#asfound
i didn’t see her fall from the sky, but i must have felt it i guess….i don’t know how else to explain that i spotted her where she lay, so perfectly camouflaged in the straw colored grasses off the side of the road. i pulled over and doubled back and parked off the shoulder. my heart sank as i approached and reached out to touch her. she was still warm as she lay there. i paused for a moment, then i flipped her over. a slow trickle of fresh blood ran out of her beak. her neck was clearly broken in the collision with the car, hard steel and glass traveling at high velocity through her home territory. her mate was perched high above on the power pole, watching intently. i had noticed them several times before while driving this section of country highway, hunting or just playing up in the thermals that rise over the eastern slopes, and once or twice they had swooped down right in front of me, sailing directly across the hood of my truck, almost like they were daring a game of chicken, or sending me a message. they were close enough that I knew that they were hawks but i never spotted the telltale red feathers in any of those fleeting high speed encounters. i always felt like those meetings were signs of something, a sign that i should be paying attention, a message, a sign of some kind of magic. i picked her up, and as the blood flowed onto the ground and with the warmth of this majestic wild creature now dead in my hands; my heart was in my throat, my breath tightened and my eyes welled with tears. i don’t know why it is that these things find me, or why it is that i am so deeply moved by both the experience and the underlying symbolism behind it all. there’s a lot of my story line that has references to red-tailed hawks , and i always imagined one day i would be gifted a feather to add to my collection, but not this way. not a whole #hawk , so intact, not holding it in my hands and feeling the last of it’s essence leaving it’s body. our indigenous elders have a lot to say about these birds, and the markings on their #feathers, and the connection between the earthly and #spiritual planes and our root chakra. you can google that. those who know me well will understand the other references, and their importance to me personally. for processing that i have to do some more soul mining and searching my heart. to say it was powerful and inspirational and deeply moving and gut wrenching is an understatement, and i’m just writing this brief note as a part of capturing the moment and honoring her and this encounter… “oh how i forgot, what it’s like…”
#starwitness #visualpoetry #staywild #magicrealism #generalwolfrules #tendtothebones #symbolsimagerystuffandthings #howtopracticemagic #spiritwolf #wildhearts #sacredmessages #secretmessages #somethingsinthewolf
spiritwolf 
As to the why, being observant, compassionate, curious, thoughtful does increase awareness and perceptions, being in tune with the natural world and beyond. Seek and you shall find…. Interconnection. Whoa. Thank you for writing on your encounter, for caring, and for honoring the hawk. I also treasure seeing hawks!
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