Dragonfly and Dog

Dragonfly has come up a lot in the past few days. I've been seeing people wearing dragonfly jewelry, the name coming up in synchronistic ways: on television, driving or walking by a sign or flyer, and so on.

In two of my many oracle decks there is a Dragonfly card. From the Medicine Cards, an animal oracle.

From the Medicine Cards Animal Oracle Deck

This Dragonfly card is from the Angel Dreams oracle, created by angel expert Doreen Virtue and her daughter Melissa Virtue. This card says: "Transformation, Magic, Illusion."

From Doreen and Melissa Virtue's Angel Dreams oracle

I like the Angel Dreams Interpretation oracle, but was surprised to see a Dragonfly image in the deck. Not sure why; just seemed out of place. While I appreciate dragonflies -- they are certainly lovely to watch -- I don't have a particular affinity for them as an image. Yet that's not what it's all about when it comes to animal messages appearing in one's life. 

Dog has appeared as well. I was thinking, driving up the hill today, about animals in general, including Dragonfly, and then the random ADD thought about tigers, Big Cat sightings in the UK, and how strange it would be to see that on the road. I turn the corner and see a huge dog, beautiful! Very tall, clearly had wolf in him, standing on the corner. He had a collar with tags. He looked so damn intelligent and was looking right at me. Very sweet and he even looked a little lost and scared; worried.  When I came back the same way a few minutes later he was gone. But further down the hill, was another dog; this one had a collar and tags as well. He or she also seemed sad. Resigned. 

There are two dog cards from oracle decks I have; this one from my Druid Animals Oracle:

And this one from the Medicine Cards animal oracle. This card says: "Be loyal to yourself. Be true to others. Bolster your integrity."

I don't know about "bolstering my integrity" or much about the latter card (it's a deck I have issues with; I like the deck in many ways, but go back and forth on matters of cultural appropriation, even though the deck was created by two Native creators.) I prefer the Druid Animal deck both for its art work as well as the Celtic tradition it is based on. Even though I have Native blood I find I have more of a natural connection with my Celtic heritage. 

A lot can be said about Dog as a totem. Dogs are loyal, wolf is a solitary leader and teacher. Dogs guard. Their relationship with humanity goes back a very long way. Friends, co-workers, saviors, guardians. They are also omens; warnings. They can be friendly and loving but also dangerous and unpredictable. Like humans, it all depends on how they've been treated and nurtured.

How to interpret these images? I go with my gut, my intuition. For Dog, I automatically go to my mother, who has been a huge dog lover her whole life. Her health is not good right now and the family situation around that is very very tough right now. As to Dragonfly, I'm not sure, though I like the idea of discarding illusions (maybe that's connected with family after all, come to think of it) but any time synchronistic moments appear in one's life, it's often enough to simply notice that for its own sake.