about that egret....

In Egypt the Heron is honored as the creator of light. A double headed Heron in Egypt is symbolic of prosperity.

As a Chinese symbol the Heron represents strength, purity, patience and long life.

In Africa, the Heron was thought to communicate with the Gods.

Most Native American tribes took note of the heron’s inquisitiveness, curiosity and determination. As such this set the heron as a symbol of wisdom in that this creature seemed to have good judgement skills.

Specifically, the Iroquois tribe held the blue heron as a very good omen, a very lucky sign. They recongnized the heron as an expert fisher/hunter. As such, they believed that sighting a heron before a hunt was a sign that the hunt would be a good one.

As a water creature the heron is also a symbol of acceptance, and working with the elements of Mother nature rather than struggling against her.

i wouldn't have paid much attention except, a) oh hello there you are, and i'd just been in a pretty spectacular meditation. plus kane went into complete shock mid-gallop. you know, i would sometimes say that everything in the past few years has been just a whopping good story. and then. so. me personally, i'd never seen an egret on fire island.

oh interesting! look:

aigrette
456; 721; 748; 813; Aigrette (from the French for egret, or lesser white heron), the tufted crest, or head-plumes of the egret, used for adorning a woman's head-dress, the term being also given to any similar ornament, in gems, &c. An aigrette is also worn by certain ranks of officers in the French army. By analogy the word is used in various sciences for feathery excrescences of like appearance, as for the tufts on the heads of insects, the feathery down of the dandelion, the luminous rays at the end of electrified bodies, or the luminous rays seen in solar eclipses, diverging from, the moon's edge.