A few weeks before writing this, Willy Wagtail came and told me that he had a message for humanity.  He (and his friends) did it in a way that definitely made me sit up and take notice.

I was daydreaming, looking out the window at the glorious scenery around where I live and this cheeky, charismatic little black and white bird flew onto the balcony railing and sang a short song before flying off towards my neighbour’s house on my right.  How sweet I thought, but that thought was barely spoken when a second Willy Wagtail landed on the balcony railing in the exact same place.  He too sang the same song and then flew off to my right.  I’d barely got over the surprise when number three did the same.  And he was followed by birds numbered four, five and six!! 

Wow!  I thought.  There really is a message here.  I need to get researching, but not just now, I have stuff to do.  The next day, I sat at my computer filled with confidence that this would be an easy write – after all, I’d recorded a message from Willy Wagtail a couple of years earlier for the International Koalition of Krones (IKoK).  I could take the basic information from there and use it to bring forward this message.   

One thing I have learned on my Spiritual journey – especially when you have aphantasia and SDAM – is that you keep records of everything.  So I sat at my computer opened the file where all the IKoK scripts were stored and looked for Willy Wagtail.  Nothing.  It was not there.  I did a search.  Nada.  Over the next few weeks I searched everywhere.  Paper records, phone, I even sat through about 20 IKoK videos on You Tube.  Nothing.

Willy Wagtail turned up again a few days ago to give me a bit of a reminder nudge and yesterday I gathered all my newly researched information and started to bring his message forward.  It seemed unusually soft and gentle and – to be honest – a bit New Age fluffy.  I’d not long finished writing about Lion, and that was definitely not fluffy, but I decided to leave it be.  Something soothing was good after the roaring of the Big Cats!  Article written, I realised I’d not yet saved it, so that’s what I did… and wiped the whole thing right off my computer!  It wasn’t even in the trash bin!  That is a silly mistake that I have not made in years.  Decades even.  So I knew that although the message was a good one – it was only surface level.  I needed to dig deeper and luckily I still had my handwritten notes.

My spiritual teacher, Essence Ka tha’ras, is great for bouncing ideas off, so I read my notes to her and she immediately saw the problem of why all my previous writings about Willy Wagtail had disappeared.  I love those little birds, they’re cute, and I had been suckered right in by his charm and charisma!

Let me tell you an Aboriginal story about two little boys who were real pests in the tribe.  They were bullies, tormenting children, and animals, and they were thieves, stealing boomerangs, walking sticks and more.  One day they were caught by an Elder as they were stealing his walking stick.  He was so angry and disappointed in these pesty boys that he cursed them, turning them into a Willy Wagtail. 

Willy Wagtail might be the largest of the Australian Fantail birds, but he is still very small.  About the size of a sparrow.  He hunts by hopping on the ground and wagging his fantail over the surface to make the moths and insects fly and the grubs to come up to the surface.  He’s very appealing because he doesn’t fly away when humans come close as most birds do, and he looks so cute wiggling his bum and hopping about here, there, and everywhere.

You’ve probably heard the phrase about someone being a shit-stirrer?  Well.  That is what Willy Wagtail is, literally!  He stirs up the dirt.  He is territorial, aggressive, he bullies other, bigger, birds.  He’ll even take on a kookaburra!  He brought a huge lesson for me to share here.  That Aboriginal story was not just a bit of fun, it holds a deeper meaning for us.  The little boys were bullies and thieves.  They considered everything in their territory to be fair game for their shenanigans.  Other stories talk of Willy Wagtail as the worst kind of gossip, eavesdropping on people and then telling others of that private information.  It is said that if someone speaks ill of the dead, Willy Wagtail will tell the spirits all about it!  Stirring up dirt.

Many of us will know of someone who is the life and soul of the party.  Generous, happy, talkative and can appear to really pay attention to you.  There will be many of us who will get suckered in just as I did with Willy Wagtail, because some of these amazing, generous people are very different in public to how they act at home.  Think narcissists. 

The deeper message that Willy Wagtail brought for us is to enjoy life.  To have fun, be with people who are friendly, and cheerful and exciting, but also notice how they act when they think no-one is watching.  Does the mask fall?  Is it all a play?  A game?  Can you truly tell your secrets to this person, and know for certain that what you share in trust, is not told to others?  Do these people light up your world when you are alone with them, in the same way as when the public eye is on them?  Can you be sure that if you grow in a relationship with this person, will their support remain with you – think of the Elder’s walking stick being stolen away. 

Willy Wagtail is a gorgeous, beautiful gregarious little bird and I will definitely still find myself with a smile as I walk down the road and he appears to be following me, bobbing that tail, and showing off his prowess at catching dinner.  He’s fun.  But I am not the target of his territorialism.  He is telling us to walk with our eyes open to nuances we may miss simply because we Trust that what we see, is what we get.

Be discerning.