Welcome to the 14th issue of The Magic Heron Newsletter, a fortnightly newsletter with a focus on journaling, writing, and learning nature’s wisdom through midlife. Thanks for being here. I appreciate you.

Texas, August 15, 2021

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Hi there!

Last evening a true wild Texas thunderstorm blew in while I was out running errands. Dust filled the streets and reduced visibility to a few yards and the winds blew small limbs and leaves around everywhere. I love the wildness of our storms here.

Back in North Carolina, rains were more frequent, but oddly, they never had the same feel as the ones we have here. Even the hurricane I experienced while there seemed to be just an extended stay of a storm we would have here in Texas. 

The last few weeks I have still been busy deep cleaning and decluttering and am just now turning my focus back to publishing. Look for a Halloween planner coming up, both on Amazon and Etsy, and some new Halloween stationery. 

Also, I wanted to say Thank You! for being a valuable part of my community and reading the newsletter. I hope you are enjoying the information and the links sprinkled throughout. At the end of this newsletter, you’ll find a link to download my gift to you–  Summer Stationery, just because you are awesome!

This week’s newsletter Spirit Animal

Grasshopper Symbolism and Meanings:

Since I’ve been home, a grasshopper has come to the window and front door when I’m working at the computer. One day, as he climbed up the ivy vine, he tried to grasp the window with his tiny feet but couldn’t get a grip, and it looked like he was waving at me through the window! I love their tiny faces and eyes, the amount of detail when you look closely is amazing.

• Lucky
• Stable
• Virtue
• Vibrant
• Content
• Intuitive
• Fertility
• Patient
• Peaceful
• Creativity
• Abundance
• Insightful
• Messenger
• Connected
• Courageous
• Resourceful
• Forward-thinking

The song of grasshopper is an inspiration to the muse of artists, musicians, and dancers with its own choreography of jumping and skittering about. It makes its own dance steps to its own melody and rhythm. 

This is a messenger to follow your own intuition and listen to your inner voice. Listen to your inner stirrings and remember they cannot be silenced, but rather should be nurtured and be the background music in your life. 

Grasshopper is a grounding totem, teaching us patience, stability, security, and solidarity. Grasshopper chooses innovators and forward-thinkers who live their lives by unorthodox methods. Grasshopper recognizes the impressive jumps in progress and consistent forward momentum in those who take great leaps and achieve amazing feats. 

Grasshopper calls to visionaries—those with natural clairvoyant abilities—seeing the “big picture” just like grasshopper does with his thousands of tiny eyes, to see intuitively beyond what the world holds around us. 

When you need a sense of adventure or feel stuck in a rut, call on grasshopper to bounce you into magical worlds filled with awe and joy and creative inspiration.

How to connect with grasshopper:

• Call upon the eyes of grasshopper to see the bigger picture when you need extra-sensory vision in parts of your life
• Visualize grasshopper hopping your way with good news
• Ask grasshopper to help you make forward motions in your life that take courage
• Sense your environment with grasshopper’s antennae—see what energy is around you 
• Listen to grasshopper’s songs from the meadows and grasses
• Connect with the grounded-ness of grasshopper when you need to anchor stability in your life
• Take your nature journal and sketch grasshopper and note your observations and intuitive thoughts that come to you while being with him

–

Recently Published . . .

Here are a few recently published items that may be of interest to you . . .

1. Printable Spirit Animals Coloring Journal Animal Totem Guide for Art Journals, Mixed Media, Junk Journals, Scrapbooking, Digital Download

2. Notebook: First I Do the Coffee Then I Do the Things Coffee Gnomes | college lined pages |120 pages

3. I am creating some Halloween-themed printables and planners that will be published soon! 

Blog Posts . . .

Here are my latest blog posts:

1. 5 Senses Journal–Build Awareness Skills of Your Surroundings

2. Journal Entry 4: Unschooling, Stalking Pumpers and Building Awareness Skills

Interesting links . . .

Here are some interesting links I came across on my ventures through Internet Land this week that I thought you might enjoy:

1. I found this article on pigeons fascinating… I did not know much of this about these birds that many find repulsive.

15 Incredible Facts About Pigeons

2. Chocolate-Toffee Squares

3. What is a Donut Peach

4. Cheap Activities for the Single Frugalite

5. How to Make Natural Dog Shampoo with Soothing Tea Base

Different Ways to Journal . . .

1. How to Start an Art Journal Step by Step

Articles on Journaling . . .

So many good articles on journaling. Here are a few you might like.

1. How to Journal: 6 Proven Methods to Help You Get Started

2. Keep a success journal to help you reach your goals.

4 Ways To Be Confident When It Comes To Actually Achieving Your Goals

3. The Value of Connecting your Journal Writing with Current Events

4. The Year Ahead: Writing the Future

Random Nature Fact . . .

A garden caterpillar has 248 muscles in its head.

Nature Journal video . . .

1. Drawing Bugs

Nature Journal Prompt . . .

This week’s nature journal prompt is the Vulture. Here are some fun facts!

Grasshopper facts:

Lifespan: 1 year. Hatch from an egg into a nymph or hopper, undergoing 5 moults

Scientific name: Caelifera

Weight: 0.01 ounces

Habitat: deserts, tropical forests, grasslands, savannahs, mountains, some are aquatic

What it eats: plants—cereals, vegetables and pasture grasses, but also are omnivorous eating animal tissue and feces.

What eats it: spiders, birds, frogs, snakes, rodents such as mice and rats. Some cultures also eat grasshoppers. Asia, Africa, Thailand, Mexico etc

Did you know? 

Grasshoppers are from the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects that date 250 million years ago from the early Triassic.

What I’m watching . . .

1. Currently on YouTube

Fantastic Fungi, Official Film Trailer | Moving Art by Louie Schwartzberg

2. I used to watch Leverage with my daughter and this year they came back with a new reboot with most of the old characters. It’s been fun to watch! And free to watch on IMDb.com

LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION Official Trailer (HD) Noah Wyle, Beth Riesgraf

What I’m reading . . .

Nothing this week. I’m hoping to get back to reading soon. . .

Quote I’m pondering . . .

“Journaling is like whispering to one’s self and listening at the same time.” 

– Mina Murray

Questions I’m considering journaling on . . .

How can I make forward motions in different areas of my life? And in my writing?

Journal Prompt . . . 

Journal your answers to the following quote:

“What in your life is calling you? When all the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned, the lists laid aside, and the wild iris blooms by itself in the dark forest, what still pulls on your soul? In the silence between your heartbeats hides a summons, do you hear it? Name it, if you must, or leave it forever nameless, but why pretend it is not there?” — The Terma Collective

A Gift for You . . .

I want to thank you for being a valued reader of mine! Click here to download the Summer Stationery Gift

*(free downloads only available to subscribers)

Happy Journaling!

. . . Shanna

P.S. Is there something you like or would rather see in the newsletter? Hit reply and let me know!

I’ll be back on August 29th.

P.P.S. If you like this newsletter and want to support it, buy a book or notebook. Or forward this newsletter to a friend with an invitation to subscribe, right here.

Links

Shanna Lea Author website
Books on Amazon
Magic Heron Creations Notebooks on Amazon
Magic Heron Creations Etsy Shop

. . . Shanna Lea Author

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