It’s rare that I see an eagle.
After visiting an apple orchard today John and I traveled our way back home along the back roads. The trees in their peak fall colors were mesmerizing and lulled me into a space of contemplation and reflection.
I couldn’t get over thinking about how long it had been since I’d been down the roads we were driving. I reflected on the last time, really, I often traveled this way which was during the years I took Frankie, my special needs dog in a wheelchair, to the many schools we had the opportunity to visit and share her message with.
Reminiscing about this and along these roads, I’d not been down for so long, it felt like a whole other lifetime ago.
Passing a staple in our area of a good old-fashioned Wisconsin supper club, the parking lot was full of cars. I hope that will continue for many years to come. I can at times still feel concerned about this given what has unfolded the past twenty-two months.
As we continued traveling back home, there were times the world around me felt surreal as I tried to grasp what life was like before the pandemic. Though at times, over the past few months, I’ve felt a positive shift occurring and that just maybe, we are moving back toward a simpler way of being. But then I wonder if perhaps that is just the reality in which I wish to see – one in which I try to live – and one I hope for more now than ever before.
About a half-mile from home near an area of marshland something caught my eye. It was an eagle flying overhead!
Ted Andrews in his book, Animal Speak says of eagles that they are illumination of Spirit, healing and creation.
Something else he wrote about them is that “they are symbols of the rediscovery of the inner child.” He goes on to say that “there once was a belief that as old age approached, the eagle’s eye would grow dim, and the eagle would then fly so near the sun that it would become scorched. It would then seek out a pure water source and dip itself three times into the clear water and its youth would be destroyed.
This reflects much from the mystical point of view. It hints of resurrection, but it also hints of alchemy. The fire of the sun and the clear water are opposite elements brought into harmony in a manner that elicits change.”
This gave me goosebumps. As I’ve reflected often on what we’ve experienced and gone through during these times of great change and uncertainty I’ve often revisited what I experienced over three years ago and an aspect of my own inner child healing. Having healed that part of myself, there are other areas that still need healing and I continue to work through them.
At times during these last several months, I’ve felt a letting go of some of what I’ve been taught to believe, even though it has been painful. But I’ve also come to realize more and more that I must take care of that inner child – it’s up to me – no one else. The more I do this, the more I experience freedom.
As children, I’ve thought about how we often believed someone was coming to save us and how we’ve carried that into our adult lives. But when we can open to this understanding that we are the ones we’ve been waiting for, like the eagle, we experience illumination and healing of our souls.
Eagles, also known for their extraordinary vision, I believe, call to us to look within and explore what we need to heal in order to fly free. The more of us that do this, the more light that will come into our world, and will heal the aspects of the dark within ourselves and within our world.
In many ways, I feel like this is indeed a resurrection we are going through – each experiencing it in our own way – and continuing to explore what needs healing within. By doing so will no doubt elicit change. A change not only within our own beings but in our outside world too — and thus create a world that is in more harmony and a new way of being that feels more in alignment with who we truly are.
And so I say thank you to Eagle for gracing me with this insight today. I hope it will serve as a blessing to you too as we all continue to walk this journey together.
XO
Barb
