I'm currently living in a spectacular ranch-style home. I house-sit you see. Currently I am watching 4 horses 3 dogs (including Pancho), and the house. This house has a little bit of land around it; 3 pastures, and some arena space just past the barn which is about 50 yards south of the house. The back porch is absolutely my favorite part about the place. It is a deep, covered porch with a couple of coushined bouncy chairs and a table. The real beauty about this spot, is that it faces S, SW and there is a goose farm adjacent to the south property line. So I get to sit out and watch the sunrise, drink my tea (Flowering Jasmine or a Tropical Rooibos/Dragon Pearls blend depending on how zesty I'm feeling) and listen to the geese chat. Yep my recently realized favorite thing to do: watch the sunrise with my cup o tea! But really, the reason I go into such detail about this, is because I have a (possibly interesting) story to tell.
There has been a Red-Tailed Hawk hangin' around the property for the last two days. I was having a peaceful moment closing my eyes and imagining myself watching an immense migratory flyby when I opened my eyes to see this bird of prey on a post; and though this was probably just the Dragon Pearls talking, I could've sworn that it was looking at me. I watched it, and it watched me, when all of a sudden it dove out into the field, grabbed it's near-sighted prey and swooped back to the post to eat breakfast.
Now when I was back in college, and my mind was open to all sorts of crazy ideas, some friends of mine told me about the (usually Native American) belief structure of Animals as Totems in our lives. For example, spiders could mean something about hard work and being busy and dogs, of course, were indicators of something having to do with loyalty and/or fun in your life; etc. etc. Given that I'm 2/3 hippie, I immediately wondered what it meant that this hawk had come into my day and eviscerated a small rodent in front of me (which has been a popular dog sniffing spot ever since). My mom called later that morning and when I mentioned the hawk to her she immediately suggested that I see what the hawk totem meant - whoah creepy - so I decided to check it out.
According to AnimalTotem.com:
"Hawk's piercing shriek tears through the air. In its shrill cry lies an important message which represents illumination. Hawk teaches us to scope out the situation and focus on our talents, trying to draw them out. Hawk learns to see the big picture in order to understand the past, present, and future. Hawk asks us to be observant of surroundings so we won't get distracted from our path by others. It also reminds us not to get caught up in minor annoyances so we can maintain our inner balance."
Heavy. Not to mention, This all happened, the day I started this VERY BLOG!! I decided that Hawk's presence in my life was a good reminder that I'm doing things right and to stay on track! (Incidentally, for those of you without health insurance who are looking for a good life coach, Frog sounds perfect!)
Speaking of Tea, I have recently developed a love for the stuff and in...Argentina, I believe, there is a tradition of drinking Mate (probably in other places also). My only exposure to the social ritual of this experience was when a classmate in my Spanish class this past summer, who had just recently come back from a similar trip to South America, showed us how a group of people would share a cup of mate. I'm not sure why I mention this, except to say that I'm excited to experience different cultural practices and perspectives! I am a little worried about sharing the Bombilla, but I suppose overcoming my germaphobia is all part of travelin'!!
For now, it's some well-earned rest before work tomorrow, oh which reminds me, I like to spice things up with a picture so here's a picture of what I do for work:
Nice!
Spanish Word del dia : Bombilla - A device that is used to drink loose-leaf teaf (usually mate)
5 comments:
How can you be sure that your animal totem isn't the little rodent that was eviscerated?
I seriously considered the possibility, also what does it mean if my dog has terrible gas?
Okay, so I'm just going to apologize up front because at the mere words "Red-Tailed Hawk," I skimmed until you were no longer talking about animals. I'm traumatized from a coworker who used to talk to me about Red-Tailed Hawks for literally hours at a time (I don't really mean that literally, but they would go on well past the half hour mark, frequently).
However, Mate...mmmmm...
Cant' wait to hear about all your travels!
mmmm tea on the porch. I'm feeling less than witty at the current moment, what with Liam's erupting molars dominating my life but wanted to comment.
I've been drawn to hedgehogs all my life (yes, I understand the randomness of this). My family humored me with this and dutifully picked up figurines and stuffed animals whenever seen. I now even have a Swarovski crystal hedgehog(thanks Dad). I decided today to check out the Totem aspects of said animal and here's what I found
"The Hedgehog teaches how to be on the defense and how to protect yourself.
It shows how to protect the soft inside – your inner self.
Hedgehog shows how to be gentle, yet protective at the same time.
How to build defenses and protective barriers that discourage negative people.
It also is the symbol of the Wisdom of the Female Elder, with close ties to Mother Earth. People with a Hedgehog totem often understand weather patterns –
they know when it will rain."
Eerily perfect for me. I now also feel like I can blame the fact that I get migraines before storms on my totem animal. Sweet.
The only hedgehog I remember from my childhood was blue, and fast! I'm pretty sure he was my totem of good eye-hand coordination.
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