Tag Archives: homing pigeon

Sign, Symbol, Message or Chance – Hidden Message

Anyone care to help me reflect upon and try to solve a message hidden in a messenger? A few days ago a white pigeon showed up at my back door. It was wondering around near the steps pecking at the grass, greens and the ground. It was pecking at plants and the ground obvious to me the bird was searching for something to sustain it’s life!

A Pure White Pigeon – a Dove – a Messenger with a Hidden Message:

The arrival of this bird created for me a thirst for answers as I found myself being pulled into deeper and deeper reflection. These are not ordinary times are they? And this was no ordinary bird. In fact it was a white homing pigeon. And just why did this bird choose come to my house of all the homes in my neighborhood to stop? There are at least fifty plus homes just in my local neighborhood and many others in the local city area.

Why My House?

Let me help you a little and explain my what caught my interest and curiosity. I am an unusual man of sorts. I have raised and raced homing pigeons from the time I was boy all the way to the 1950’s. But not only that, but I am rapidly approaching my 25th anniversary as an ordained Catholic Deacon. Perhaps one can begin to detect that I may see things in both a spiritual and physical perspective light that many folks wouldn’t necessarily have a clue exist. And I must admit that I have been reflecting more than a little upon this chance arrival and even this may an understatement.

Discern – Write it down – Reflect:

Fact is something is pestering me to write this down and ask for help! I wonder if there is anyone out there with who is willing to take the time to join me in reflecting and discerning the message hidden in this unexpected arrival? And then — is there someone brave and with the courage to take a risk and share the message this reflection triggered?

I already knew what I needed to know but didn’t know it:

Like the rest of you living life, teaches many lessons and often one can not digest at the time they are first learned. What I will share has been learned and taught through nature and in numerous spiritual reflections. In 2011 I discovered I had already been taught as a kid what I need to know, but I just couldn’t connect the dots to know, I already knew what I needed to know – I just didn’t know I already knew it!

The Sign and symbol of the bird. So what is it? It is white pigeon. It has wings and has the freedom to fly away. And it is a symbol of a dove spoken about in the stories of scripture from almost the beginning. Hidden to many are the symbols of scripture in the creation of the bird itself. Noah’s ark, angles with wings appearing such as Gabriel, Rapheal, and Michael. The spirit of God descending like a dove upon Jesus as he came out of the Jordan river.

Multiple Secrets –> Hidden in the Symbol yet easily available for deeper inspection:

Long ago I knew a Pigeon has ten primary flight pins (feathers) that serve to propel it through the air and with the velocity to escape it’s enemies gifted with stealth techniques. Could these feathers represent the ten commandments if kept can save one from an enemy stealthy hidden in the consequences?

Power of 12 – Hidden Message:

These birds have twelve tail feathers. Takes just a little more than a casual look to learn this fact. Hum – the number twelve – twelve months, twelve tribes, and yes the twelve apostles the leaders of the church a very rich symbol. And one who studies flight knows the tail feathers have a purpose. They serve as a rudder that guides. Combine the realty of the dynamics of flight, make possible unbelievable maneuvers which enhance the birds ability ability to escape it’s enemies.

Oil – Anointing – Hidden Message:

Yes, there is more! The bird has an oil gland at the base of it’s tail. Almost everyone has seen a bird preening but do you know how important that is? The birds uses it’s beak to rub the oil gland and thereby is able to spread a thin layer of oil all over it’s feathers. This reality offers another opportunity for an in-depth reflection. The bird is preparing for survival, a real kind of War – like the the oil of salvation, the oil of the early Christian catechumen’s who used oil to cover themselves before entering the coliseum in preparation for the fight of their life.

This oil also provides some degree of water proofing and more importantly enhances the bird’s ability to slip through the air most efficiently again enhancing it’s ability to escape it’s enemy.

Hang in There:

Hang with me a while longer. The bird has a white wattle on it’s nose or beak. It is in the shape of a heart. The color of the wattle immediately communicates the health of the bird. When a bird is healthy the color of the wattle is egg white – no yellow shade – the color of a fertilized egg. Nature – God’s creation is amazing!

The Heart of the Matter – Hidden Message – Search for Home – The Promised Land:

Scientist theorize the wattle is the primary organ the bird uses navigate and find it’s way home. I can testify that almost anywhere you take the a homing pigeon it will find home. It just needs a little practice while growing up. Homing pigeons in fact have a rich history of being willing to sacrifice their life to find home and they mate for life! They have been used in many past wars to communicate critical information upon which troops lives depended.

Now that I have taken you back to the 1950’s lets start from the beginning!

Messengers with Wings:

In scripture Angles appeared to many and they served as messengers with wings and came in the form of a dove. Why again did this bird show up at my back door? Of all the homes in the neighborhood it came to my back door. My back door happens to be the doorway through which many pets who are not our pets arrived and took up residence.

I am also the only ordained preacher in the neighborhood who also currently raises and races homing pigeons. Could this bird have known I was the most likely to recognize it’s need and it’s message?

Have I presented sufficient details that someone will be willing to embark upon a reflection journey to discover the message hidden in this story?

Use it or Lose it – Message Hidden:

I was easily able to pick the bird up though is was capable of flying away. Could this be a message I was chosen and trusted to care for the birds life?

I could now inspect the bird more closely having developed skilled hands at detecting the health of the bird almost instantly. I forgot to mention a healthy homing pigeons breast feels like one of those small footballs we boys used on the play grounds in the 1950’s. It has a supple feeling – not hard – but firm. Funny a healthy homing pigeon in your hand feels like a football you could throw and it would fly!

Well, this bird breast had suffered atrophy. Atrophy is what happens when one stops using a muscle or has overused the muscle without sufficient nourishment and rest. One just becomes weaker. A sure sign the bird was in trouble and needed some tender loving care! The flight feathers were in good shape and all ten were there.

Hidden Message = 12 Tail Feathers – Rudder – Guide – (12-4) Oh Oh!

Oh Oh, there were four tail feathers missing! Four of Twelve were missing! How to interpret the mystery. I have been involved in racing pigeons over 60 years! It is a sure sign the bird has been attacked by it’s enemy who seeks to take it’s life! A hawk during an attack will extend it’s claws and often only gets the tails feathers which then become detached from the bird saving it’s life!

Confusion here! Four tail feathers are MIA! Four of Twelve is a third. What message does this communicate about the Twelve? The Hawk got them? Yet the bird survived without them! The voice in my head says please pay attention! Where are the twelve today? Where is the Hawk? Are 1/3 of the Bishops MIA?

One is Black as in Sin – Hidden Message:

The next finding was a little more disconcerting. Oh Oh! Of the eight tail feathers remaining one was about half black. The only feather on the bird with black was a tail feather. This sign is perhaps more difficult to discern. Could this be a which do you want first message? The Good news or the Bad?

I must confess, even I have been challenged with some black markings from time to time. Sin can not be denied even in the church! And the Good News is still the Good News. The one who was sent came for the sinner so the sinner would come to understand the message that the sender treasured the sinner so much the sender was freely willing to sacrifice the greatest treasure.

Now that was what I learned in Catholic grade school in the 1950’s. A run on sentence!! Oh my!

So again why did this bird show up at my house??? Does anyone have a clue?

Who am I? I was called to follow a man who came to testify to the truth and people didn’t like the way he preached. I was called to follow a man named Steven who served at tables and the next thing you hear he is out in the street preaching and the people liked his preaching so much they stoned him to death!

“No more sermons from the deacon” = “Shut Up”. Did this bird come to my house so I would stop talking and be quite?

And just what about you? Why does it appear my church is in hiding? Why are we afraid?

I took the bird to my pigeon loft. It is located on 220 acres! I go to care for that bird every day! Every day the wind whisper’s in my ears God’s creative genius and that everyone of us was created in the image of God with a creative nature to adapt and change even as the war rages around us!

And you Say?

What message is that white bird bugging me to speak? What has happened to the tail feathers that are supposed to guide and show us how to use the creative gifts of imagination, truth, sacrifice, courage while the muscle of the bird has suffered atrophy?

So what say you?

Already Knew what I needed to Know

The Story Seen & Unseen – I didn’t know, I already knew what I needed to know. On blue bird day – one of those beautiful days when there is not a cloud in the sky and the sky is that deep blue color. There overhead flew a flock of pigeons high high above. In a flash of moment I observed a pure white pigeon begin diving straight down at the earth. Not just any common pigeon but a pure white racing pigeon known for their God given ability to find home from anywhere – even where they have never been before. A Homing pigeon is born with the necessary DNA to find home without ever being taught.
I stood there breathless trying to take in what was unfolding before my eyes. Oh my, there is so much more to the story to be told. Though I didn’t know I already knew what I needed to know – for it too was part of my DNA. Yes, I knew the way home as well as the dove messengers sent in ages past just as this one was speaking to my heart today. The dove released over the waters – the well spring of all life, from Noah’s Ark returned with a message of hope. The dove that descended upon Jesus as he came out of the Baptismal waters of the Jordan River. For the Angles have always come in the form of dove as when the Angle Gabriel appeared to the young girl Mary.
As I looked into the blue bird sky above, I saw a white dove as pure white as a fresh fallen snow diving from the sky straight down as an arrow. It stopped me in my tracks and I I stopped breathing as I witnessed this vison sent from above. My mind was grappling to grasp what was taken place. But the Lord of my soul was unveiling before my eyes the message sent from the breath of God as it passed over the waters – the wellspring of all life.
As I watched the vision unfold, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. The bird was diving straight down at my lake. As I watched I finally realized a hawk was closing in from behind as it dove straight down to snare the bird. The dove appeared to be in a suicide dive – as the birds accelerated toward the earth I realized they would disappear behind a 100’ tree next to the lake. I looked immediately below the canopy of the tree expecting to see a splash – splash.
What happened next would teach me I already knew what I needed to know and that I had known this since I was a small boy. The pigeon has ten primary flight pins (feathers) which serve to propel the bird through the air to escape death as it travels the route unknown home. Then to my amazement I saw the pigeon make a remarkable maneuver and pull out of that death spiral and pull up and away leaving the hawk in it’s dust. It was then that I remembered the pigeon has twelve tail feathers that serve as a rudder which allowed it to escape assured death.
The Ten flight pins represent the Ten Commandments to keep us safe from those who would take our life and the twelve tail feathers the church established by the Son of God through the twelve Apostles to guide it’s people away from death. And again in His rising from the dead, he sent again the Paraclete, the Dove, The Messenger, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit to teach us what we weren’t ready to know.
But the Vision and the Spirit were not through with me yet. The Homing pigeon has a wattle (white soft tissue heart shaped) on it’s beak. The wattle is the heart where the DNA gift from God lives that enables the pigeon to find it’s way home. Again, on the back of the pigeon near the tail feathers is an oil gland that the bird routinely uses to preen it’s feathers. It is this oil that slickens, softens, and water proofs it’s feathers to assure the bird most efficiently passes through the air saving energy enabling it to survive it’s journey home through a world full of dangers, detours and road blocks.
God gave us each a soul created with the same DNA as a homing pigeon. We know the way home, if we listen to the voice that speaks to us through the heart of our soul. And so when we release a homing pigeon we place our trust in the spirit of the creator and the nature of the bird to know its way home if only we will set it free.
So when we release a bird it symbolizes the one we love already knew the way home and we trust in the Word for we are sure they will make it home. Further it serves as a powerful reminder – we are not our own and we cannot hold on physically forever to those we love. For in the plan of the creator of all – for this day we were born to give ourselves away trusting in the truth that will ultimately set us all free.

The Story of the Vision 2

Hidden in the Story <—> Stealth War

February 18, 2011 — Often in life we humans can not see what is right in front of our noses or hear the sounds crying out to be heard by our ears!

I wonder if anyone could see all of the symbology that was hidden in the story of the iDove and the iDeacon? In fact I can tell you the iDeacon could not see the fulness of the story of what was revealed in the that beautiful spring morning. The discovery of the “Truth” hidden in the story was to come only in time!

The “Already and the Not Yet” – Say What?

The iDeacon was amazed to discover he didn’t know what he already knew! It is a kind of example of the “Already” but “Not Yet”! Often our spirits already know what our conscious minds can not articulate.

The Kingdom of Heaven that is “Already” in 2011 but also the promised perfected Kingdom “Not Yet”.

One can’t get to the concept of Kingdom “Not Yet” without first traveling through the Kingdom “Already”. After Jesus was baptized by the John the Baptist in the Jordan river, upon coming out of the river a dove descended over him and Jesus said “the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” – acknowledging the “Already” exists.

Some may be wondering — What chew talking about – have you lost it????

When I was a boy, I lived in the second largest Belgium settlement in the USA. The national sport in Belgium is racing pigeons. The west end of my home town is where the Belgium’s settled and it seems every 10th house had a pigeon loft in the back yard when I was a boy.

About 3 PM every afternoon when the men came home from work at the Ball Band factory, the Belgium air force (homing pigeons) were let out to exercise. These pigeons would circle and circle around the home loft for 30 minutes to an hour each evening or until the fancier called then in by whistling or shaking the feed can.

I used to ride my bike through the alleys of the west end looking for pigeon lofts. Then one day my dad asked me if I wanted some pigeons. Razing and racing homing pigeons entered my blood stream and I began a journey to learn more than I could articulate would only discover years later that which I had come to already know.

The Power of Ten:

Do you know how many primary flight features a racing pigeon has? These are the features that propel the pigeon through the air. They rotate as the air passes through which propels them forward and creates a distinct sound like a wish. In fact it catches your attention when a flock of homing pigeons pass over head. You can tell the velocity of flight by the intensity of the sound.

Oh yea! You want to know how many primary flight features a racing pigeons has. They have ten. Now why would that fact be symbolic. It’s the number ten from ancient times that has been passed on from generation to generation that keeps one on the straight and narrow. It is in following this ten that can save ones life from destruction. It is this power of ten that can propel one at the speed necessary to escape the enemy that threatens ones life.

Remember, we are speaking of the hidden symbol buried in the story of the iDove! And the iDove is the symbol of the Spirit of God and the spirit of ones soul for each is created in the image of God! Could it be the Ten commandments provide humanity with most basic and necessary principles to be digested and understood? Could they contain the secret principles that when followed will lead one to encounter life, find liberty and the path that leads to happiness? And in the end opens the doorway to save ones soul from the evil one and find one standing at heavens door?

The Power of Twelve:

To be continued …..

The Story of the Vision 1

The Answer to a Prayer – the Story of the Vision

A messenger from above appeared to lead me through a story which would unfold before my eyes to teach me what I already knew but didn’t know I knew testifying to the reality we already know what we need to know but don’t know we already knew it. Breathless I watched! February 14, 2011 — The Revelation of “the War between the Flesh and the Spirit”. The iDove began to awaken the iDeacon to the reality of the continuing War as he observed an attack taking place in the beautiful clear blue bird sky above!

Oh what a beautiful day it was. Cool clear deep blue bird sky on a spring day. Not a cloud in sight. The iDeacon was observing his homing pigeons circle overhead. One could sense the joy these pigeons must feel as the air passed under their wings. God’s creatures gracefully fulfilling the purpose for which they were born as they flew higher and higher into the sky above.

Then in a blink of the eye, the iDeacon detected something had changed in the maneuvers of the birds high above. The smooth path of flight suddenly accelerated. The sound of their wings increased as their wing speed intensified. The smooth graceful circles were replaced by abrupt changes in direction of flight.

The iDeacon was stopped in his tracks as he searched for an answer for what had caused the change.

Without warning one of the white pigeons began a drive from about a 1000 feet straight down as fast as it could fly. How fast can they fly straight down – 100 200 mph? The dive took the iDeacon’s breath away and he frooze in his tracks. It was an amazing sight, the pigeon was really diving straight down. In fact straight down at a 5 acre lake below. Could this be real?

Was this white pigeon performing what appeared to be a suicide dive straight down into the water? There was a 100 foot tall white oak trees at the edge of the lake. As the bird approached 100 feet above the tree top of the white oak, the iDeacon finally saw the cause for this drastic life and death maneuver.

There directly on the tail of the pigeon was a coopers hawk.    Both were diving straight down in a death dive.

Unbelievabale, at 100 feet they both still diving directly at the lake as fast as they could fly. At 50 feet the iDeacon could see the hawk extending his talons for the kill.

Oh my, an oak tree was between the iDeacon and the death dive. The birds disappeared behind the tree and iDeacon was sure there was no way these two birds would escape crashing into the lake.

Only God could create a creature capable of what the iDeacon saw next. As the white pigeon could be seen again as it descended below the canopy of the tree it made an unreal last second maneuver just before hitting the lake. It not only escaped the lake and had begun a climb back into the clear blue sky but it left the hawk in it’s dust.

No way, no way, this was unreal yet it happened and could not be denied. The pigeon really did leave the hawk in the dust using this amazing pullup maneuver.

Finally the iDeacon was able to take a new breath of air as he stood frozen in his tracks trying to absorb and digest the really real life and death struggle that had just been played out before his eyes.

In the coming days this event was played out again and gain in the iDeacon’s mind. Through this event the voice of the iDove began to speak and reveal the symbolic battle that took place that day and takes place everyday between the flesh and the spirit of our world.

iDove had hooked the iDeacon and the birth of this web page was sealed!

To be continued The Story Unfolds ……