Whispering Spirits
EXHIBITION:
Drew Michael: Shadows“The spirit of the Owl has shown itself to me in many different occasions in my life. I remember as a young person thinking about an animal that represented part of my spirit. I remember feeling the owl carry this energy and space.
During my recent trip to Boulogne-sur-mer I rode in a car with my friend Florence on a country road over looking a field with livestock and green grasses. We rode quietly due to our small frustration in not being able to communicate in French or English fluently. So we rode enjoying the space and our friendship. As we rounded a corner an Owl medium sized and white, and light brown flew from behind a barbed wire fence above the road and out into the field on the downside of the hill. Florence stopped the car and I said, “Ebu”. I had learned the French word for owl last year while in France. We sat there and watched the owl fly around the area for a moment when another owl shot up into the air. We were startled by the second owl when a third and fourth owls flew in a similar pattern into the sky and out over the downward field. We sat there wild with emotion an awe as the four owls flew around.
The rest of the ride we thought about the significance of the watching wise birds. I spend the rest of my trip thinking about the message these birds were trying to share in this experience.
On my return flight home I was explaining this happening to my friends in LA and realized that I have been to Europe four times in the last two years and that part of the mystery of this happening may be connected to the four times I spent in Europe. With each time spent in Europe I found a bit more understanding of the human nature I saw in others and within myself. There are some things we cannot change about ourselves or others. We have to find the strength and truth within by accepting who we are and seeing part of that in others and extending grace to others in their own humanity. If we become too focused on self we lose sight of the larger picture of the world and how we fit into it.”
-Drew Michael, 2018