Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk, Natural Bridges State Park, California
March 2002 © Peter LaTourrette from http://www.birdphotography.com/ **
This morning while taking a barefoot walk at the Long Beach El Dorado Park Nature Center, for the second time in one week, a juvenile red-tailed hawk and I crossed paths. Both times, other walkers were coming up the trail in the opposite direction, talking noisily. As the walkers and I passed each other, I walked on, quietly barefoot, and a few yards farther down the trail, encountered the hawk. Both times, the hawk sat on a low-lying branch, very close to the trail, within 10 feet of me and eye-level. Both times, after a brief eye-to-eye stare, the hawk took off, flying overhead to sit on a tree branch over my head.
These wild birds of prey sometimes nest at the Nature Center. They are usually shy of people, and the only other time I have seen hawks previously was high up, in flight. What I found unusual about this bird, and I believe it to be the same individual I saw both times, is that it must have kept out of sight while the noisy walkers passed by, and then come down closer to the trail from wherever it was just before I saw it. After my close encounter with the hawk this day, I watched it fly up to a tree branch, still visible. A couple came along, startling the bird, and off it flew, out of sight. I found myself standing on the trail, searching vainly for it, crying "don't go, come back!" and weeping with the pain of loss burning in my heart. I wondered at my reaction.
When I got home, I looked up this bird on the website Cycle of Power Animal Totems http://www.sayahda.com/cyc.html and found the meaning of "Hawk":
"The Hawk
In Native American cultures the hawk represents a messenger. It often appears in our life when we need to pay attention to the subtle messages found in our surroundings and from those we come in contact with. As with all messages received it is important to recognize its underlying truth. Because there are so many varieties of hawk its messages vary and can affect all levels of our psyche.
One thing that all hawks have in common is the skill to move between the seen and unseen realms gracefully connecting both worlds together. Their acute vision compliments this ability and their discriminating nature keeps them out of harms way. The broader vision of the hawk allows them to see what the future holds. In man this symbolizes prophetic insight. If this medicine is underdeveloped a tendency towards over analyzing everything is common. In so doing, clear vision is lost. Those who hold this totem should remember to keep their analytical mind under control and not allow it to run wild.
The hawk has many foraging techniques. The most typical in their pursuit of prey is swiftly following the animal's efforts to escape. Once the hawk has secured the prey with its powerful talons, the bird dismembers it with its sharply pointed, strong beak. In man, this suggests that we can run but we cannot hide from our destiny. Sooner of later it will catch up with us.
The destiny of all humankind is to awaken from their spiritual amnesia and realign with the original intention of their soul. When the hawk flies into our life we will be asked to evaluate who we have become and rip out the threads of our self created illusions. This enables our inner truth to surface.
Hawk signifies union with Great Spirit. A bird of the heavens the hawk orchestrates the changes necessary for our spiritual growth. Having this totem can be bitter sweet. If we accept its presence in our life we will be asked to surrender anything that doesn't honor the integrity of all life. Be it an idea, a feeling or an action. Although hard work is involved the rewards the hawk offers us are great."
I definitely relate to the part about having an over-analytical mind. I believe that my mind is my own worst enemy. I have been struggling mightily with spiritual issues as of late, and trying to come to grips with what I sense is my spiritual power, yet at the same time being afraid to claim this power, running but not hiding from my destiny, whatever it may be. Sooner or later my destiny will catch up to me? That is both a thrilling and a terrifying thought!
The illusions I carry about myself and the "roles" I play in this 3-D existence
have gotten a stranglehold on my life--powerless person, sick person, dis-abled person, victim...it is time to shed them, I know, but I seriously don't know how and I am seriously afraid. Afraid of what? Going into the Unknown, becoming someone unfamiliar to myself, fearing a future I can neither "See" nor control.
Is it worth the hard work of giving up parts of myself and self-delusions that no longer serve me? If I am to believe the persistent message of the hawk, then I really have no choice, painful and difficult though it may be, but to engage my destiny head-on.
Liora Leah
**This story has been revised today, October 18, 2005. At first, I thought the bird I had seen was a juvenile peregrine falcon, but after finding out that the El Dorado Nature Center hosts both red-tailed hawks and peregrine falcons, and studying photographs of both, I have come to the conclusion that the bird I saw was, indeed, a juvenile red-tailed hawk! I re-discovered a feather on my altar that I had found on a trail at the Nature Center months ago, a brown and white striped feather with a lot of white "fluff" on it, and it looks exactly like the chest feathers on the young bird in the photo here! I have had a third encounter with this same hawk since I wrote this story on August 12, 2005, and yesterday saw a family of hawks and their nest: "Eye of the Hawk, Poem" http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=197