Joseph Rastovich

I am as enthralled and enchanted with the American Water Dipper as John Muir once was. Indeed it was his favorite bird.

This demure brown bird about the size of a robin lives in cold mountain streams and near waterfalls. It is so incredibly at home in the water – more so than even ducks which often come back to land. Their very complex and always unique song is akin to a parrot in its language. But unlike other birds, it seems the Water Dipper sings to the river itself or simply because it cannot contain its ecstastic love for the flowing water. You can’t even hear its song that well because it is so interwoven with the gurgles and crash of rapids and waterfalls. It can usually be heard from above the stream bank a little easier.

John Muir was enraptured with the bird because it seems to retain its joyous happiness even in the darkest and coldest winters when all other animals are hunkered down wishing for spring. The Water Dipper reminds us that we can be at home anywhere – even the harshest environments. To be happy and live in joy no matter how damp, grey and “dreary” that others bemoan. To be one with your environment. To be in love with the elements.

It’s understandable when animals love each other within the same species. It’s precious when animals love other species, such as when a dog mothers a fawn. But it is downright profound to behold animals in love with elements within Nature. I’ve seen this by the way a dying bee clings to a clover flower such that I was overcome by the realization of how much love the bee had towards the flower. How much comfort and joy flowers brings to this insect. I’ve seen cows and horses leap with glee upon being put out to pasture. In love with open spaces and green grasses. I’ve seen my crow, Keiko, appreciate the colors of the setting sun. I’ve seen birds of all kind do the “rain dance” when misted by rain. A dance of wild ecstasy. But the greatest love, comfort and joy I’ve seen in an animal is the Water Ouzel with water.

So at home in the water, I wondered if perhaps it originated from water itself. Perhaps the droplets of water congealed with divinity to give rise to the Water Dipper. But when I considered this more I realized perhaps the Water Ouzel manifested from the river stones instead.

Indeed when searching for the Water Ouzel, it is hard to differentiate between the rocks. It is the same color, same size, same shape as the stones they hop upon.

Besides the beautiful voice, another notable feature of the Water Ouzel is how it bobs its body up and down. Bouncing in a motion like a child excited to begin. I’m reminded of the shaking motion we do in Qi Gong to move energy and break up stagnation.

Perhaps – I wonder – the water dipper manifested from the river rocks. Animated by the love they have for its flowing companion of water. Perhaps it can only remain in bird form for as long as it sings its song and dips its body up and down. For if they forget to sing and dance they’re sure to transform back into the rocks they came from.

Maybe we can take note from the water ouzel. Maybe we loose our vitality when we forget to sing and dance. Maybe we loose our magic when we fail to see the joy of our life and environment.

Give love to the elements. Dance in the rain. Let the sunsets move you to tears. Let wind whisper sweetness to your ears. Let the smell of forest and desert remind you of something which will never be explained. Be held by nature as you behold its timeless splendor.

Today is 2022-02-22. An alignment of this many numbers is uncommon.

I began today with my usual leaning into work where I did some plasma cutting and shop clean up. But the most auspicious time of 2:22 2/2/2022 was fast approaching.

In 2019, my Prius was about to turn 222,222 miles. Curious where I would end up, I kept driving till it turned over. I found myself at a place called “Friday Creek”. From here I found and crawled into a large hollowed tree and read the words “Not All Who Wander Are Lost” written on the inside. A potent message that was important to me during that time. I live for these magical happenings.

Certainly this looming time today had potential for similar discovery of magic.

I decided to head North in order to get away from the more busy Columbia Gorge. I could “smell” the scent of magic in that direction. I knew it would be in a place I had never been before.

Onward I went. Past Troutlake. Then right onto road 88. I went as far as I could till the road was no longer plowed. This happened to be a snow park. I ventured over the giant burm of plowed ice and scurried into the unmarked wintry forest. At this point I only had several minutes to find my magic place. So I walked through the forest while keeping track of time. At 2:22 I was in front of a tree which a sign stapled to it stating:

“Boundary. Cutting Unit. Lipo. Unit #19.”

I walked past this tree at 2:22 and during that same minute found a wellspring coming from a old stump nearby

I marveled at how I found an unmarked spring on my auspicious hunt. I went quite a bit further and sat on a stump in the sun and video recorded the meaning of what I had found.

Here is a summary of the meaning that I found.

I often ask the universe/source/spirit/god to give me magical signs that guide my life to be clear. So often magic can be so exceedingly obscure that it is difficult to get a clear answer. So I have requested universe to give me signs written in plain English. These signs have manifested in the example of finding the painting and note on the barbed wire fence which matched the poem that came to mind while playing piano a few days prior. Has manifested with a medicine woman telling me to be a hollow bone, then being magically led to a hollow tree the next day. Has manifested with finding a quote from a Rumi tarot type card in the weeds randomly. Has manifested with the quote I found inside the hollow tree when my prius turned 222,222.

And so here is a sign that says “Boundary” and “Cutting”. What do these words mean to me?

Well let’s add more context, recently I had a very meaningful and potent dream. I will rewrite the dream here:I was in some position of law enforcement and was going to a neighborhood to check out a werewolf prop that someone had put up. This werewolf head somehow landed on my windshield where I could really see the details. It was like one of those gruesome wolf masks you see at Halloween shops and was incredibly realistic. Very scary but nonetheless fake. I thought the neighbors were overreacting with what appeared to be a prank from some kid. But in hearing more of the story from the neighbors, I found out this has been going on for some time and the werewolf prop had been moved around strategically in a way to intimidate people.

The scene changed and I witnessed a group of vampires who would move this werewolf prop. When they realized they were being watched, they wrapped themselves in their black cloaks and disappeared back into the forest. It is unknown whether they were real vampires or if they were people pretending to be vampires.

The scene changed to my Grandma’s land. Here I did energy work to protect the land from these nefarious beings. I said words like “release, clarify, protection, harmony” while physically using my hands to move unwanted energy away from the land. I had a handful of long pine needles which I had “charged” to be protective talismans – for lack of a better word. I went to each corner of the land to plant one of these magic pine needles to create an energetic protective fence around the land.

While I was working on energy clearing and protection, I was also aware that I had a clone of myself sitting in the passenger seat of my car out front of the house. This clone of myself was deeply sleeping – or perhaps it was out of consciousness – or perhaps it was dying. I was concerned about my clone self and cared for it as if it was my child, however I couldn’t attend to it. I couldn’t help him. Because I was doing energy clearing for others. I also wasn’t able to plant the last corner with the last pine needle before I woke up.
I remember the feeling of moving energy. I remember the concern and fear I had for the well-being of my clone self.

This dream can be summarized as there are “vampires” in my life that take my attention away from my primary path to the detriment of my well-being. This aligns with my feeling that my attention has become so diluted away from the things I was put here to do.

So what is the answer? The answer is to have better boundaries and to cut the things which are energy (blood) suckers. Let’s explore further…

The Rumi card I found in weeds a few months ago has two meanings. It said “If you become a lion, love will become a lion hunter.” This means if I become prideful then love will predate me. Whereas if I embody the positive qualities of a lion such as being courageous, then love will pleasantly seek and befriend me. The phrase can be read in two opposing ways.

I need to have better boundaries with what I say yes to. Better boundaries with what I invest my time into. I need to have more boundaries.

Conversely I also need to evaluate the walls that I hold around myself and my heart. I need to cut the blockages that hold me back.

With the word “Cutting”. This also has two meanings. It means I need to cut the things in my life which do not serve towards the greatest harmony. This goes hand-in-hand with boundaries.

Conversely how I am cutting myself off from source authenticity. Just as I need to find and dissolve the boundaries/blockages to flow, I must also find and dissolve that which severs this flow. “Blockages” (boundaries) are static things, whereas “severing” (cutting) are actions that cut the flow.

There are always two sides to every coin you find.

Let’s take this further and look into numerology. The sign also said “Unit 19”.

The number 19 is both 1 and 9. This number contains beginning cycle and ending cycle numbers. When you add these two numbers it equals 10, which reduces (1+0) to 1. Number 1 is the beginning of a cycle. The beginning of a new era. A new way of being. A new way of being was born from the union of beginnings and ends.

How relevant it is then that I crossed an invisible boundary between this and that as marked by number 19 during 2:22 2/22/2022. I am grateful my signs often come as literal signs.

In this amplified time of “two” there are two things which come to mind. That of relationship and that of polarity. It is a time to reflect on relationships with others and to observe how female and male create fertile polarity/dichotomy just as winter begets summer. Night informs the day. Death defines birth. And visa versa.

It is incredible to find an unmarked secret spring in the middle of the forest by chance. And it is especially potent for it to be revealed at such a powerful alignment of two’s. What does the spring mean?

A spring represents yet another dichotomy. It is the point where water (symbolic of consciousness) goes from its etheric, dark, dream realm into the manifested, above-ground realm of sunlight. It is the source of a cycle because it is where it both ends and starts (19 = 1+9 = 10 = 1+0 = 1). It reminds me of the importance to have a foot in both realms simultaneously. The dream world and the get-er-done world. As a creative, it is important for me to pull from the realm of ideas and make them into reality. Poems, sculpture, music, dance, events, structures and methods. I imagine mountain springs are where the creative muses live. I am quite fond of collaborating with the fleeting creative muses that come to me.

And so the wisdom I received on 2:22 2/2/2022…

Evaluate my life for blockages while enacting healthy boundaries.

Evaluate my life for how I cut myself from source, while also severing the things which do not help greatest harmony.

A reminder to manifest my dreams in flow state just as the mountain springs do.

That everything has two non-exclusive interpretations.

A confirmation that magic can be found if you are willing to look for it.