Vernal Equinox Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Hawk – 19 March 2021 – Photo: L. Weikel

Setting of Tone

Today turned out to be a much more delightful day, weather-wise, than what I was expecting. While it was still chillier than last week, I was grateful that yesterday’s dreary pall of rain didn’t carry over into today. As we took a walk late this afternoon the lingering breath of winter felt exhilarating. And encountering this messenger, surely one of our horny hawks from last week’s extravaganza of mid-sky mating rituals and raucous attention-getting, felt like a seasonal setting of tone.

What tone might this hawk be setting?

First and foremost, Hawk (as an archetype, hence the capitalization) is a messenger. And this one perched not on a pole or at the apex of a tree, as is their usual preferred observatory, but rather smack in the middle of a telephone wire, perfectly balanced above the center of a roadway. And s/he watched us approach for a good quarter of a mile before taking flight again.

It strikes me that for a bird as hefty as a hawk, balancing on a wire takes more skill and focus than might be demanded of a sparrow or bluebird. This fact gave more credence to the deliberate intention of the act itself. This hawk was not trying to hide itself from us or observe us from afar. In fact, I swear it maintained eye contact with me the entire time I walked toward it with the hope of getting as clear a photo as possible.

I’m not suggesting that it showed up just for us, but surely a higher and more stable point would have been preferable as a hunting perch. And part of its message could therefore be that we need to bring an extra dose of skill and focus to achieve our goals this spring.

Communication, Creativity, New Life

Sitting on a telephone wire above the middle of a road. Being obvious and direct in its work as a messenger, possibly using new means of communication. Patiently awaiting the arrival of the new growth/life that so much effort was put into creating last week during the very public and unmistakable mid-air mating dances and rituals.

The energy I felt from this hawk was that it almost wanted to whack me upside the head with its wing. Perching there on a wire overhead it just felt like it was deliberately making itself obvious to us. It was pretty much demanding that we pay attention to it and heed its message – which at least partially was conveyed last week when she and her suitors made such a ruckus as they created new life.

Confirmation

Just as I started writing this post, I decided to choose a card from the Naked Heart Tarot deck, asking for a message on setting of tone for the spring season. I chose the Three of Wands.

To me, this card says yes, create a sacred space in which to focus your creative energy. Allow the rising sun that signifies the burgeoning energy of springtime to fill and illuminate your life. Give yourself a protected space in which to give this new life, this nascent creativity, room and space to grow.

Three of Wands – Naked Heart Tarot deck

(T-252)

Last Day of Winter

Welcome to the final day of winter 2021. The vernal equinox, or first day of spring, will officially arrive at 5:37 a.m. EDT on Saturday, March 20, 2021. Of course, that’s in the Northern Hemisphere. If you happen to be in the Southern Hemisphere, I’d say this is your last day of summer, and wish you happy first day of autumn – but you’re very nearly there already. (Consider it said anyway!)

It feels good to be putting this winter to bed. It gave us its all and it worked us out, too. I’m grateful for the abundance of snow we received. We spent most of the season dressed in a cloak of white. And the greatest part was how the snow barely had time to get all dirty and cinder-pocked before another storm would arrive to freshen our perspectives.

Today (the 19^th) is also, as many have already memorialized, the anniversary of when Pennsylvania acknowledged the pandemic for what it is and basically forced the commonwealth into power-save mode. I’m grateful we were one of the states that took the threat of the virus seriously fairly quickly.

It’s been a year. And it’s been a season.

A Doozy of a Week

Rounding out the pandemic year, and the winter season, this week has been strange and challenging. It felt oddly interminable. Every day I would wake up and struggle to grasp what day it was. People generally felt a little short-tempered, distant, or perhaps distracted.

Personally, I think the return of colder weather and the dismal overcast of the past few days (who among us enjoys taking a walk when it’s spitting rain and the temperature is hovering in the mid-30s?) took a toll on our ability to roll with the punches. Even though we knew last week – at least intellectually – that winter definitely would wrap its cold bony fingers around our shoulders at least one more time before more reliably spring-ish weather arrived, it still came as a punch to the gut to have to endure raw weather yet again.

And this time it wasn’t even accompanied by pretty white flakes.

Thank you winter, for providing us with so much cocoon time. I can’t wait to see what we all look like (creatively!) when we emerge from our chrysalises.