Issue #60 The Magic Heron Newsletter – What creature symbolizes moving forward in life?

Welcome to the 60th issue of The Magic Heron Newsletter, a fortnightly newsletter with a focus on journaling, writing, and learning nature’s wisdom through midlife. 

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Texas, June 4, 2023

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Hi there

Greebo now sits in the window to watch the birds. She is fascinated with them. She was quite relaxed sitting in the window until yesterday when we had the yards mowed. She couldn’t understand all the noise of the mower and weedeater and “people!” in our yard. Who are they? She gave them death stares the whole time!

We have now had at least 10.5 inches of rain in the last 2 months. That is half of our yearly total in just 2 months. All of the playa lakes are flooded, homes that were (stupidly) built on these playa lakes are flooded. And the mosquitos are just getting started. I won’t complain about the rain though. This has ended a drought we have had going for nearly 20 years. And, it will recharge the Ogallala aquifer beneath us.

Have you ever had a silly fear from childhood that you never worked through? Last week on Facebook, there was a post on a movie group that showed up in my newsfeed. Gargoyles! Oh, it brought back the memory of being terrified of this movie when I saw it. I was only about 8 or 9 years old. This was the early 70s when the movie came out. I realized it was this movie that has always made it where I could not let one of my feet or hands hang over the side of the bed while sleeping at night. Even to this day! I decided to watch it again, so that my inner child could now see that it was nothing to be scared of. And I did. And I laughed through the whole thing. My daughter watched it with me and gave me these looks, like, you were scared of this?

ME: You don’t understand. You weren’t there. I was just a little kid. And, it was 70s filmmaking.

Have you ever had a silly fear from childhood? If so, take some time to investigate it. Journal it, go back to the source of it, or talk it out with someone. And then let it go! It’s not for every fear, of course. But some fears that we have held onto because of our child mind can now be conquered with our adult mind.

This week, I’m reading Meg, which the movie The Meg was loosely based on. And my son has been finding dozens of shark teeth this week on the beach. I sense a theme developing, so this week’s newsletter Spirit Animal is Shark.

This week’s Newsletter Spirit Animal

Shark Symbolism and Meanings:

Shark is the master of survival. They are adept at sizing up their environment, teaching us how to do the same. We can learn how to size up our own environment—social gatherings, people, and events, by trusting our intuition.

Shark Symbolism and Meanings:

• Primal
• Ancient
• Instinctive
• Focus
• Efficient
• Powerful
• Calculating
• Motion

Shark is constantly moving. They don’t have a “swim bladder” like most fish. They have to keep moving oxygenated water over their gills and keep moving or they will sink if they stop moving. This teaches us to keep moving forward in life. Meet life head-on. Move through the current of life with focus.

Recently Published . . .

New in the Etsy Shop

1. Letter writing – Sea Turtle Watercolor printable stationery – digital download

2. Letter writing – Sunflower Burst printable stationery – digital download

New Books!

My daughter and I created a whole line of Writer’s Notebooks. Use them for NaNoWriMo, notetaking, for work, or journaling! You can find the notebooks on the Magic Heron Amazon Author Page

1. Homemade Spice Mix Recipes: 62 Tasty Spice Blends and Seasonings for Vegetables, Meat Dishes and Fish

2. Salmon Patties, Cakes and Burgers: 25 Best Fish Patty Recipes

Zazzle Shop . . .

New Products!

I’ll be adding more products soon—more spiral bound notebooks, journals, stationery, office accessories, and cooking related products. Stay tuned!

Magic Heron Creations Zazzle Shop

Spiral Bound Notebooks! You can customize the name, and choose the interior: lines, graphs, bullet journal, or sketch pages!

1. Octopus Custom Name Notebook

2. Blue Whale Custom Name Notebook

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. Swallowtail Butterflies: Everything You Need to Know

2. Why birds and their songs are good for our mental health

3. Good News for Wildlife: Rare South American Bush Dogs Spotted in Costa Rica

4. HOW TO MAKE A SUMMER GARDEN BATH TEA

5. DIY Dry Shampoo Recipes with Arrowroot Powder

***I use Mountain Rose Herbs for ordering all the herbs I use. Every order I’ve received has always been fresh and gorgeous. Click here to order the herbs you need for your teas, infusions, spices, and other ingredients for your kitchen:

Mountain Rose Herbs

MasterClass Writers Series . . .

I’m watching several of the writers classes on MasterClass.com since my daughter and I just got a subscription. We are enjoying them all. MasterClass has many other categories too! Like Food, Music, Home & Lifestyle, Science & Tech and much more. Well worth the annual subscription for how much knowledge you can learn on there.

Amy Tan

Even though I have never read any of Amy Tan’s books, I absolutely adored her Masterclass this week. She shows how she utilizes journaling and nature journaling for writing stories. (She’s also in The Nature Journal Club group on Facebook!)

I’ve watched all of her classes at least twice and it has given me new ideas for my own journaling.

Check out her class and video here:

Amy Tan’s MasterClass

(this is an affiliate link)

Spring Recipe . . .

Celebrate spring with seasonal recipes!

Best Homemade Lemonade Ever

Spring Fun  . . .

Spring Nature Bucket List! Make beeswax wraps!

Homemade Beeswax Wraps For Food Storage

Fun Idea From: Spring Nature Bucket List

Journaling Inspiration . . .

1. Why Write? Clarity

2. 5 SECONDS CAN GET YOU WRITING EVEN WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE IT

3. Stalking the Great Horned Owl

4. Writing with a Beginner’s Mind

5. Always Date Stories

Random Nature Fact . . .

An octopus has 3 hearts—one heart pumps blood around the body. The other 2 pump blood to its gills! And—the blood is blue due to high copper levels.

How many hearts does an octopus have?

Nature Journal Video . . .

1. In today’s episode I explain all about what is coming up for International Nature Journaling Week (1-7th June) 2023.

Episode 125: Countdown to INJW 2023 | Journaling With Nature

Go here to check out the schedule:

International Nature Journaling Week

Nature Journal Prompt . . .

Use the picture above to practice drawing in your nature journal and noticing details about this animal.

Shark facts:

Lifespan: most live 20-30 years. Greenland sharks can live at least 272 years

Scientific name: Selachimorpha

Length: 7 inches (Spined Pygmy shark) to 50 feet (Whale shark), Megadalon was roughly 60 feet long

Speed: 12 mph

Habitat: tropical coral reefs, deep sea, under Arctic sea ice

What it eats: smaller fish, invertebrates, seals, sea lions, other marine mammals

What eats (or preys on) it: Orcas, cape clawless otters, Nile crocodiles, seals, sea lions, large fish, other sharks, Chacma baboons, Sperm whales, marine snails, sea urchins

Did you know?

Depending on species, sharks either lay eggs (oviparous), or bear live young (viviparous)!

Shark Facts

What I’m watching . . .

1. We loved watching the first season. The 2^nd season was awesome as well!

Prehistoric Planet — Season 2 Official Trailer | Apple TV+

What I’m reading . . .

1. My daughter and I love watching The Meg and just found out that there will be another movie this year called The Trench. Then we found it they were based off a book series! So, I’m reading Meg right now and will read the next one before the 2^nd movie comes out. So far, I am enjoying the book. The movie was loosely based on the novel.

MEG: A Novel of Deep Terror (MEG, 1) by Steve Alten

What I’m Listening to . . . 

1. Live nature cams are fun to have on in the background while working!

Wild Shark Cam | More to Explore

Quotes I’m pondering . . .

“Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.”

—Laura Ingalls Wilder

and

“Where flowers bloom so does hope.”

—Lady Bird Johnson

Questions I’m considering journaling on . . .

My daughter and I have been enjoying this card deck of writing prompts. We each do one prompt for about 20 minutes each evening. It’s surprising where some of my writing dives into, sometimes completely different than where I started. That’s the power of journaling with your subconscious!

Here’s one of the prompts I enjoyed writing with:

“the most incredible thing you’ve seen in the sky”

Prompt from: Campfire Stories Deck: Prompts for Igniting Conversation by the Fire by Ilyssa Ky

Journal Prompt . . .

If you could take the next 3 months off and travel, where would you go? What would you do? Journal all about it!

Reviews . . .

If you have bought any of our books or printables and enjoyed them, please leave a positive review on Amazon, Etsy, or Zazzle. Those reviews mean the world to us and help boost us up on the platforms. Thank You!!

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 June 18th!

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