Within the past month, I thought that I’d like to find an owl feather. Now, one can, no doubt, purchase one on Etsy, but where’s the magic in that? No. I concluded… the feather only comes if deserved. 

Strange to say, but the thought of finding the single feather took me back, nearly forty years, to a time when I found an entire owl… but even stranger was that, tight in its talons, the owl STILL grasped a rabbit. Both were dead, with no visible evidence of “death by human.” In the violence of the interaction, did they end up killing each other, concussed by the flailing? Another question that comes to mind… was there symbolism in it that I totally missed? I mean, it’s quite peculiar, and what are the odds?

Anyway, so the stage was set… I wanted to find an owl feather. Yet, I fully embraced the idea that IT WOULD FIND ME when the time was appropriate.

So, driving out from work just yesterday, on an errand during lunch, I noticed a large bird… death by another automobile, no doubt. Was it a hawk… perhaps an owl? I was determined to investigate on the way back from my errand, but found myself increasingly bothered that I didn’t actually stop then and there. Errand completed, I returned to the spot, pulled over, and looked. It was a Barred Owl (common to Eastern North America). I was saddened for the loss of life, but immediately thought that in its passing, was this a gift? This quickly moved from my mind, and I focused on respect. I removed her/him from the road and gently laid the remains in the tall grass, away from yet further disrespect.

My thoughts returned again to the idea that it might be connected to my hope of finding a single feather. Without going into gory details of the poor creature’s fate, I asked her/him permission, not to take a gift for myself, but to honor the messenger and the message. Yet, in retrospect, at that time, I don’t think I fully understood what the message was. It was slowly coming to me…

Now, as for “gift”… it wasn’t one that you simply get excited over and walk away with, fully rewarded for the object itself. This was not materialistic. This “gift” had multiple facets defined by obligations… responsibilities. As I pulled away in my car, I think it pulled hardest on my heart, taking part of her/him away from the whole. Once again, I thought to myself that this feeling in me was a reminder… to only do this if the intent is to honor and respect. Don’t be lazily wasteful and disrespectful. If you take, be dutiful, and tend to its care and meaning.

It didn’t take long to also realize that the day was the 7th of November… by cross quarter calculations… truer to Samhain, this year, than 31 October. So, the owl… the messenger, the day, the message, the symbolism in the entire collective... well, if you know, you know (… and, if you don’t know, find your way on the path). The hits just keep on coming.

I’ll most certainly be mindful…