Hidden in Plain Sight

From the Vision Quest Tarot, the Sun:

With arms outstretched, a woman greets the sun.  The hummingbirds flying around in this image remind me of a place I pass in my daily morning walks.  One elderly woman's backyard is filled with native plants - trees, shrubs and flowers.  She doesn't have a single hummingbird feeder anywhere, yet I've seen dozens of hummers in her yard, all attracted to the blooms of the native flowers and shrubs.  This card reminds me that the freedom and joy I search for is right here (native), around me and within me.  The illumination comes when I realize I don't need to buy or search for it - it's hidden in plain sight.

From the Bird Cards this morning comes the "Pelican:"

A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His bill will hold more than his belican,
He can take in his beak
Enough food for a week
But I'm damned if I see how the helican!

~ Dixon Lanier Merritt

Pelican comes to teach me that it is fine to enjoy the "toys" I've collected, but not to get attached to them.  As the authors state, "It is not fundamentally wrong to acquire material possessions.  [But] the only thing one truly possesses is one's Self...possessions come and go, to be enjoyed, but not hung on to."  If I believe all the advertising I will see, I will succumb to the belief that "stuff" is what will bring me happiness and enlightenment.  But after years of collecting such treasures, I've discovered there's no magic in them at all.