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January 26 through February 1, 2026

This week unfolds under the influence of a Leo full Moon, and though it doesn’t peak until Sunday, we’ll see the effects of it over the next seven days. Monday proves to be our most productive day of the week, thanks to a grounded Taurus Moon. When the Moon dances into Gemini on Tuesday, we’ll spend the next three days on the information highway, seeking out new ideas, conversing with interesting people, and restructuring all our electronics to get the most out of them! Friday and Saturday thrive under the influence of a spiritual Pisces Moon, bringing our inner souls' dreams to the surface. A wonderful time for meditating, relaxing, and just “being”. Sunday’s Leo full Moon brings out our generous sides and our big hearts, as we spend time with our favorite people and practice gratitude for the important things in our lives; our loved ones!

The Healing Wisdom of Birds: The Spirit of the Dove, by Lesley Morrison

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

The dove is one of those birds whose imagery seems universal. It is a symbol of hope, purity, and faith, but many people would never think to look any deeper into its complex and ancient past. While researching for my book, The Healing Wisdom of Birds, I poured through a vast pile of mythologies, goddess images, and religious associations centered upon birds and found a history of the dove much more intriguing than the modern day archetype.

If we cast an eye back toward the civilizations of ancient Crete, Egypt, and Greece, we can see the dove predominate as a cultural icon, harmonizing the apparent duality of sexuality and spiritual love. Although revered as a symbol of peace in many places, the dove was usually seen as the embodiment of the Goddess and her divine powers. In Mycenaean iconography, the dove and goddess motif appeared as early as the 16th century BCE. This icon later spread throughout Greece, eventually evolving into the Greek goddess Aphrodite, the world’s favorite deity of amour. Aphrodite (Venus in the Roman pantheon) had the dove as her primary bird companion—not as a symbol of hope or faith, but as the profound essence of fertility that springs from sexual and emotional love.

In the ancient Minoan pantheon, the goddess who overruled fertility and procreation had the dove as her sacred bird. The dove personifies the idea of union with the source of life that sexual energy and spirituality both strive to fulfill. It is an enduring symbol of the soul but at the same time reveals the connection between earthly love and the human need to reunite with the divine. Doves, like the goddesses they adorned, have brought together the fundamentals of the human experience in mythologies, art, and many religions, unifying divine love with erotic love into one spiritual experience. This reveals to us the undeniable relationship between the two aspects of human nature.

But later cultures downplayed the dove’s role as the sacred image of sexuality and, as time passed, alienated the dove from its primal symbolic foundations. The dove remains a lingering presence in the modern world, adorning holiday cards and church paintings, but the dove carries such a complex wisdom that is long-cherished and universally celebrated. As the epiphany of Aphrodite, the dove was a potent force of fertility and higher love. Later, this bird came to be the sacred bird of Bacchus, the Roman god of fertility, wine, and ecstasy. Many of these associations are distant today, and frowned upon by more "conservative" organizations and religious belief systems.

But why the dove? How does a quiet, ground-feeding little bird come to evoke such potent imagery from culture to culture?

It is not a high-flying predator like the hawk, or an entertainer like the blue jay, or a graceful swimmer like the swan. And yet its mythologies abound and its presence celebrated for its quiet, humble, and unrivaled purity. The dove mates for life, expressing that old-fashioned ideal of loyalty and true love. They are affectionate and amorous birds, and demonstrate unconditional love toward their companions and their young. The dove reminds the universal mind of the contentment and joys of domestic bliss.

But it seems to signal something higher and more esoteric than just domestic simplicity. It is a purpose to be found, an ideal to pursue, and a gentle nudge toward the light of something more divine than ourselves. There are, of course, many such birds that inspire the human heart to inner exploration, but the dove carries a unique place in the grand sphere of bird symbolism. In the Tarot, the dove is seen nesting in the goblet on the ace of cups card, gracefully depicting the everlasting life of the spirit and the quest for the Holy Grail. When we look at history’s spiritual avatars, like Buddha, Christ, Mother Mary, and many powerful deities in comparison, like Zeus, Inanna, Venus, and Hachiman, we find the dove perching nearby as a loyal companion and sometimes, an alternate form.

Many stories of divine visitations include a radiant white dove as a symbol of God, or alternately, the spirit of God. In the Bible, John the Baptist commented how the spirit of God descended upon him like a dove (Matthew 3:16), and most people know of the dove’s role on Noah’s ark, signaling dry land after the flood. Many cultures, even today, have symbolically released doves as a gesture of freedom, hope, and most predominantly the release of the spirit from the confines of physicality after death. A more contemporary ceremony involves the releasing of doves at weddings to signal the promise of fidelity, love, and a peaceful home (although this is not a practice that holds the doves' best interests in mind).

Although the dove has such an extensive symbolic past, the bird’s fame, particularly as the symbol of peace, was solidified in 1949 by Pablo Picasso, when the World Peace Congress in Paris chose his lithograph, La Colombe ("The Dove") as its emblem. From that point, the dove became the symbol of the peace movement, and has remained such an integral part of the human psyche ever since. Many people in the busy modern world walk by such birds, indeed all birds, with very little thought as to what they once stood for. Researching over forty birds for The Healing Wisdom of Birds, I was cast back in time when everything had some kind of otherworldly meaning, when each individual bird was once a god or goddess, or carried a powerful message to the human spirit.

I hope the distant past of bird symbolism finds a new light in the world. As they inch closer and closer to environmental disaster, birds need a voice in the desolate wilderness of civilization. So the next time you wander outdoors, cast an eye upward to see what wise and ancient creature may be watching you from its perch—it may just be a god in feathered guise.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2011. All rights reserved.

My father passed in 2003. I never got to say goodbye; he was gone by the time I found out. I don't think he comes around me, but he does go around my sister. At least, I don't think he does, but I'm hoping to find out. You see, there is something that happens frequently that may be some sort of sign from him. I have a clock that I once gave him. It kept great time for him, but now that I have it, it doesn't keep time at all for me. Occasionally, the time changes despite having a good battery in it. Could he be doing this? What do you think? Thank you!

Nanette

Astrea:

I'm sorry you never had the chance to tell your father good-bye, but I'm sure you know that no one ever really dies, and that his spirit is always near you. If you can embrace that concept, things might feel a little better for you in time. I'm sure he would want you to be happy, and since he lives in you, good-bye isn't necessary anyway.

We are forever changed when our parents move on beyond the Veil, and bitterness is something we should avoid at all costs. Instead of being upset with the doctor who made the mistake, try to feel sorry for him, for he will have to live with that mistake for his entire life. That's enough. Don't add to your grief with anger - it won't help.

I'm sure it is indeed your dad who is messing with your clocks, trying to reach you. My Daddy does the same thing. Clocks must be pretty easy for our departed loved ones to manipulate, or at least that is something they can do right away. Ours gains about five minutes a day. It's a digital clock, so it doesn't have works. Before Daddy died, it kept perfect time.

You are missing some other manifestations of your dad's caring heart that are around you. He is likely causing other things to happen, but you haven't noticed yet because the clock is so dramatic.

Did he ever say anything when you were children like, When I die, you'll know I'm here because you'll find a dime in an unexpected place every day, or When I die, the phone will ring twice and stop, and that's how you'll know I'm around? MANY people make those statements and seem to be kidding around, but once on the other side, they remember, and they hope that we'll remember too as they do everything they can to reach us.

I was really blessed because Daddy and I arranged signs before he died, and I didn't have to wait long for some of them to manifest. It makes grieving for him a little easier since I know he's keeping one of the last promises he made to me - that we will always be together at least in spirit.

I encourage all parents to please do this with your children. It will be such a wonderful feeling for them to know that you really are there with them, watching over and helping them no matter where your body may be. What a blessing to know your children will be certain about the Afterlife!

Of course, I don't want you to scare little kids. Also, make sure grown children know you're not planning anything before you launch into the signs you'll know I'm near talk so that they don't get the wrong idea.

This is a gift like no other, I can swear to that.

*****

Susyn:

Your father is definitely around you. Certainly the time changes on the clock you gave him are his way of letting you know he is reaching out. When our loved ones cross over to the other side, they have endless ways - some quite astounding - of letting us know they are near.

It can be difficult for us to trust and decipher the ways loved ones' spirits make their presence known. However, your willingness to trust and being open to any incident you can attach to his memory are great starts. You can build on this and even invite more signs to come in through meditation, by keeping a journal to record your thoughts and experiences, and by spending time in conversation with him.

Though we can't always make appointments or call these spirits in at will, when you feel his loss strongly or encounter something that reminds you of him, that would be an ideal time to stop what you are doing and have a conversation with him.

You mention that your sister has contact with him, but you didn't explain in what ways. The signs he provides could be different for each member of your family. If you can move beyond the idea of looking for identical experiences, and if you can forgive the doctors for their mistakes (as he has), you may find that you are able to sense his presence even more.

There are a multitude of signs our loved ones can give us, and in my study of channeling as well as my own personal experiences, these signs can be different for each of us.

When I lost my own mother recently, each of my siblings and I received different signs from her. These included a burning sensation in our bodies; clouds that parted to let the sun shine through as we were talking to her; a treasured object that kept falling off a shelf; and, for one of my sisters, a spiritual scavenger hunt that led her to a wonderful discovery about my mother that none of us had known about.

I too had an experience with a clock. When my husband died years ago, he had a clock that belonged to his grandfather. The clock never worked, but a few years later, as I was moving it to do some redecorating, I bumped it and it started to work, ticking away for over a week and keeping perfect time. Then it stopped again, and when it did, I noticed that it had kept time the same week of the year he had passed away.

I encourage you to meditate and reminisce about special times with your father. Write him a letter and then burn it to send it up to heaven, and keep paying attention to the tangible signs that appear via the clock or other items of his you might possess.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.