Look, Mom…Kermit! Em holding one of two toads she caught
last week. Photos © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
Poor frogs. They get a bad rep:
Don’t touch ’em, you’ll get warts!
Ew, they’re slimy, they’re squishy, their skin is bumpy.
Ugly ol’ toad!
And then there’s the whole fairy tale about the princess who has to muster up enough courage to kiss a horrid toad in order to get the prince. As if kissing a frog is bad enough to build a whole fairy tale around it!
Think back to your childhood. I bet frogs and toads made their fair share of appearances. Boys using frogs to scare girls, or boys tormenting frogs to make girls cry. Or the girl who picks up frogs, no problem, and leaves the boys marveling at how cool she is.
Don’t forget 10th grade Biology. Those intestines you were wading around in with your tweezers? Most likely a frog. Or toad.
Speaking of, do you know the difference?
Class, frogs are amphibians. Can you say “am-phib-i-an”? And the toad is a type of frog.
Quick Facts: Frogs need to live by water. They have smooth skin, narrow bodies, and long hind legs (good for hopping). Toads don’t need to live near water to survive (although they enjoy it when they do, which I can tell by their singing), have bumpy skin, and are wider than frogs.
Also, have you ever heard of anyone eating “toad legs”? No, of course not! They’re too short to bother cooking up. Because of those short legs, toads run or take short hops instead of long, frog hops.
p.s., Don’t ever eat a toad, as its skin lets out a bitter taste and smell that burns the eyes and nostrils.
Ah, the poor misunderstood frog-slash-toad. It’s actually a cool critter. An important part of the food chain, the frog eats mosquitos and other annoying insects.
In Japan frogs are said to bring good luck. And have you ever heard the saying “raining frogs”? Native Americans believe that frogs bring rain. In India, frogs are symbolic of thunder, and in ancient Egypt, frogs were representative of resurrection, rebirth. Ribbit.
Frog Joke:
Q: What kind of shoes do frogs wear?
A: Open toad.
You know where this is going. You can end it now by whipping out your pen, setting your timer for 15 minutes, and writing every single thing you know about frogs. Or toads. Or frogs and toads. Froads. Togs.
Either way, start writing. Please. Before I tell the one about the frog in the mortuary who croaked…
Hurry! Write.
I think I feel a post about dissection coming on . . .
Brian
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These photos are fantastic. And that link about the differences between frogs and toads — very visual and fun. Isn’t it weird to think that some frogs secrete poisons out of their skin? Wild.
I couldn’t believe it when I saw this Writing Topic. Because frogs are one of Liz’s totems and often appear in bizarre places around here. I never see them but she does. She might have a frog story coming up. 8)
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That would be awesome!
Also cool would be the details from your Frog medicine card, assuming you have one for Frog. If you have time, that is.
Re: a dissection story, Brian, I loved Mr. Grunner’s (my Biology teacher) frog dissection. It was one of my most interesting times in high school.
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I like to listen to the bull frogs as the sun goes down–there is something calming about it–good pics btw
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Here, too. It’s a wonderful sound. We moved the two toads in the photos to a big pond we have that sits some yards outside our bedroom window. All the toads in there serenade us to sleep ; – ).
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ybonesy, Liz and I like the sounds of the frogs and toads, too. They are really loud here in the summer. We’ve got a pond not far away and a lake not much further.
Did you see that TV news show a few months back on the frogs that have boomed in Hawaii? It might have been on 20/20 or something. They transported a few over (you know the story) to take care of one problem, then they multiplied and thrived.
They showed one couple who actually went out of their homes at night to wage war on the frogs. They also soundproofed their home, it was so loud for them. I can’t remember the details of which frog it was. Frogs have a kind of ancient sound though, kind of like the sandhill cranes. 8)
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I have never been fond of toads or frogs. I wouldn’t touch one. I wouldn’t kiss one which might explain why I am still single after all these years. Maybe I should reconsider frog kissing before it’s too late.
I enjoy the sound of frogs at a pond. I never knew that toads made sounds. Ah, well, I will leave them alone if they leave me alone. Seems only fair.
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Maybe it’s something about Albuquerque that motivated Em to pick up those gorgeous toads and Ybonesy to whip out her camera. When I was a very little girl living in Albuquerque, one of my greatest delights was picking up the horny toads that lived in the weedy place back by the corner where the ditches met. My gray-brown horny toads weren’t nearly as large as Em’s toad, but neither were my hands. I notice that Em is holding that toad away from her body, perhaps because she knows of the stream of fluid toads emit when you pick them up… I wonder if she has discovered that if you turn them on their backs and gently stroke their smoothly beaded throats, they go to sleep? Ah, toads … frogs … (to be continued elsewhere)
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Are frogs suppose to be good luck? We always find them in our window well outside the kitchen window. Just last week we found a Mom and baby there. There are underground streams in the back yard and they seem to come out of a small hole there. More wonders of Mother Nature. I’ll have to look at my Medicine Cards and see what they say about frogs !
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By coincidence I’ve recently put up a post which includes a youtube recording of one of my favourite songs – it’s called Sapo Cancionero, and it’s the song of a singing toad that is in love with the moon, with the “eternal madness of every poet”. There’s a translation in the comments.
I thought it (and the rather nice slideshow) might provide a little extra inspiration for your WPs…
finding new dreams to dream
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What about a story about a frog who lost its hop?
They actually live on the tepui of Roraima in southeast Venezuela. They can’t hop. De-evolution?
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Perhaps so. I remember you talking about these amazing frogs. Aren’t they also black? I’ll have to find a link.
Hey, MM, do you miss NM’s singing toads?
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I just listened to the song and read your post, lirone. I enjoyed both. I didn’t expect a deep male voice singing the song; very moving. I encourage others to click on that link.
MOM, I do think frogs are thought to bring good luck in some cultures. Japan, for example. And in the dry, dry Southwest, rain is so important for us and so I would say that to the extent that they symbolize rain, that means good luck in these parts.
Also, with their thin skin that absorbs so much of the environment, frogs tells us a lot about the health of our surroundings. I saw one link from the US government about a tracking program that watches for deformities among frogs and other amphibians, because where those occur there could be reasons having to do with pollution, especially in the water.
Cool that you have so many surrounding you where you live.
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ritergal, we didn’t know this trick about how to put a toad to sleep. Good to know that. Next toad she catches, I’m sure she’ll try it out.
I was a big toad kid, too. Maybe you’re right — maybe it’s an Albuquerque thing. Horned toads and regular toads. I liked the horned ones because they weren’t so squishy. I remember always picking up baby toads and then seeing that they’d left a little yellow or greenish liquid in my palm after I put them down. I’d say, Ew, it pee’d in my hand.
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Bob, perhaps another good reason to not swim in the yellow pond at Ghost Ranch ; – ). Communing with frogs and water snakes and even poi — acquired tastes. 8)
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ybonesy – we walk on the dikes near our house where there is a little lake – full of singing bull-frogs in late spring and summer. i love frog-song and have strong associations with it. The seasonal appearance of the chorus speaks of long warm days, magical clear nights. People who live in the inner cities must sense the absence of such reasonal animal sounds. it so connects us to natural rhythms, so what does that say abour the sounds in the city? Sound of subways, and traffic – all the time? Summer heralded by the sound of cars with boom-boxes?
the photo of the toad is just great – a nice healthy specimen. I feel a toad story coming on. 🙂 G
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My grandfather was scared to death of frogs and toads. We never found out why. Just his phobia, I guess. If he found one he would pick it up with a long shovel and throw it across the creek.
I showed the photos to our 8 year old. He loved them. We all did.
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Ybonesy,
After a summer rain on the Rez, when suddenly all the spadefoot toads emerge at once. That’s a wild sound! Almost creepy. I enjoyed it!
Here in the tropics are nice little whistling frogs.
MM
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ybonesy, I forgot to look at the Medicine Cards last night to get more specific about Frog energy (Frog as Totem Animal). In that capacity, I think it’s related to cleansing and rain. I’ll try to do that tonight. Or maybe MOM can let us know, too. She mentions the Medicine Cards in Comment #9.
Also, I found the conversation we were having with mimbresman about the spade frogs and the black frogs. There’s a link in Comment #12 of your What Makes Me Happy post that leads to great photographs of the tiny black frogs in Venezuela that live on top of Roraima.
Here are the links for those who want to check them out:
PRACTICE: What Makes Me Happy – 10min (LINK TO FULL POST)
PRACTICE: What Makes Me Happy – 10min (LINK TO MIMBRESMAN’S COMMENT 12 ON BLACK FROGS)
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Thanks, QM, for posting those links and finding MM’s comments about the toads. It was fun to re-read. I’ll have to also check out the link to the black frogs of Venezuela.
Also looking forward to the Medicine Card. Speaking of MOM’s mention of Medicine Cards, did she get those from you, by chance?
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yb, Bingo!
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G, I often think, too, about the different sounds that surround us depending on where we live and how we respond to those sounds. We recently moved to this home closer to the city yet also with much more land and animal life. On some days or nights, I can hear certain birds, squirrels, or the bullfrogs singing, and yet I can also hear the cars, trucks using jake-brakes, and city noise.
I actually love the city noise interspersed with the noises of nature. I guess as someone who loves cities, I also love those sounds. I know Jim doesn’t, but he’s pure country mouse.
BTW, I wonder if your dikes are similar to our ditches. Are your dikes cement or dirt?
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rick, cool that your family loved the photos. I imagine living in rural NM that your son is pretty oriented to nature. I know my girls are.
My youngest, who’s nine and the one holding “Kermit” (she has caught about 3 of these huge toads, and she calls them all “Kermit”), has no fear of them. She had a friend over the other day, and Em couldn’t get her friend to even touch the toad’s skin. A lot just depends on what we grow up being familiar with and not.
Oh, I also wanted to say that I think it’s interesting how you recall this fear of frogs that your grandfather had, and how vivid the image of tossing them with the shovel. It reminded me of an image I have of my grandfather, using his big callused thumb and forefinger to squash the squash bugs that were invading his vines. I couldn’t believe how he could just squash them like that. Grandparents and nature. Lots of memories there.
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You know what I love most about these photos? The hands of the child. They look a little dirty, like she’s been out playing. She’s found a toad, and she’s not afraid to pick it up. I can see just enough of what she’s wearing to know she’s in a swimming suit or shorts–bright aqua. More summer fun.
She’s in the thick of nature and play. Not holding a remote or something else electronic. It does my heart good.
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Good eye, Teri. All true.
BTW, also from that same week I have shots I took of her with a baby garter snake in her hands. In that one she’s wearing bright green metallic nail polish. 8)
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Oh, good. I trust her toenails were painted, too. And I hope the polish was chipping a little bit, just like kid’s polish is supposed to be.
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yb, great photos & story! I love frogs & toads! The sounds they make are so comforting & soothing! As kids I was big on catching them & slimy or not I would always kiss one before releasing it back to its natural habitat! I think they are lucky & who doesn’t love Kermit? D
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I love the froggy photos – Last week I planted a small tomato patch, and went out the next morning to see how they looked, and there was the exact same green toad in your picture – with a green belly and bright green eyes with a yellow slit. I have never seen one so green, they are usually brown with those baleful yellow eyes – this was chartreuse. My grandson Noah was 3 when we found a big bullfrog in the garden – I picked it up to show it to him and he said, “Oh he’s so Kee-yoot!” and kissed the toad right on the nose! to my great surprise. Now when Noah visits in the summer months, he likes to take walks after sundown to look for “nocturnal animals” – and we always find a toad out there.
One other thing, I got a photo in an email a few weeks ago, of the frogs fleeing before the earthquake in China. They are so “grounded” that they can feel the seismic shifts in their bodies, and they hop away as fast as they can. The photo was stunning, thousands of frogs crossing a road…what they must know that we can’t possibly know…
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From the Druid Animal Oracle:
Frog
Sensitivity, Medicine, Hidden Beauty and Power
Losgann (Frog) unites the elements of water and earth, bringing joy delight and healing in its singing and hopping, and leading you to the sared spring from which you may be refreshed and renewed. A cold blooded creature living half on the land and half in the water, the frog possesses an extremely sensitive skin, considered magical by shamans.
A companion of the rain spirits, the frog can help you develop your sensitivity to others, to healing and to sound through your skin and your whole body and aura.
Nothing is what it appears to be, and life is more fun than you at first supposed! There is a hidden beauty and a hidden power in all of nature, and as you open yourself to this you will feel close to the Goddess and close to both the earth and to water. Look for the beauty and the magic behind appearances.
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Yeah, I read about the fleeing frogs in Cheng Du. Here is a photo and story of the phenomenon (LINK). Another way they are so connected to the health of the environment!
I, too, was struck by how green the big toads were. One was a deep olive-y green but then with that yellow belly. Honestly, we thought it had to be a frog because a) it wasn’t brown, b) we found it swimming in water, and c) it was singing. Yet, when I look at the comparison diagrams on the link in this post, it does appear to have toad qualities. I just hadn’t realized toads were so into the water.
Also, they’re huge, aren’t they? That’s what surprised me. Clearly they’re getting a good diet out there in our valley land.
Kee-yoot about Noah kissing the toad on the nose. 8)
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Oooh, just as I was posting my comment, you posted the description for Frog.
This is *very* interesting: the frog possesses an extremely sensitive skin, considered magical by shamans. Em, my daughter who is the frog whisperer (just today when I got home from work, she was out by the pond talking to the toads), is ultra sensitive. I know this sounds like what we say about a lot of kids being “sensitive,” but truly, she is a barometer of what is happening, especially emotionally, around her. Her teachers comment on this, and I have always seen it.
Additionally, it is something that I struggle with as her mother. I need to be more relationship oriented with her. It’s actually been bothering me a lot lately, me feeling like I’m falling short on meeting her emotional needs…the frog can help you develop your sensitivity to others…
A very potent message for me in this card, LIL.
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chickenlil, what a great story about your grandson. He sounds adorable. And I loved reading about Frog Medicine from your Druid Animal Oracle book. Thank you so much for taking the time to type that in. Powerful — by way of being sensitive and grounded. People don’t often associate those qualities with strength and power — but I do.
ybonesy, about Em’s sensitivity, the way she is a barometer to what’s going on emotionally around her, I know others like that, too. Sometimes their ability is so strong, the person moves into having the psychic ability to sense the emotions of others, like an empath or one with clairsentience. Clear seeing. I wonder how it will impact her as she gets older.
I was also thinking, didn’t you say you were able to sense and feel the ghost in your home? Maybe you have a sensitivity, too, that gets channeled in other ways. They say these things are sometimes passed down from generation to generation.
It reminds me, when I was transcribing last night, my mom was talking about this dream she has — every time she dreams she is holding a baby, one of the women in our family gets pregnant. This has been going on for years, so people pay attention when she has that dream.
There is so much going on all the time at the feeling and dream levels. But having an awareness of it is a gift.
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[…] is another writing practice on a topic from red ravine – this week on frogs and toads. I was rather surprised by the direction it took me […]
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So many interesting thoughts in the comments – I love all the different places people have taken this idea. I had fun with the topic too… have just posted a WP about love, dreams and frogs
Ybonesey, I like the sound of the snake/green metallic nail varnish photos- do post one when you get the chance!
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This got me started, remembering an experience I had when I was 20 years old – I had spent the summer teaching dance at a community theatre in the Puget Sound area, Port Townsend WA – met a man twice my age and he wanted me to sail to Alaska with him but I had to return to college in Massachusetts…I was torn but also knew I would go back, too many reasons why.
I was in love with the Pacific northwest and very sad. We took a trip to Dungeness, to a farm in the foothills of Hurricane Ridge. There was a graveyard, and a blue pond with tall golden grass around it. Some hippies lived there on mushrooms, moss and stone soup, literally. It was dripping wet and misty everywhere. I sat by the pond in the weak sun, trying to dry out.
Gradually I became aware of the tadpoles in the shallow water. There were frogs in every stage of life, from tiny spermy things hatching out, tiny ones with tails, crookedy one-legged tadpoles, to full new frogs hopping and croaking about…It was a psychedelic experience is how I’d describe it, seeing the cycle of life and the wonder of its prolific exuberance. I knew somehow I was part of it all.
I cried for myself, and thought, I can’t leave this place where life begins. But I did have to go, I told the boat guy goodbye, he sailed to Alaska, I went back to the old life. I never returned to the Pacific Northwest.
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lirone, I just left a comment on your post. I love where you went with it…your very direct statement about the message embedded in the kiss-the-toad fairy tale. And it didn’t strike me until I read your writing practice, too, that Beauty & the Beast is another one where the princess is wanting/trying to change the beast. It was powerful writing practice. Thanks for sharing.
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lil, what a crystallized moment that snippet holds. So full of time and place, both. And the kind of melancholy that comes with landing right back there, right in the center of that exact emotion those many years ago. Life now must seem far away, or, well, life then. Depends on which side of the memory you’re on, I suppose.
And the other thing, ponds are just incredible, aren’t they? I mean, for someone like me whose experience is with fresh waters, rivers and creeks, I’m a bit overwhelmed by the pond here. It’s not huge, but pretty big. Very soupy. It has to be just full of life, a whole ecosystem. If I could see through the green scum, I’m sure I’d see the entire lifecycle.
Phrases that struck me: “the weak sun,” “moss and stone soup,” “crooked one-legged tadpoles.” Writing practice in a comment. Cool.
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QM, yeah, I think Em has that same thing. She’ll get spooked in my room, and sometimes I wonder why.
I can see why people in your family pay attention to your mom’s dream. Even more telling than those who can feel whether it’s a boy or a girl. Hey, can she do that, too?
When I was pregnant with Dee, I went to lunch at a restaurant called Sanitary Tortilla Factory (I know, bizarre name!). The owner was this little Chicana woman renowned for her ability to predict the sex of a child. So, of course, I asked her to feel my tummy and tell me. She walked behind me, put her arms along my sides and hands on the front of my belly. Turned me around, patted my belly again.
“Girl,” she pronounced.
“You sure.”
“Positive, and I’ve never missed, not after hundreds.”
She got it right.
Oh, Dee, btw, has that gift. She’s called every one we’ve asked her to call. I forget how we even began asking her. I think she just offered it, and she was so young, so sure, and when it was right — a boy, in a family of almost all girls — we were amazed. Now as I write this, I wonder if she got it from the lady at the restaurant.
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p.s., what this has to do with frogs, I don’t know. How do we (I) get so off topic??
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[…] to posts: WRITING TOPIC – TOADS & FROGS, Green Is As Green Does, PRACTICE — Pink Frog Moon – […]
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[…] I’m thinking now that toads are living the life I should be living. Slow, patient. Rewarding, not piggy. Not moving toward something. Waiting for something to come. related to post WRITING TOPIC – TOADS & FROGS. […]
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ybonesy, I think it’s great that you see and recognize such gifts in both of your girls (Comment #38).
I was just reading in the Medicine Cards about frogs and guess what? We’re not so off topic after all (Comment #39).
Here’s one thing they said about Frog Medicine. I’ll come back and add a little more later:
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yb, when memories bubble up whole like that, there is a timelessness – as if the entire abyss of years did not even exist. Paths diverging in a yellow wood, or a green pond, and we know not why we took the one less-traveled by, only that it made a difference. Children, and then grandchildren, serve to make the choices more inevitable, less optional – we cannot imagine a world without them. But yes, the primordial possibilities of the teeming pond bring up a sense of life’s magical chemistry, action and reaction, parallel universes. Anything can happen in our own backyard.
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Beautifully said.
QM, wow, I didn’t know that about Frog Medicine. Did you? Is Liz clairvoyant?
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lil, graphic and detailed description of your time in the Pacific Northwest (Comment #35). I felt like I was right there. I believe in parallel universes, time happening around other layers of wrapped time. And I distinctly remember making similar choices to the one you made to go back to the East. They were pivotal moments – if I had gone the other way, my life would have been totally different. Those times serve as good reminders for me in the present — that life is a series of daily choices. Choices that make an impact.
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ybonesy, it’s funny, I had read it in the Medicine Cards before, but it didn’t have the same impact on me as it did when I read it this time (Comments #42 & #44). I’ve had these Medicine Cards about 20 years (the book is a First Edition). I was a lot younger when I first began drawing them; I think different things stuck out for me then.
I think it stuck out for me this time because of what you were saying about Em’s sensitivities, your picking up on the ghost in your home, and Dee’s ability to determine the sex of babies before they are born. Many women and girls carry these gifts and have since the beginning of time. I think it’s so healthy to recognize them and honor them as you are doing.
About Liz, I think she is clairaudient. She has extrasensory hearing, is very attuned to sounds that I don’t hear; she can pick up voices and sounds from far distances that are not even on my radar. This translates into the way she hears internally as well. We often go to call each other at the EXACT same moment during the day. Literally, the phone will ring at the exact moment I am dialing her. This happens almost every day. It’s just a simple example.
It seems like people with different kinds of psychic abilities also have to learn to protect themselves from a lot of negativity that has the same opportunity to filter in as the positive things. Maybe Frog Medicine is good at helping with that.
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[…] -related to posts haiku (one-a-day) and WRITING TOPIC – TOADS & FROGS. […]
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Maybe this is off topic, but you (QM) mention “clairaudient” – a word I have been thinking about…Have you ever noticed strange synchronicities or coincidences that are just so obvious and undeniable? And not particularly profound?
I just read two books – the first I found by chance, Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier (I mentioned before) and a central metaphor was the telephone, ringing, and on the other end a distant scratchy voice, he can only guess is “Claire” his great love from out of the past – He calls into the line, Claire? but all he hears is a sound like ham frying.
The next book I picked up also by chance, by Michael Ondaatje, called Divisadero – the central character is Claire – who is on the other end of long-distance calls from France, but cannot be heard..only possibly Claire, impossibly far away.
Is this Claire-audience?
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Yes, I think it is!!
Oooo, I’m glad you picked up on that word, lil. It stood out to me, but then I forgot to come back to the post to comment. It’s a great word, and interesting, QM, that Liz has this capability. How very wild about the simultaneous phone calling.
And, lil, that is something else. I love how you describe those types of synchronicities: so obvious and undeniable? And not particularly profound. Yes, I know exactly what you mean, and for the life of me I never remember them later.
Cool that this one is related to characters in books, and then phone calls, and clair, Claire…very good, clever, clever… 8)
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[…] of May seem to follow the seasons. The theme for the 5th Stage of The Great Round is similar to Frog Medicine — protection – setting and keeping good boundaries. It is a Catch-22 that strong boundaries allow us to […]
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yb, yes, that is true – we don’t remember them, the synchronicities we notice, through our days and dreams – I think because it is just the warp and woof of life. There is a flow.
The images we observe are not particularly memorable, because they are impermanent,symbols and signals from the passing parade.
I don’t sit with oracles and medicine cards anymore, I just don’t have time for it.
But I will open a book and see what it shows me, integrate that image or metaphor into my “question” – what do I need to know, to see, to ponder, to wonder – right now? Often through the day I see a pattern, it tells me there is a flow.
It could be a Frog or a Seal, an Angel of Water, the Queen of Wands or Grandfather’s Breath. Or a smell that persists all day, like a molecule stuck in my nose, reminding me to notice…a word that comes up in nuances of meaning…something repeated, a joke that twists the same thing twice.
I like to consult the Sabian symbols which give a rather complex verbal imagery – I just poke a finger in there and see what I get. Sometimes is it astonishing, very mental, but essentially, simply forgettable, there is always tomorrow. A new pattern.
Even the I Ching, I have a quick hit-me consult, get the confusionism confusion and see what strikes me as oh so true, yes, undeniable.
So the question always arises, what is true now? In this moment?
What is this patchwork quilt of intersecting frequency, color and form, feeling and emotion, telling me now?
All there is to do is look and listen.The eye, not the equipment. Sometimes only listen.
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lil, Claire-audience — great coincidences in your comment (#48). 8)
About your question:
Have you ever noticed strange synchronicities or coincidences that are just so obvious and undeniable? And not particularly profound?
I’m a lot like you describe in Comment #51, noticing what pops out at me every day:
It could be a Frog or a Seal, an Angel of Water, the Queen of Wands or Grandfather’s Breath. Or a smell that persists all day, like a molecule stuck in my nose, reminding me to notice…a word that comes up in nuances of meaning…something repeated, a joke that twists the same thing twice.
I rarely consult with oracles, cards, readings anymore either (though I learned a lot about them in the late 80’s, early 90’s). Once in a while I will go to them, when something is drawn to my attention — as has been the case with Frog lately. She seems to be front and center right now, so I’m paying attention.
The smell that gets stuck in the nose, or the off-pitch sound that rings in my ear sometimes — I like how you describe those. Very wise “seeing.”
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[…] two frogs last weekend. One was this size (a toad). And one looked like this (a frog). The tree frog hopped out of the pond at Summer Solstice and spent […]
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[…] -related to posts haiku (one-a-day) and WRITING TOPIC – TOADS & FROGS. […]
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[…] versus one with a fear of heights. They love being outdoors, think nothing of catching snakes and frogs, and are up for long […]
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I believe that the idea of a giant toad sleeping in a stone and dreaming our reality is more valid than any of the religions that have tried to brainwash me . I,ve been space trucker since the 60’s and it makes too much sense.
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Vickie, thanks for stopping by and reviving the frogs and toads. As a matter of fact, I had wanted to come back to this post because on a recent On The Road with Jason Davis (a show that’s a Minnesota treasure) he stopped at one woman’s house who collected these giant stone toads. She just loved them and was drawn to them.
And On The Road features a big toad that crops up somewhere in every episode and it’s a challenge to spot it. The On The Road toad has a name but I can’t think of it at the moment.
This post reminds me that when I was home last July, I stayed in one of my old childhood rooms, a room that one of my nieces now occupies. She said she had heard and seen toads right outside in the window well days before. But when we got the flashlight to check them out…they were gone.
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[…] WRITING TOPIC – TOADS & FROGS […]
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[…] to posts: WRITING TOPIC – TOADS & FROGS, A Celebration Of GREEN On red Ravine…, What Is Your Totem Animal?, Cracking Envy (Or How I […]
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I thought I was never coming to the end of the comments.! I really enjoyed your blog as well as learning a lot . I didn’t know the difference between frogs and toads. Now that I do, I know t hat we have toads in our garden here in Spain. They range in size – about the size of a saucer to as large as a dinner plate. They are a blackish brown and their skin looks like old leather.They roam around the garden causing the dogs no end of fun! I swear they have twinkly dark eyes! and they are intelligent. One found himself at the bottom of the three steps from the drive up to the courtyard. We saw him and put a plank of wood from the edge of the Courtyard reaching to his feet.
Even if he did work out what to do, we were expecting to have to wait a long time before he did! But hey, it wasn’t long before he ‘walked the plank’ to the upper level.
No-one had a camera with them, it would have made a wonderful shot.
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What a fabulous description of the toads in your place in Spain, Moranna, and thank you for commenting on this post. The idea of a toad the size of a dinner plate—well, I can almost see it. Also, I’ve noticed of the toads around our place, which aren’t out these days that the especially big fat ones flatten out so much they almost do look like plates.
Do toads hibernate in winter, I wonder. They must.
Also, I love it when I see old people who look like toads, with those same sort of eyes that are sleepy and bulging.
BTW, where in Spain do you live? I lived for a while quite a long time ago in Granada, but I’ve traveled all over the country and love it. Truly one of my favorite places in the world.
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