What Cardinals in the Cemetery Told Me

No matter where I look I can find a different superstition regarding the Cardinal but during my research one meaning in particular really hit home with me...

Throughout time people have read into all kinds of things as omens. Little messages that would give insight concerning a decision to be made or a glimpse into an uncertain future. Birds were seen as obvious carriers of such messages. After all, birds could fly high up into the sky, a mystical realm once untouchable by humans.

 

A black bird may be seen as a bad omen, an owl may even mean death was on it's way. But the cheerful red cardinal meant something all together different, it became the topic of many a Victorian Christmas card. 

The Christmas connection was an obvious one. The cardinal’s very name is derived from the high-ranking clerics of the Catholic Church who wear bright red robes. 

  

So what does it mean to see a cardinal you ask? Let me share my own personal story and my incredible cardinal experience.

After many years of marriage I found myself going through a divorce. It was a dark, scary and uncertain time, as I had married young and really didn't know anything else. But, I was tired of being the other woman. I kept my mind busy with all of my cemetery research. Each day I would post a cemetery photo online with an explanation of the art and symbols used on each.

One day in particular, a person I didn't know at all, responded with an exhaustive history behind the person on one of my stones. After that, with each photo I posted, this person responded with even more insights. Eventually we began to talk and came to realize that our lives were so similar that we were practically the same person. We had both worked as D.J's our mother's had both made wedding cakes for people, and that in addition to each being Civil War buffs, we were also both EMT's that were associated with fire departments. The only difference was that we lived in different states. I felt as if I had found my soul mate, that piece of me that had always been missing...

 

Just about a year later, I took this man to the cemetery where I had taken the gravestone photo on which he had first commented. I wanted to show him the stone that brought us together - firsthand. Being in that cemetery was like our relationship had come to a complete full circle. 

To my shock, he got down on his knee, right among the stones, and proposed to me.  The two photographs I use in this blog were taken in that very cemetery. 

As we were leaving I noticed the male cardinal sitting on a stone and then his female, just a few stones away. You couldn't miss them, and what their presence meant, spoke volumes.

Cardinals are monogamous birds whose relationships with their spouses are harmonious, romantic and musical. The male and female sing duets, calling similar songs to each other. They really are one of  Nature's super couples.

Native American lore says if a cardinal crosses your path or attracts your attention, and you're single, there may be a romantic relationship in your near future. If you're already in a relationship, you may experience renewed romance and courtship.

I can't help thinking that this was an omen directed right at me, telling me that I was finally on the right track. That I had found... The One.

If that wasn't enough, these amazing little birds are red...  and red is the color of the root chakra, the energy center associated with stability, survival, and security. The issues I had been struggling with the whole year prior.

It was all right in front of me sitting on top of gravestones in a Cambridge Massachusetts cemetery. Two little red birds reassuring me that I had indeed found my Happily Ever After....

This blog posting was specially written for my Hero.
Merry Christmas to my love,
Daniel