the Japanese Garden in Portland. A day or so previous I had been sitting in front of the fireplace at my brother's house, watching the way the flames moved. Watching a small waterfall at the Japanese Garden I was marveling at the similarities in the ways fire and water can move. At times is seemed almost identical, except that fire flows upward, and water flows downward.

Ooh, I'm writing that last bit down somewhere.

But yes, totally agreed that the northwest is one of the most amazing places I've ever been, and Oregon is definitely a pretty magical place. Southern OR reminds me a lot of California, so it feels a lot like home... albeit a much quieter, rural, home. I'm going to be moving to Vancouver BC in a year or two, and I love it up there as well... going to be different because it's so wet, but the region definitely has a powerful pull on me.

Currently I live up in the mountains of Southeastern California. It's desert all around. I was driving towards Riverside a few days ago, when I started to notice that the landscape on the west side of the mountains were covered in greenery in a way I haven't seen before. I couldn't give it my full attention because, well, I was DRIVING, and didn't want to crash. But it was a powerful tingling in the air, nonetheless.

I've totally had that too! I grew up in the Crescenta Valley, so there were mountains on either side of us that were normally dry, dusty, and brownish. After the rains they'd green up a little bit, but this one time the western mountains, the ones separating us from Glendale/Burbank, go so incredibly green, and the air was so clear that I swear I could see every tree on the slopes from however many miles away I was. I could have stood and stared at it all day.

[Vella Malachite]

So what other moments have your Gods revealed themselves in ways you didn't expect?

Not so much a nature experience as such, but at my high school we used to do meditation exercises sometimes in PE classes, and they were the usual sort of things; be calm, walk through a door and down some stairs, imagine a forest, sort of stuff. This particlar day, we were to be sitting on a beach and relaxing. What they said was that the sun was out and shining, the beach was warm, and the weather was calm. There was a cool breeze, and we were supposed to be just lying on the soft sand.
Something in my mind said no. Suddenly, it was nighttime, I and I wasn't on the beach, I was out standing on the waves. The sky was dark, and the sea was green grey and stormy; there was lightning and thunder. It was incredibly invigorating, I had so much energy when the meditation time finished. A few months later, I realised that I was supposed to look into Manannan, and I think that was probably my first clue.

[The Grumble]

So what other moments have your Gods revealed themselves in ways you didn't expect?

A bit of an older thread, but I know this feeling quite well, and so I wanted to post.

My religious experiences are typically nature-based. As I observe the world around me, I like to take note of all the little details and think on them. Once during a major change in my life, I came across a frog sunning itself by a stream, and used it to meditate on how frogs change so drastically during their lives (going from tadpole to adult). When living in southern Utah, coming across a hidden canyon with beautiful sandstone hoodoos was like stepping into a sacred space. Catching glimpses of deer walking right beside the trail I'm hiking on is like being graced by some other worldly presence. Even hearing the neighborhood red tail hawk pair while out walking the dogs is inspiring.

I have a few memories that stick out as being the strongest, most moving experiences, though (I'll only post two to save you all from me babbling ).

The first was when I was living in Kansas, while hiking at night through the local park - I heard a coyote calling. I mimicked the sound, and we called back and forth. Before I knew it, his whole family was calling and I was singing with them (and a few times I heard rustling leaves like animals moving through them around me). I know they were probably wondering who and what I was, but it was exhilarating for me to interact with them like that. Once they found out I was human, they went silent and moved off, leaving me giddy and giggling. I've called at coyotes many times since then, but it was never as an intense experience as then.

Then when we moved to Alabama, my hubby and I were hiking out in the woods, and got lost - ended up missing a trail and 8 miles away from our car on a very tough trail (very rocky terrain). It was getting on dusk, and we were exhausted. Sitting down to have some water and rest, we quietly listened to the forest around us.

And that's when a pair of barred owls started calling. They were so loud and so close, it was startling. I didn't know Alabama had barred owls, and I had only ever heard them distantly before - I was so surprised and excited. Their voices are amazing, I get chills whenever I hear it (if you don't know what they sound like, there's a video on Youtube here). They called for a while, and then went silent when we got up to move on.

That little adventure was like our initiation into our new home. We were exhausted, filthy, and very sore by the time we got back to our car... but the barred owls were totally worth it.

[herenow]

Not so much a nature experience as such, but at my high school we used to do meditation exercises sometimes in PE classes, and they were the usual sort of things; be calm, walk through a door and down some stairs, imagine a forest, sort of stuff. This particlar day, we were to be sitting on a beach and relaxing. What they said was that the sun was out and shining, the beach was warm, and the weather was calm. There was a cool breeze, and we were supposed to be just lying on the soft sand.
Something in my mind said no. Suddenly, it was nighttime, I and I wasn't on the beach, I was out standing on the waves. The sky was dark, and the sea was green grey and stormy; there was lightning and thunder. It was incredibly invigorating, I had so much energy when the meditation time finished. A few months later, I realised that I was supposed to look into Manannan, and I think that was probably my first clue.

Parts of this thread sound similar to an experience I often have.
It is an intense feeling of consciousness, I guess. In fact it is like really waking up, even though I'm already awake.
I can be anywhere, and if I'm relaxed and not having to interact with anyone and not distracted, I can
get this intense awareness, and I find myself thinking "I'm here, right now". And every time I do that,
time slows down more and more. I get an intense awareness or realization and it kind of accelerates.
It is like I had been in a dream but I am now awake. It only lasts a few seconds at a time, but it is an awesome, exciting feeling.

[Sharysa]

So what other moments have your Gods revealed themselves in ways you didn't expect?

Barely half a block away from home, I heard a crow cawing and saw it perched on a telephone pole. I said hello to it, since I count crows and I like being polite just in case it's the Morrigan('s messenger).

But it kept cawing its head off and flew over from where it was to the telephone post that I just passed by, and so I asked, "Are you trying to tell me something?" with no small amount of discomfort, given all the "one for sorrow" superstitions in the counting-crow poems.

And then a hummingbird flitted over after I asked. It chirped a few times and fluttered around the crow, then flew to the plum tree in front of my apartment before leaving.

The crow left as well, and I was extremely relieved.

[Annie Roonie]

So what other moments have your Gods revealed themselves in ways you didn't expect?

Last Thursday I could not find parking near a spot on a trail I walk and ride regularly, so I had to drive to a connection a few miles away. I thought perhaps it was meant to be even then and maybe it was a sign. That trail is where I do a great deal of spiritual work and I needed to do some questioning. So I walked a new stretch of path for the first time since last season. It felt a little strange. I'd been wondering if my draw to paganism and other things was worth continuing. I'd asked for a sign, but I am dense as brick sometimes. I'd had no signs that I could tell.

The portion of the path I was on had a rusted old train tressel going over it at one point and I decided that when I got there, I would stand under it and be very specific about my query and my thick headedness. I spoke that I would need a sign that I could not deny and that would be big and obvious enough for me to understand as a sign. I asked: Should I stick with this or should I move on again? I walked home and thought no more of it.

On Sunday I took the bike out for the first time and rode the ten miles to the same spot. It's a good place to turn around and catch my breath. I looked at the tressel and the cement holding wall on one side again and pondered what I had asked previously. Then I turned to see the other side and spray painted in letters about 3-4 feet tall was the word "Stik." Black outlined in silver or white. I tried to take a picture with my phone, but there was a glitch with the music player. I was a little stunned anyway, so I just stood there and smiled.

When I got on my bike and put my ear buds back in, the music player came on and the Yo-Yo Ma music I use during ritual played in the random shuffle. It was beautiful. I didn't want to turn around and get the photo just then. I wanted to keep feeling and listening.

I'm going to get that photo though because I have one from the Thursday when the graffiti was not there to compare. I want to remember it a long time. It was my kind of nature; the kind that includes the whims of inhabitants on their own journeys through this world intertwining with my own existence.

I rode again tonight and did not listen to music. I didn't make it to that spot again, but will. Still, tonight as I rode the frogs were croaking loudly in front and behind me. The frogs pause when they see you pass and their silence feels like acknowledgment of a sort. (It's funny, if you stop long enough they will forget you are there and will create a roaring burping symphony all around you. And if you say something, they will stop and listen. Utter silence. It's hilarious and I have always found that spiritual.) It set my senses humming.

I'm still processing it. Trying to find ways to explain the coincidences, but honestly, not caring much if I can. That was an actual sign as a sign. I'm thick but that one fit every specification. Feels like I just found a secret treasure.

[herenow]

Last Thursday I could not find parking near a spot on a trail I walk and ride regularly, so I had to drive to a connection a few miles away. I thought perhaps it was meant to be even then and maybe it was a sign. That trail is where I do a great deal of spiritual work and I needed to do some questioning. So I walked a new stretch of path for the first time since last season. It felt a little strange. I'd been wondering if my draw to paganism and other things was worth continuing. I'd asked for a sign, but I am dense as brick sometimes. I'd had no signs that I could tell.

The portion of the path I was on had a rusted old train tressel going over it at one point and I decided that when I got there, I would stand under it and be very specific about my query and my thick headedness. I spoke that I would need a sign that I could not deny and that would be big and obvious enough for me to understand as a sign. I asked: Should I stick with this or should I move on again? I walked home and thought no more of it.

On Sunday I took the bike out for the first time and rode the ten miles to the same spot. It's a good place to turn around and catch my breath. I looked at the tressel and the cement holding wall on one side again and pondered what I had asked previously. Then I turned to see the other side and spray painted in letters about 3-4 feet tall was the word "Stik." Black outlined in silver or white. I tried to take a picture with my phone, but there was a glitch with the music player. I was a little stunned anyway, so I just stood there and smiled.

When I got on my bike and put my ear buds back in, the music player came on and the Yo-Yo Ma music I use during ritual played in the random shuffle. It was beautiful. I didn't want to turn around and get the photo just then. I wanted to keep feeling and listening.

I'm going to get that photo though because I have one from the Thursday when the graffiti was not there to compare. I want to remember it a long time. It was my kind of nature; the kind that includes the whims of inhabitants on their own journeys through this world intertwining with my own existence.

I rode again tonight and did not listen to music. I didn't make it to that spot again, but will. Still, tonight as I rode the frogs were croaking loudly in front and behind me. The frogs pause when they see you pass and their silence feels like acknowledgment of a sort. (It's funny, if you stop long enough they will forget you are there and will create a roaring burping symphony all around you. And if you say something, they will stop and listen. Utter silence. It's hilarious and I have always found that spiritual.) It set my senses humming.

I'm still processing it. Trying to find ways to explain the coincidences, but honestly, not caring much if I can. That was an actual sign as a sign. I'm thick but that one fit every specification. Feels like I just found a secret treasure.

Great story and great attitude (“Trying to find ways to explain the coincidences, but honestly, not caring much if I can.”)
I, too, am pretty thick and have asked for clearer signs. The signs I was given were in the form of dead animals on the trails where I hike. I wasn’t comfortable with that and I asked to see different signs which did not involved the taking of the life of an animal. That was about a year ago and since then all of my ‘confirmations’ now come in the form of things like unique rocks and artifacts. And thankfully, no animals have had to give their lives to show me signs.

[Annie Roonie]

The signs I was given were in the form of dead animals on the trails where I hike. I wasn’t comfortable with that and I asked to see different signs which did not involved the taking of the life of an animal. That was about a year ago and since then all of my ‘confirmations’ now come in the form of things like unique rocks and artifacts. And thankfully, no animals have had to give their lives to show me signs.

I can see where that would be uncomfortable and it is fortunate that it has stopped!

I see dead animals on the trail frequently, and since the trail I ride is paved, I feel compeled to grab some sticks or leaves and move them to the grassy sides. Not a task I relish but it is a time I stop and contemplate on a spiritual level. But as a sign, I'd be apt to make the same request you did!

[herenow]

I can see where that would be uncomfortable and it is fortunate that it has stopped!

I see dead animals on the trail frequently, and since the trail I ride is paved, I feel compeled to grab some sticks or leaves and move them to the grassy sides. Not a task I relish but it is a time I stop and contemplate on a spiritual level. But as a sign, I'd be apt to make the same request you did!

Moving them off the trail, unpleasant as it would be, is showing great respect for the dead critter. And that stuff pays back threefold!

[earth_dragon]

As I look back in my time here, I realize how many spiritual moments I have had on this Earth. A very large horned owl that swooped in front of my car just across the windshield 24 years ago, the extremely large buck with a head of antlers so large I could not count them that stood in front of my car for 5minutes looking at me, the two wolves walking In tandem that stood approximately 30 feet from me at the boundary of our property looking at me in the half moon lit area. They just stood and looked, never did I fear any of them, wasn't 100 percent on the path at those times, but I believe came to show me the way. I marvel at the sunrise and sunsets now, at crows, and how they always seem to travel in three's, at the moon and all her cycles. I believe spiritual moments happen daily, between people and animals and life. I notice things more as I age I think. So the message is, doesn't matter what your path, there are so many moments. Just watch. Luna

This is very beautiful, Luna. Exactly the way I look at things. I don't know so much about deities, to be honest, but I connect so very deeply with nature. And I've had countless spiritual experiences in nature; each one a treasure!