Join the September 29th Austin Constellations Circle!
Since discovering a cement stone spiral under brush in the yard, I’ve faithfully filled the center during morning waterings for the lizards, wasps, butterflies and beetles...the smaller non-human beings that get into trouble dipping into the bird bath. The spiral is a holy configuration found throughout the universe: in flowers, the DNA double helix, weather patterns like hurricanes, animal horns, ancient architecture, whirlpools and galaxies.
I laid the spiral next to a beloved and huggable pecan tree, filled the little pool, and dropped a colored stone in the spiral center. To complete the insect and small mammal oasis, I added a bright infused glass ornament my sister made to complete the oasis. Overnight, the center stone disappeared, carried away by maybe a squirrel or possum. I stubbornly continued to place colored stones in the spiral’s little pool, and they continued to go missing. I gave up on the stone concept, filling the spiral center with a few inches of fresh water throughout the blazing summer, observing butterflies, pill bugs and geckos carefully drink, and an industrious squirrel cleaned off pecans, leaving shells that turned the center nut brown.
Yesterday, after receiving difficult news about a theater project that will go unfunded, a bitter disappointment enveloped me. For months I purposely included the funding in prayers to Our Lady, mentioned as my heart’s desire in several rosary circles, and frankly, was certain my prayer would be answered. But, nope. The September 16, 2024 message from the Holy Mother encourages us
To pray in your small way about the needs and concerns of today is to tug on a string that connects you to eternity because it connects you to everything that is. I have given you all that you need for a life, but mostly I have given you one another. You are the answers to one another’s prayers.
How to conceive and absorb the failure of a prayer? Or is it a delay for a future gift? Or a request that will never be answered...this lifetime or ever.
Yet trust and prayer is all that remains.
This morning I went to fill the spiral...and two the stones that went missing for weeks had returned to the spiral. By whose hands or mouth I do not know. Mysteries, simple and complex, abound.
Happy Fall Equinox.
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