
In the past few months, I’ve become an herbal tea addict. Up until this point in my life, I wasn’t a fan, but something shifted in my body recently that not only do I like herbal teas, but I crave them. So when my kids went on vacation for spring break, I asked them to bring me back a tea mug from the Butterfly House for Mother’s Day if they saw something there that grabbed their attention. I was envisioning a mug with butterflies on it.
Two months passed, and on the day before Mother’s Day, my daughter asked me what my favorite animal was. I told her that my lifelong spirit animal is an elephant, but that I’ve been feeling attracted to turtles lately. This was a slip of the tongue: I had actually meant to say frogs. However, it was too late to take back what I had said as my daughter had replied, “Good!” I had no idea what she meant.
The next morning, I was informed that I wanted to drink hot tea for breakfast but was permitted to select a flavor. My kids brought me a cup of one of my favorites, Happy Heart tea, in my new mug. Looking at the exterior of the mug, it was incredibly simple and plain, though it had a pretty handle with polka dots and was larger than the average mug. I opened a card from one of my sons that had two scuba diving turtles on it; above them was a pirate turtle looking over with confusion. My daughter drew me a beautiful illustration of a turtle which I gave her a frame to put it in so we could hang it on the wall. And then, once my tea had cooled a bit, I went to take a sip and discovered two turtles in the bottom of my mug staring back at me.
I really had no clue that the kids had gotten me a turtle mug. The synchronicity of my slip of the tongue seems too uncanny to be just a coincidence. The spiritual meaning of turtle also is incredibly appropriate for me at this juncture in my life, so I am taking this as a sign from above to integrate the lessons of the turtle into my spiritual work. I’m grateful for the message that comes with a reminder each time I use my new mug.
© 2015 Elizabeth Galen, Ph.D., Green Heart Guidance, LLC