Two years ago I posted this on Facebook: “I just recorded a bird outside my window that has been going all night long. I managed to get to sleep in spite of it but it woke me up at 5 and has been driving me crazy! It’s not a pretty song... it’s more like maybe the sound of an elderly chicken, sort of garbled and throaty. I recorded it on my iPhone but have no idea how to post it. I’ve tried sneakily shining a light out there but it stops right away when I do that. Wish I knew wth it was. I hope it doesn’t make that spot it’s new home!”
This is hysterical. It wasn't a bird. It was a frog- or multiple frogs- laying eggs in the puddle outside my window. Ultimately I had to change bedrooms and that room became my sound healing room. I was afraid that if the puddle dried up, there would be a disgusting stinky gooey mess so I transferred all the eggs to the pond. Now the frogs are back- and once again they have laid a pretty massive amount of eggs in the puddle beneath the window of my sound healing room.
Last week I was giving someone a sound healing session and I heard (and saw) the frogs out there, right below the window. I decided, instead of worrying that their sound would disturb my client, that I would invite their energy in and trust that they were just there helping with the session, doing their part as healers. There was a lesson there for me as much as there was perhaps something for the person on the table- and that was, as always, "trust" and "allowing". I also had in mind one of my favortie lessons from A Course in Miracles- “I do not know what anything is for.” (My teacher Dale McNitt from massage school would say, “It's always the same lesson. It's always to teach us to love more.”)
After the session I looked up frog medicine in Ted Andrews' book "Animal-Speak". Obviously they are all about water as they spend their lives in a primarily aquatic environment, and all that is associated with the water element- fertility, cleansing, healing, lunar energy- intuition and empathy- and emotions. They are also a symbol/archetype/totem of metamorphosis (think "egg, pollywog, froggy frog") and coming into one's own creative power- which is often a major theme with people I work with.
Also, water is a powerful conductor of sound which is no small part of the magic of frogs- both the sounds that they make and what and how they hear. They have highly sensitive hearing. Their inner ear is covered by a tympanic membrane (they have no outer ear) which allows them to recognize, locate and respond to certain sounds- especially other frogs!
So, this is all good medicine for those of us working with sound and vibrational healing. I still have to move the frog eggs down to the pond but I know some of the frogs themselves will stay near the sound room sending their good medicine our way!
Afterthought: This also reminds me of a very funny episode when I was teaching a workshop in Canada in 1999. There was a group of us sitting in a circle on the floor with the door open, doing some kind of soundwork. I honestly don't remember what, but I think it was vocal- probably a toning practice or some Sanskrit seed sounds. The striking memory is seeing a toad in the doorway which apparently liked the sound and energy, because he suddenly hopped right into the room and joined us! It was definitely a magical and memorable moment.
Another funny frog story: I had just done a sound healing retreat at Nikki Rood's beautiful property in Lutz, FL- Wisdom Pond. There was a ton of frog energy that weekend- they were definitely making their presence known. It was the end of the weekend and Henry and I had just loaded up my Jeep and were taking two vehicles back to St. Pete. I had too much stuff so he came separately. He left ahead of me- I was driving right behind. We were still on the country road and I quickly noticed that he was driving very slowly and somewhat erraticly. I'm wondering what the hell he is doing. Finally he pulls over. He was kind of freaking out! I get out of my car- “What the hell is going on?!” Well, it turned out that a frog had come along for the ride! Apparently, when he got in the car, it got in with him. After a couple of minutes he noticed it on his rear view mirror. I guess when he noticed it, it noticed him and jumped onto his glasses! If I am remembering correctly, it had two feet on his glasses and two on his mouth and chin! He was completely grossed out and really quite shaken up as he couldn't see with a frog on his glasses, but it did make for a very funny story later on.
Okay- I only have one more frog story. About 15 years ago I was hosting Fabien Maman at my sound healing center in St. Petersburg, FL. This was a big deal- he is a very well known sound healer and I was trying to make a good impression. I had arranged for a place for him to stay at my friend Haris's apartment. The first day I picked him up at the airport, brought him to the center and then was giving him a ride over to Haris's so he could get settled. We got to the house, walked up to the front door and I ring the doorbell. At that moment I notice a frog (or a toad) right next to the doorbell. I am wearing a black Hawaiian shirt with bright orange birds of paradise and beautiful leafy green foliage. I see the frog looking at me and looking at my shirt and I know right away it thinks I'm a beautiful plant! It turns its head way around, kind of craning its neck looking at my shirt, and I say out loud, “No, don't do it- I'm not a plant” and sure enough it immediately jumps directly on my chest. I jump, scream, brush it away and there goes all my coolness.
Here’s what Peter Gabriel has to say about it!