A Bringer of Change Makes its Appearance
Pedaling down the newly laid pavement with the wind whirring in my face, exhilaration bubbled to the surface as I continued the rhythm of velocipede that suited my spirit most. Thunder cracked in the distance and dark clouds loomed overhead, threatening to open up their summer wrath upon me. I had hemmed and hawed as to whether or not I should ride with the impending storm, but the air was electric, alive in one of the ways that delights my spirit most, and I couldn’t say no. Plus, I had a feeling I’d make it home before the bottom really dropped out — thankfully, I was right!
Heading home — I don’t ride all that far, just enough to pump my legs and feel alive in all the ways I need — I spotted a friend and neighbor walking her dog on the road that parallels our own, one that is meant for slower traffic and leisurely-paced activities. Slowing my speed to match hers so we could catch up for a few, we chatted about life’s big events and the happenings of summer. In the midst of this, both of our eyes were caught by a small bird sitting just beside the road which had been newly paved and now left quite a drop-off between itself and the land beside it. I suppose the shoulder wasn’t a concern of those doing the work, though the pavement is so smooth I can’t really complain. Initially I thought of a grouse, knowing their behavior quite well, but we quickly realized that we were in the presence of an adolescent hawk. My friend actually said the word, ‘fledgling,’ and I took it in with delight. Some words just actually seem to awaken the spirit, bringing it more perfectly into the present. This was apparently one of them!
As we both turned to face the young red tail (we’d since stopped walking), my friend grabbed her phone to snap a picture, and it flew directly toward us! Missing us both by a couple feet, it attempted to catch the side of the carport we were now standing in front of, grabbing its edge. Unable to properly hold on, it fell to the grass below. We walked further to make sure it wasn’t injured, and as we did, we again saw it sitting upright in the yard. As we came into its view, it decided to fly into the backyard that thankfully contained no animals to speak of. The owner of the house was in the front yard, so we let him know what was happening, and he confirmed that he’d also seen the hawk around for a few days and would continue to keep an eye on it.
Storm really brewing by this point, the need to return home kicked in for us both, and we said our goodbyes.
As I rode the short way home, an equal amount of amazement at what I’d been privy to and heartache for this little being just learning to make its way in the world moved through me. I offered a few prayers and blessings on behalf of the hawk, told my husband all about it, and continued with the evening’s routines.
The next day I had some plans in town, and as I made my way home in the early evening, an intuition struck me like a bolt of lightening: I was meant to pay careful attention to my surroundings, keeping my eyes peeled for the fledgling. I instinctively widened my vision to take everything in in a more present (and prescient) way, hoping I’d encounter the beautiful bird once more. Yet as I drove by a black one that had been hit on the road, my heart sank. Slamming on the brakes, I jumped out of my vehicle (thankfully the road isn’t too busy), only later realizing that I’d turned on my steering wheel warmer instead of my hazards! From my initial view on the road, the bird could have been a crow or a raven, as these are everywhere in our neighborhood, and all I could see were black feathers. Yet as soon as I lifted the bird’s limp body from the pavement, the plumage of a lovely red tail hawk was revealed, confirming what my intuition had already told me was true.
Tears prickling in the corners of my eyes, I placed its body in the trunk of my vehicle and brought it home, enlisting the help of my partner to help me bury this amazing animal under the apple tree, where it now lies with three of our beloved pups. And so the growing collection of fur family includes a feathered being as well, as it seemed like the rightful resting place for this majestic creature. I said some blessings and shed a few more tears before coming inside, my mind trying to make sense of what had just transpired.
Hawks, especially the kind I just encountered, are considered messengers in both Celtic and Native American traditions, as well as Egyptian and some Viking traditions. Often carrying messages from the Otherworld or beyond realms, they signify spiritual and ancestral connection and invite us to cultivate discernment in our lives. Certainly possessing a connection with Mercury, the Messenger of Gods, Red tails encourage us to be astute in our observations, keen in our awareness, and perceptive in our understandings. And these qualities are just what Mercury brings with him as part of his courier capabilities: the capacity for us to be open to what the Universe is seeking to communicate, aware of the signs and symbols it’s using to do so, and able to shift our perception in order to receive the message. In other words, Mercury is associated with our ability to “get the memo,” and ultimately, it’s up to us as to whether or not we are able to “pick up what he’s putting down,” for sometimes a shift in perspective is required.
Now, Uranus and Mercury have a few things in common. I consider them both to be important harbingers of truth. Mercury is associated with insight and epiphany; Uranus with lightning fast shifts that initiate change — the kinds of change that seem more than we may be ready for, but that we need nonetheless. Both catalyze the type of evolution that arrives quickly, perhaps shockingly, and initiates us to another level of understanding. Yet Uranus carries with it a deep need for that which is most authentic to who we are, not who we’ve been trained or conditioned to be. It wants us to claim the innate genius that is ours and ours alone, bringing parts of ourselves to the surface that we haven’t before, showing up truly as the people we came here to be, regardless of what the peanut gallery has to say about it — or anyone else, for that matter.
Uranus transited into one of Mercury’s ruled signs, Gemini, just a few weeks ago, and will stay there until the beginning of November, when it retrogrades back into Taurus until the end of April 2026. It will be in the sign of the Twins until May of 2033. This period is certainly one of instability, but that doesn’t always mean “bad.” If anything, it will likely encompass a full spectrum of the Geminian flavor of the zodiac, having to do with information exchange and communication, opportunities for learning and expanding our minds with new material, and truly being open to the synchronicities of life. We’ll be invited to pick up what the universe is putting down, shifting our perception from perhaps outmoded material and ways of thinking/understanding to more nuanced, conscious, and astute awareness. With Uranus here, the unexpected is guaranteed, especially when it comes to how we communicate with the Universe and open to its messages; how we perceive life and our roles within it; how we share our voices, truths, and words, whether spoken, written, exclaimed, or all of the above.
Yet what is shocking needs time to settle. It requires contemplation, grappling with, and openness to shifting how we may have once understood a view that seemed fundamental to us and perhaps no longer is. It asks that we bear witness to ourselves and others, not turning away from life’s intensity, complexity, or what makes us uncomfortable, so that we allow ourselves to be available to what life has to show us, even if it hurts to look. Perhaps especially if it does. And it invites us to pause, for the first of the Air sign is known to move VERY quickly, which doesn’t give it time to integrate what it experienced. Taking time to do just this will be key, just as remaining open to what it has shown us will be.
If this hawk is an omen of what’s to come during this time of change, I would not be surprised in the slightest, though I am most certainly awed — another of Gemini’s flavors! And though I am still sitting with the deeper meaning that this encounter has shown me, opening the doors of perception to reveal what they may, I trust that reality will unveil itself in due time — as long as I show up for my part of the exchange, which I am committed to doing. With transiting Uranus currently squaring my natal South Node (Aquarius) and Sun (Pisces), then simultaneously and shortly after Mars and Jupiter (Virgo), I feel that the hawk was a harbinger of the change that is afoot in my own life. I must be willing to fly in a new way, as we all must eventually do, releasing the old versions of ourselves that held us captive in one way or another, to show up clearly as who we must. Anything that stands in the way of this must be addressed and shifted too if we are to embody our most authentic selves.
As we move forward into the last 6 weeks of summer, my wish is that you have many moments of wonderment and awe, ones that take your breath away and leave you gobsmacked in just the right ways. And that you make some space to integrate what comes, for it may be exactly what you needed but had conveniently forgotten somewhere along the way.
