I woke up this morning with the song, "Scarlet Ribbons," wafting through my hearing as I made the transition to waking consciousness, although I'm almost positive the song was not from a dream. I think I was enchanted, a word meaning,"to sing into," by one of the loving spirits I like to think inform my psychic imagination when I answer questions for people; actually, it's all the time now that I feel informed by them. But why, I wondered, would I have now replaced as my musical mild obsession one of the theme songs from the Italian TV show, "Don Matteo," which we are currently binge watching via streaming service, MHz Choice, with "Scarlet Ribbons," a lovely song that I haven't heard since childhood when it was sung by Perry Como, an Italian, but I don't think that was the connection or the message that "they" out "there" were trying to convey to me.
Scarlet Ribbons
Music by Evelyn Danzig
lyrics by Jack Segal
I peeked in to say goodnight And then I heard my child in prayer Send for me some scarlet ribbons Scarlet ribbons for my hair. All the stores were locked and shuttered All the streets were dark and bare In our town no scarlet ribbons No scarlet ribbons for her hair. Through the night my heart was aching Just before the dawn was breaking. I peeked in and on her bed In gay profusion laying there Scarlet ribbons, scarlet ribbons Pretty scarlet ribbons for her hair. If I live to be a hundred I will never know from where Came those lovely scarlet ribbons Scarlet ribbons for her hair..
Like one does when one has a dream that stays with them, I didn't get up right away but allowed the song to continue in my head while some other part of my mind "free-associated" possible meanings. I came to realize that this was a manifestation of the extreme Five Heavenly Bodies in the Zodiac Sign of Pisces sensitivity I wrote last night, blasting through my Aquarian waking mind's coolness to tell me something about an aspect of life that I rarely think about these days: a message of how much a parent or caregiver can love a child.
A couple of days prior to my Scarlet Ribbons dream I had had the privilege of accompanying my nephew and my great-nephew to the restaurant the little man had asked to dine at, McDonald's. When my nephew was his son's age and for many years after, he and I would occasionally make an occasion out of our visit to the same restaurant in Southampton. It was a tradition that I hadn't realized I missed. I missed even more being an uncle to a young child.
My own uncle, Morris Harth, had truly been a second father to me and his sister, my aunt Rosie, a second mother; a first mother, really, because my own mother was mentally in and hospitalized on several occasions and not able to function as a mother for the rest of her life.
My mother had found her own mother, my grandmother whom I never met, hanging from the shower curtain when she was in her late teens and it had been too much for her after my sister and I were born. Scarlet Ribbons of sorrow exist in profusion in all of our lives at some point, not my favorite aspect of being alive, but it comes with the territory.
I think that there should be an Aunts Day and an Uncles Day, and while we're at it, a Grandmothers Day, a Grandfathers Day, and a Caregivers Day for those who are even more selfless and not related to children they're caring for. I have long ago accepted the fact that I will never hear a child call me "father" but I would be a liar if I didn't say that on Fathers Day I am saddened that I don't get acknowledged for trying to be as good an uncle to my nephews as my Uncle Morris was to me. Hey, I'm a Leo Rising and Leos need appreciation! I never said I was perfect...hmmm, I hope I never said I was perfect! ;-)
WE CONTINUE!
The Astro Weather has changed and you should be aware of the tendency in yourself and those you encounter to exhibit sudden, out of the blue emotional outbursts that can be quite aggressive. Those who have been acting out and especially those who have been acting in a self-destructive manner may top themselves today and REALLY act out. There is also a slim chance that those who are mentally ill like my mother may actually try to "top themselves," in the British slang sence, i.e., have suicidal ideations, in the parlance of mental health.
Since her death I have come to appreciate the fact that my mother didn't top herself and take me and my sister with her, something that happens all to frequently around the world. So if you know someone whose mental state is fragile and their capacity to self-harm is a demonstrated fact, watch them closely today and if they say something, do something; they're not kidding.
On a more pleasant note for the large majority of us, today may be a day where we have a Scarlet Ribbons moment, an out-of-the-blue emotionally cleansing pseudo-miracle of our brain, heart, mind, soul, spirit communicating to us in the only language it knows, symbols. Of course, we may also encounter in the physical the events known as "coincidences," aka miracles. You read that right, you may see a little miracle today and it gives me great pleasure to report that.
Yes, every day, every person we love, every breath is a miracle. You know what I mean, a delightful coincidence that shows us that maybe all the sweetness in the world is the real part and the apparent lack and sorrow just a test to bring us back to the sweetness and the realization that, like children and pets with benevolent, loving, caring caregivers of all names, we will be provided for. May we all have our "Scarlett Ribbons" in great profusion waiting for us when next we wake.
