I wrote this four years ago. This winter I've been visited by several hawks who fly by my window and perch on the antennaes on the roof of the apartment building across from me. Since it's March, and since the hawks are here .. it is worth reprinting ...
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March 2003 - 107 Victoria Ave. S. Hamilton Ontario
I saw something rare and special this morning on my usual walk around the neighbourhood with my dog Ursula.
It was especially beautiful this morning, with one of the last snows of the season coating the trees. Nonetheless, I was deep in thought working on a problem that I wasn’t convinced really had an answer. I looked up in the sky, saw a bird soaring overhead. At first I thought it was a seagull, a common sight in downtown Hamilton where I live. It wasn’t. It was a beautiful red-tailed hawk.
I have never seen a hawk in our neighbourhood. I see them lots of other places – I counted 17 of them one day on a drive to Toronto. Hawks appear in my life all the time, but never here.
Whenever a hawk appears, I know that it’s a time to pay attention because something is speaking to me.
My rapport with hawks began in the summer of 1999. I was at art camp – one of the other people there was a Mohawk artist who told me that I need to pay attention to the animals that appear in my life. “Animal medicine” he called it. He said that he thought the animals I needed to pay attention to were the bear, which is about hibernating and journeying into oneself, and the badger, which is about self-protection.
But no bears and badgers appeared, so I didn’t think about it again.
A few months later I was in my second floor studio, working on yet another seemingly unsolvable problem. I went to the window to get some outside inspiration. Sitting in front of me, eye level on the fir tree five feet in front of the window was a big, magnificent hawk. We looked each other in the eye for what seemed like half an hour. Probably only five minutes, but time stood still as we stared in each other’s eyes.
Since that time, hawks have appeared whenever I needed them. One of the most startling was the time when I stood at the foot of my grandparents’ grave, feeling especially sad despite the fact that they’ve been gone for many years. Through my tears I asked them “if you can see me now, are you proud of me?” Just at that moment, a hawk took flight from behind a row of tombstones two rows away. There have been many other instances like this. And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that whenever a hawk appears, it is time to pay attention and look at my world from a larger perspective.
We’ve just entered the month of March, which is believed by some to be the time when the energy of the hawk is especially powerful. The winds are strong this time of year, a good time for soaring above the earth and looking down. The winds are also very unpredictable – it takes more courage than usual to soar upon the wild winds when we don’t exactly know where they are going to take us.
This month I invite you all to fly, supported by the strong currents which will carry us to unknown places. The glorious thing is that we don’t have to spend all of our efforts flapping our wings. The gusty March winds will carry us, giving us the rare opportunity to glide and look the view from above. Don’t be afraid that the wind will slam you into the side of a building, because you’re flying higher than that. Besides, if you don’t like where the wind is taking us, all you need to do is use your strong wings to take you in another direction.
And while you’re enjoying your wild ride, think of what it’s all for. Remember that the hawk is the messenger. According to native legend, the hawk brings word to us on earth from the spirit world of our grandparents and the Creator. So think about what messages you bring to those around you, and like the hawk, cry them loudly to those who need to hear it.
Cry them out boldly – the hawk is not afraid of its power.
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