Witchvox Article

Author: Americanwitch
Posted: July 1st. 2012
Times Viewed: 1,979

I took a brief walk after a working lunch. The sun was high in the sky and the air was cool. It was a beautiful September day in the Berkshire Mountains -- I'm new to the area and used any opportunity to get outside to help myself adjust from beach living to mountain life.

I walked down the hill from the main building where I work and hadn�t gone too far when there, to my right, on a wire overhead was a red-tailed hawk looking this way and that. I stopped and watched the wind lift his tail feathers. He stretched and showed me his white belly and fluffy legs. He � or she � was awesome in structure. He looked strong and powerful.

As he sat, he moved his head from side-to-side. He turned once to look at me as I cautiously took a seat on the low wooden rail along the road, then turned his attention back to the tall brush, tangled weeds and wild flowers that framed the woods. I sat contentedly in the sun, thrilled to have this opportunity to be so close to such a creature.

I studied the way he slid his head across his back and tried to move my head, gliding across my shoulders, the same way. Many Taijiquan [Tai chi] teachers [myself included] study and imitate the movements of animals. Some say the ancient martial art of Taijiquan was created after Wudang Daoist master Zhang San Feng (12th C.) witnessed a fight between a crane and a snake.

My neck cracked in my efforts to mimic the hawk just as I began to hear little throaty chirping sounds come from the underbrush. It sounded like the noise squirrels make, not too loud though, and it didn�t sound alarmed � just a steady series of clicks and chirps. Suddenly the hawk spread his wings and dropped straight down into the brush like a stone falling from the sky. A terrible squealing commenced and I knew the hawk had caught something. I was struck, mouth open, by the sudden change from sightseeing on a lovely day to the wailing of an animal dying in the claws of a predator. The racket was awful, but it didn�t last longer than a minute, maybe two. It was heart wrenching.

I didn�t know what to do with myself. A city-girl for decades � I was curious, frightened, repulsed and paralyzed. Here was the truth of nature, not on television, and barely five feet in front of me. I didn�t know why this was happening for me to see, but I thought I�d best see it through to the end. Everything I see and experience is there for a reason. I didn't want to miss the message.

I slowly stepped closer to the underbrush. I could see the hawk�s white feathers and stopped. He was no more than three feet in front of me, barely concealed by dried grasses and weeds. I didn�t want to see blood. But I couldn�t not look. I stood still. The hawk looked at me the same way he had earlier, over his shoulder -- unafraid, unconcerned, unimpressed.

As I watched, he made a small jump and the captured creature came up with him in his talons. He was in a small clearing, now two feet from me. I could see the eye of the squirrel and the hawk�s talons on its belly. I didn�t see any blood, but the chest of the squirrel didn't move either.

The hawk kept squeezing his talons into the body beneath him� perhaps to make sure it wasn�t playing dead or to be certain it wouldn�t suddenly get up and run away. Again, the hawk fluttered his wings and hopped -- and the squirrel came up and down with him this time a few more inches closer to me.

The hawk was coming straight toward me, out of the brush and now, onto the mowed grass, into the open. This was more than I wanted to see. I was confused. I couldn�t fathom why the hawk was coming toward me, with his prey, his prize.

I thought of a time my house cat caught a mouse and brought it to me. What did they want me to see?

I continued to watch the hawk, two feet in front of me, in plain sight, without cover. As I pondered why the hawk was so undisturbed by my presence, my closeness, I suddenly realized he was not feeding. His lunch was getting cold. I didn�t understand.

The hawk and myself were frozen, transfixed. Paralyzed, nothing moving, our eyes locked. I'm not even sure if I was breathing.

In the next moment, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a woman � one of our guests at the retreat where I work � crossing toward me into the parking lot off to my left. When she got close enough, she looked where I was looking and stopped. She saw the hawk.

�I don�t think you want to see this, � I turned and said to her.

She looked from me to the hawk, her mouth wide open. �You�re right." Then she said: "Has it got something there?�

�A squirrel, � I replied. �It made a horrible racket when he caught it.�

The woman grimaced and said "thank you." She turned and walked in the other direction, toward the main building.

When I looked back at the hawk at my feet, he was slowly pulling up with his beak on a long string of something red from the side of the squirrel. I turned and followed the guest up the hill back toward the center. I've been out nearly every day. I have not seen the hawk since.

I still don't know what to make of the incident, don't know what it means, or why it was so intensely personal to me. I know the meaning will come, in time.

ABOUT...

Americanwitch

Location: Lenox, Massachusetts

Website: http://jessinamerica222.wordpress.com/

Author's Profile: To learn more about Americanwitch - Click HERE

Bio: I am a solitary witch, practicing for over 15 years and a writer, editor, herbalist, healer, clinically trained Chaplain and counselor. I am also a taijiquan [Tai Chi] instructor.

Other Articles: Americanwitch has posted 2 additional articles- View them?

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