Eagle Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Ocean or Mountain

I guess you could say I’m lucky I don’t have to choose between living in the mountains or living near the ocean.

If pressed, I would probably make the argument that I live in the best of both worlds: gorgeous countryside with an abundance of trees, rolling hills, farmland, and a life’s blood of creeks and rivers interwoven throughout. So why should I choose when I can visit both?

Water, Solitude, and a Striking View

As many of you know, when not relishing the beauty of my own personal environment (such as I indulged in last week), I’ve spent a decent amount of time recently in the Blue Ridge portion of the Appalachians known as the Smokies. And I’ve waxed on about the intoxicating beauty of that area.

Today, however, I had a chance to put my feet back into the Atlantic and feel the raw, primal power of the ocean. The scent of sea and salt here on Long Beach Island took me back to my summers on Cape Cod, as rolling mounds of blue green seawater rippled toward land, slapping against the sand in a massive swooshie sigh.

At first glance deceptively non-threatening, the mounds would rise suddenly out of their humpbacked travel into perfectly sharp-edged curls that resembled skateboarding ‘half-pipes.’ Seeing the mares’ tails spraying back at the topmost edges of those waves made me yearn to be back in the early years of my second decade of life, when body surfing would occupy my days for hours on end and I would fall into bed exhausted. Yet I almost always had just enough juice left to read a couple chapters under the muted light of the Christmas tree light sized bulb in the nightlight above my pillow. With the windows open, I could hear the distant roar of the Atlantic, and I could see the sweep of the “I-love-you” light of Nauset lighthouse across the pine treetops.

Wampum Memories

Yes, just putting me feet into the ocean made me yearn for those days when I walked with my mom and picked up wampum, giving each piece to her for inspection on whether it was good enough to pass her eagle eye.

Speaking of eagles, here’s one of the photos I wanted to post yesterday of an eagle that visited me at the Tohickon back in April in a moment of exquisite solitude.

Eagle soaring – Photo: L. Weikel

Mountains? Ocean? Creek?

Impossible to decide.

But I am grateful for the friends who gave me the opportunity to visit each of them this summer.

(T-811)

Hawk giving me the stink-eye – Photo: L. Weikel

Final Messengers

Capping the remarkable range of creatures crossing my path this week, I was astonished when a massive Red-tailed Hawk rather unceremoniously landed in the top portion of a shag-bark hickory tree yards from where I was sitting this morning. I’d built another fire (because I could, I guess – and because the air was getting chillier and moister by the moment), so it was even more surprising to me that the hawk chose to land in a tree so close to me.

It seemed as though it had landed near me in order to deliberately get my attention. Mission accomplished! And as soon as I welcomed its arrival in my personal psychic space, it leapt off its branch and proceeded to fly in circles directly over my head. After the sixth full circular pass overhead, the raptor veered back into the currents above the creek itself and flew downstream.

Journaling – Pays Off Yet Again

I’m sure you’ll find it unsurprising that the hawk arrived just after I’d made some rather astonishing connections in my journal. I was literally ‘connecting the messages’ brought to me all week via both the Medicine Cards I’d chosen each day and the actual creatures crossing my path. It wasn’t until this morning and my careful reiteration of all the various connections that I realized the orchestration and choreography that had to have been deployed in order to make the messages make sense to each other.

I didn’t get a photo of this particular bird, but I am happy to share a photo of another hawk that crossed my path some months ago.

Yes, Hawk has been tapping at the window pane of my life for many months now. And if you ask him, he’d say it’s been a long hard slog to get me to pay attention to him again.

Spirit

Finally, as I was moments away from leaving my sanctuary and in the midst of closing Sacred Space, I reached the final ‘Direction’ I address, which is ‘Above.’ This is where I greet and give thanks to Spirit and all the representations and emissaries of Spirit that are associated with ‘Above,’ such as Grandmother Moon, Father Sun, the Great Star Nations, God, Goddess, All That Is, Great Spirit, Ascended Masters, etc.

As I was specifically thanking Spirit for helping ‘connect the dots’ for me and illuminating the meaning behind the pattern of messages I’d received all week, I looked up and could barely believe my eyes. The very moment I expressly gave thanks for providing me with such clear messengers and messages, two eagles appeared in the sky visible through a clearing in the tree canopy. Two eagles danced together, circled a few moments, and were gone.

Unlike all the other days I’ve written about this week, I did not even try to get photos of these profound messengers. Instead, I simply, consciously, and reverently took in the totality of the experience.

Convergence of Earlier Encounters

While I don’t have photos of the winged ones who visited me today, I do have photos of a couple who visited me back in the springtime.

Indeed, the stories of those encounters (which took place on exactly the same day in two separate locations) remain to be shared. While I knew the direct experiences were utterly profound in the moments I had them, I also felt the time was not yet right to relay the stories and their significance. That time is drawing nearer.

In the meantime, though, and in honor of their capstone appearances today, I share a couple of my best photos from our April contacts.

I could not have asked for more direct, immediate communication and support. I am filled with gratitude.