Dragonfly Wings, BlackBerry Shots, Golden Valley, Minnesota, July 2010, photo © 2010 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I’ve seen a dragonfly every day since I took this BlackBerry photograph on July 2nd. It landed atop a daylily in the garden on a sweltering afternoon. Earlier that day, I saw two dragonflies mating on the wing, the first time I had spotted the insect all year. Dragonflies, butterflies and fireflies — highlights of Summer. We don’t see the volume of fireflies here in Minnesota that I used to see growing up in the Deep South and in Pennsylvania. So I look to the Dragons for inspiration. If I see enough of them, I start to pay attention.
According to the Minnesota DNR site, dragonflies are prehistoric insects that date back to the dinosaur:
Dragonflies and their close relatives called damselflies are ancient insects and prehistoric reminders of the age of the dinosaurs. Enormous dragonflies with a wingspread up to 30 inches across were part of the Paleozoic landscape about 300 million years ago. The largest insect ever known was a dragonfly called Meganeura monyi. It had a wingspread of 30 inches and a body 18 inches long. It lived until about 250 million years ago and then became extinct.
The last time I wrote about Dragonfly was in May of 2007. The second Canon Powershot photograph on Shadow Of A Dragonfly is one of my favorites, with the recent BlackBerry Dragonfly photo closing in for the tie. There is just something about Dragonflies. I pulled out the Medicine Cards tonight and this is what I read:
Dragonfly medicine is of the dreamtime and the illusionary facade we accept as physical reality. The iridescence of Dragonfly’s wings reminds us of colors not found in our everyday experience. Dragonfly’s shifting of color, energy, form, and movement explodes into the mind of the observer, bringing vague memories of a time or place where magic reigned. Some legends say that Dragonfly was once Dragon, and that Dragon had scales like Dragonfly’s wings.
Dragonfly is the essence of the winds of change, the messages of wisdom and enlightenment, and the communications from the elemental world. This elemental world is made up of the spirits of plants, and the elements Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. On one level, you may need to give thanks to the food you eat for sustaining your body. On a psychological level, it may be time to break down the illusions you have held that restrict your actions or ideas.
Dragonfly medicine always beckons you to seek out the parts of your habits which you need to change. Have you tended to the changes you have wanted to make in your life? If you feel the need for change, call on Dragonfly to guide you through the mists of illusion to the pathway of transformation. See how you can apply the art of illusion to your present question or situation, and remember that things are never completely as they seem.
–excerpt from the Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams & David Carson, published 1988, Bear & Company, Sante Fe, New Mexico
There are over 5000 species of dragonflies and damselflies. Not only do they eat mosquitoes and fly between 19 to 38 m.p.h., they are magic. When we were at a Fourth of July gathering and ritual healing for the Gulf of Mexico, a friend found a Dragonfly wing in her garden. When she heard about my encounters with Dragonfly, she handed the veined, translucent wing to me. I tucked it inside the cover of my writing notebook. The things I carry. Dragonfly secrets. Written in the wind.
-posted on red Ravine, Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
-related to posts: What Is Your Totem Animal? and WRITING TOPIC – INSECTS & SPIDERS & BUGS, OH MY! (You haven’t lived until you’ve seen ybonesy’s photograph of a Jerusalem Cricket in the Rio Grande Valley. Check out Child of the Earth and Me at the Insects & Spiders & Bugs Writing Topic link!)
http://tinyurl.com/clubtail
LikeLike
this is really a great shot! So unique with the blue sky as a backdrop. Great job!
LikeLike
Cool bike, Gunnar. How did you get that embossing in the frame?
photographyfree4all, thank you. I just checked out your blog. Some great photos there. Including a red dragonfly you met at lunch! I have to admit, I’ve never seen a red one before. Must be a different part of the country. Or maybe I haven’t been looking hard enough here in the Midwest!
LikeLike
what wonderfully delicate wings – especially seen against the sky! I love dragonflies too
LikeLike
The bicycle frame is a handbuilt, my daughter’s college graduation present. I spent a couple of years accumulating all the components, some vintage, some modern. The dragonflies are sort of a family totem and my daughter has a henna colored dragonfly tattoo on the inside of her right ankle. I sketched a vaguely mission/prairie style take on the Plains Clubtail Dragonfly, then cut and filed it out of brass sheet. Curt Goodrich, the frame builder, brazed it on to the lower left side of the downtube, before painting the frame green and yellow with gold iridescence, the color of the Plains Clubtail. I realize it is silliness to invest so much thought in a bicycle, but I enjoy the process.
LikeLike
Amazing shot!
LikeLike
I just realized that I hadn’t comment on this even though I read it and loved the photo. (Commenting on Facebook can confuse, because you remember commenting but it wasn’t on the post at all, just the post of the post.)
I loved Gunnar’s dragonfly emboss on the bike and would love to see a dragonfly tattoo. I’m now lusting over the idea of a dragonfly tattoo.
QM, I thought of this post today because a dragonfly of the same type, same black and transparent wings, flew into our sliding glass door. We have been seeing a lot of dragonflies lately and they often fly into the glass door. They also hover above the pond and alight on the pond plants to drink water. Do you know what kind of dragonfly this is?
I do love dragonflies. They can be kind of intimidating in terms of how they look. And their size. I don’t think I’d like one to fly into my hair, for example.
Speaking of insects, last night I came home pretty late. I was standing at the sink getting a glass of water before bed, all the lights out (it was past midnight), and I felt hairy spiky insect legs digging into my neck. Then the part-hissing-part-squeaking sound of the Rootbeer Beetle. I screamed as I flung the thing off of me. It was so freaky! I had to catch it, which I did with a washcloth, and put it outside. It wouldn’t let go of the washcloth. Didn’t want to be alone, I guess.
LikeLike
Wouldn’t a dragonfly tattoo be the coolest? Go for it, ybonesy. A dragonfly divebombed my head this morning when I was taking a slow walk. They can be kind of intimidating, I guess. I think it’s the prehistoric look they have. Can you imagine a HUGE dragonfly sailing across the heavens back in ancient times? I’ve been lax on looking up the exact name of this particular dragonfly. I’m usually pretty good at that kind of research. I’ll have to get on it. Or maybe Gunnar knows.
ybonesy, what’s a Rootbeer Beetle? I’ve never heard of it. You sure do have some strange creatures down New Mexico way. 8) Is it like a June Bug? That’s all I know to relate it to. When we were kids we did this kind of cruel thing of tying a string to a June Bug’s leg and letting them fly around our heads in a circle. Then we let them go, of course. But who’s to say they weren’t hurt by that. I wonder if kids still do that today.
We’ve had tons of spiders in our house this year. I should get out the Medicine Cards and read about Spider again. Most of them have been in the bathroom and I’ve been doing the catch and release thing. Most times it’s in my pajamas, running out on the deck to release a spider from a jelly jar!
LikeLike
Thank you, Juliet & Quillan. Appreciate you stopping by. After Liz spotted the dragonfly, I took a long series of shots with the BlackBerry from all different angles. I thought I was getting a few good photos but was surprised at the quality after I blew them up. Really happy with this series. Wings to fly.
Gunnar, thanks for explaining about the bike. I don’t think it’s silly at all. The Devil is in the details. Art is all about presentation. And it sounds like that bike was a complete labor of love for your daughter. It’s pretty darned cool.
I was listening to an interview on MPR this week about the value of working with our hands. How parents sometimes discourage their kids from going into the trades, thinking that it’s somehow better to get a 4-year degree and be sitting at a desk in front of a computer. I, for one, have always admired those who can work with their hands in that way or the mechanics who can rebuild a vintage car engine. It’s such a gift.
LikeLike
QM, the Rootbeer Beetle is the June Bug time five. About five times larger, maybe ten times. I tried to do a quick Google search but realized maybe they’re not commonly called Rootbeer Beetles. They have a body that looks like a rootbeer barrel. We always called them that growing up. I’ll need to research their real name, not something I can do from Portland, but when I get back…
LikeLike
I like the name Rootbeer Beetle. I can look it up, too, see what it looks like. I think I remember you talking about it before. It seems like all the insects and bugs are a lot BIGGER down your way!
LikeLike
That dragonfly just LOOKS prehistoric. And artistic. Do those things go together? Perhaps….
LikeLike
J, I think they might. I was just up at the North American Bear Center in Ely, Minnesota and the first thing I wanted to do was to sketch the prehistoric Short-Faced Bear. I was so drawn to those bones. I think it tickles something ancient in our own roots to know the history of the other living things throughout time, like the sandhill cranes that have been around since about the same time.
I bought a dragonfly book at Moose Lake State Park this weekend and am enjoying learning about dragonflies. I can see I’m going to do much more with them over the course of this year. Liz and I saw an orange one in the park when we were searching for a cache. She got a great shot of it with her SLR.
LikeLike
Back to this post to say I spotted hundreds of dragonflies floating on the wind, darting, and diving at a local park over lunch. I had never seen so many in one place before. Maybe it’s the large population of mosquitoes this year. It was an amazing sight.
LikeLike
[…] wings carry golden drops of magic. In Dragonfly Wings — It Is Written In The Wind, I wrote about the meaning of Dragonfly in the Medicine cards. During The Sketchbook Project, […]
LikeLike
Liz went out to record the frogs on a windy April afternoon and saw her first dragonfly of the season. I could not believe it. She shot some video and showed it to me — now I have to believe! Dragonfly is back, riding the wind!
LikeLike
[…] to posts: Flying Solo — Dragonfly In Yellow Rain, Shadow Of A Dragonfly, Dragonfly Wings — It Is Written In The Wind, Dragon Fight — June Mandalas, The Sketchbook Project, haiku 4 (one-a-day) Meets renga […]
LikeLike
[…] to posts: Flying Solo — Dragonfly In Yellow Rain, Shadow Of A Dragonfly, Dragonfly Wings — It Is Written In The Wind, Dragon Fight — June Mandalas, EarthHealer — Mandala For The Tortoise, ode to a crab […]
LikeLike
[…] — Mandala For Rabbit, Flying Solo — Dragonfly In Yellow Rain, Shadow Of A Dragonfly, Dragonfly Wings — It Is Written In The Wind, Dragon Fight — June Mandalas, EarthHealer — Mandala For The Tortoise, ode to a crab […]
LikeLike
[…] to posts: first dragonfly, Flying Solo — Dragonfly In Yellow Rain, Shadow Of A Dragonfly, Dragonfly Wings — It Is Written In The Wind, Dragon Fight — June Mandalas, The Sketchbook Project, haiku 4 (one-a-day) Meets renga 52 […]
LikeLike
[…] of summer, first dragonfly, Flying Solo — Dragonfly In Yellow Rain, Shadow Of A Dragonfly, Dragonfly Wings — It Is Written In The Wind, Dragon Fight — June Mandalas Advertisement GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); […]
LikeLike
[…] — Mandala For Rabbit, Flying Solo — Dragonfly In Yellow Rain, Shadow Of A Dragonfly, Dragonfly Wings — It Is Written In The Wind, Dragon Fight — June Mandalas, EarthHealer — Mandala For The Tortoise, ode to a crab […]
LikeLike
[…] to posts: Dragonfly Wings — It Is Written In The Wind, Eye Of The Dragon Tattoo, Dragonfly Revisited: End Of Summer GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); […]
LikeLike
[…] dragonfly revisited — end of summer, first dragonfly, Flying Solo: Dragonfly In Yellow Rain , Dragonfly Wings — It Is Written In The Wind, Shadow Of A Dragonfly, haiku 4 (one-a-day) Meets renga […]
LikeLike