I find it fascinating that gold finches can help people see and experience nature spirits. Do any of you have gold finches where you live?
[quote]*Ted Andrews/Animal-Speak
Keynote: Awakening to the Nature Spirits
Cycle of Power: Summer Solstice and Summer Season
The gold finch is named for its summer costume of shiny yellow feathers on its body. It also has black wings and a black cap on its head. This color combination is very significant.
Black and yellow are the colors of the archangel Auriel. These colors in meditation and ritual are used to invoke that aspect of this being that oversees the activity of nature spirits--the fairies, elves, and devas. The high point of activity of nature is during the summer, its highest point being at the solstice itself.
The presence of goldfinches usually indicates an awakening to the activities of those beings that are normally relegated to the realm of fiction. Goldfinch can help you deepen your perceptions so that you can begin to see and experience the activities of the nature spirits yourself. This deepening of perceptions is reflected in the black cap--awakening to that which is normally hidden from view.
Goldfinches are usually permanent residents, and in those areas where they are found, you can also find the fairies and the elves. Goldfinches like border areas and young brush growth found at edges and borders. Edges and borders are intersections where there are natural doorways to that other realm of life.
Even their nesting habits reflects this link to the border areas, the 'Tween Places.' They build their nests in a fork or on an outer branch high in a tree. It is usually made of thistledown. Thistle has a long association with nature spirits and the healing aspects of animals. Blessed thistle was once used to invoke the god Pan. Thistle has been a symbol of endurance. It is through endurance and persistence that we can open to the Realm of Faerie once more. Goldfinches are birds that can help us connect with those nature spirits that can show us how to heal animals--wild and domestic.
Goldfinches are rarely silent. This in itself is a reminder that Nature is speaking to us constantly and that we should learn to listen and communicate with it from all levels. It reflects that the nature spirits are around us at all times.
In winter, the male loses its black cap, and the bright yellow turns to an olive yellow. This also reflects the connection of goldfinch to the world of the nature spirits. In the winter, they withdraw, working more within the earth, rather than in the outward expressions which are more evident in the spring and summer. It does not mean they are not there, but rather that they may not be as easily perceived.
The goldfinch also has an undulating (an up and down movement) flight pattern. This rhythm and pattern can be used in visualization to help loosen the subtle energies of the arua and facilitate leaving the body. The wave pattern also reflects the ability of a goldfinch to lead us to the inner and to the outer realms, from the human to the Faerie, from the physical to the spiritual.
*From the Animal Spirits website:
Goldfinch's Wisdom Includes:
Understanding the value of change, Ability to resolve family conflicts in a healthy manner, Creating balance in dealing with different peoples, Understanding the power of voice.
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