As a avid beach goer, and someone that lives at the beach, witnessing swimmers not being able to be revived after meeting with the ocean are both; particularly painful and unfortunately not uncommon experiences for me. Being a empath means that every experience has been felt on a extremely deep level.
One occasion in particular affected me the most. It was a sunny public holiday in 2014, my then fiance and I had spent the day at a local bay sunbathing, snorkeling and enjoying the weather and the ocean.
A crow swooped over head erratically breaking into the divinity, I hadn't noticed it until my fiance mentioned, "That bird really has a issue with something down here today", I blew it off and thought nothing of it.
Later in the day we witnessed a fellow snorkeler, a man we recognised from earlier in the day, being dragged from the water unconscious. Watching helplessly as caring bystanders, the dedicated surf lifesaving team, and a doctor that had flown in by chopper, all put in massive efforts to revive this man, unfortunately they were not to be successful.
Witnessing from a spiritual empathic level that man fighting between the two worlds, to stay within his body was such a profound experience for me.
Afterwards we reflected upon the crow, and after exploring crow further discovered crow to be a messenger between worlds. Crows for centuries have been closely connected with death. The main reason for this is crows feed on carrion--the flesh of the dead. Because of this many cultures associate crows with death and dying.
And thus my introduction to the world of spirit animals as messengers was born....
I have had many more instances of Crow coming since.
Just this weekend I was away on a yoga retreat, and we passed a piece of paper around with empty one hour massage slots and chose one each. I chose mine at the end of the week, there was a inner knowing that I just needed to have that particular spot for reasons I can't explain.
We woke one morning to a single crow swooping and making erratic noises around the cabins. As I walked over to the main building the Crow flew off towards my cabin (all the cabins were close together) I had a sense that he was here for someone today, just not for me.
Later in the day my massage came, I excitedly tumbled into the massage cabin (conveniently right next to my cabin which was to make for a quick return post massage for a pre yin class shower). I sensed the lady's energy was rather flat, she (also a energy healer) was quick to explain upon greeting me that I was her sixth client and that she was a bit tired today.
Fifteen minutes into my massage treatment she broke down and told me that she wanted to be honest and just before my appointment she received a message saying her friend had just died. Being a empath means that I feel other peoples emotions as my own, so we both sat and cried together. As it turns out, the appointment I chose was for me to hold space for her not for me. And the crow was definitely there for the therapist.
The next day, I thought to myself there will be no crow today (we hadn't seen any at our retreat until the previous day and we were near the end of the week long stay). I woke up and heard crow cry again, I second guessed, perhaps crow wasn't part of this experience after all.
A hour later at the closing ceremony, we went around the circle and shared with each other. When it came to the lady next to me, she shared that her mother in law had just taken her last breath this morning. Crow was there to deliver the message to her.
Now it is important to note that to just see a crow doesn't always signify death or always bring about a message, is the crow or animal significantly out of place to where it would usually be?, you will find the noise crow makes under these circumstances extremely unsettling and something you may have not heard before.
Wise words of one of my favorite NZ mediums Kelvin Cruickshank; "Sometimes, a leaf falls off a tree and it is... just a leaf that has simply fallen from a tree". What he is saying is that although nature carries messages, not everything is a message.
I tend to see and work with spirit animals a lot in my third eye these days, usually they will step forward as a vision during a meditation or in a relaxed state. This allows me to enjoy and work with the messages and medicine, of animals that I wouldn't always come across in everyday Australian life.
When I am working on a client, and I am in their auric field sometimes a animal will present itself. I only share these messages with consent from the client prior to the treatment. I understand it goes against some peoples values and belief systems and I truly respect this. This doesn't happen every treatment, and I have no control over what might or might not present itself.
Sometimes the animals or maybe even an insect that steps forward isn't always as glamorous as one might like it to be. For instance, perhaps your spirit animal is a cockroach or even a fly..
I recently had a three week period where 2 smaller sized flies had randomly come from no where and flew into my mouth. The third.. I hope your not eating lunch when I say I found at the bottom of a brought coffee when I opened the lid to finish the last bit...
As it turns out The fly spirit animal symbolises abundance and prosperity during times of adversity. It sends the message that by being persistent, consistent, and determined even in the face of tragedy will result to victory. So it wasn't so sinister after all.
According to Colleen Mcann; Spirit animal is characterized as a teacher or messenger that comes in the form of an animal and has a personal relationship to an individual. Other names might be animal guides, power animals, or animal helpers. It is believed that you do not choose the animal, rather it chooses, or has already chosen you. The animal is there to provide “medicine” to the recipient in the form of guidance, lessons, protection, power, or wisdom. Shamans worldwide have relied on the guidance, wisdom, and symbolism of spirit animals for thousands of years.
HERE ARE THE THINGS TO KNOW:
1.You can have one or several spirit animals throughout your lifetime. They can come in and out of our lives to give us guidance, teach us about ourselves, and help us maintain balance. The timing and direction we are headed on our path, a specific occasion that may arise, phases of life, or tasks that need to be completed along our journey will dictate what animal steps forward to help.
2.An animal can bring us a message in several ways. We can physically cross paths with the animal, we can dream about it, it can visit us in our meditations.
3.Your spirit animal often represents qualities and attributes that you may see in yourself. On a base level, you want to understand the general vibe of the animal and look at it as an archetypal figure in your life; a symbolic representation of you. You may never personally interact with your animal, like a tiger or whale. But pay attention to the details like specific behaviors, character traits, habitat, diet, life events.
Another deep encounter that I had with both death and animal guides was in 2016.
The loss of my father in law, a man who was very much a second dad to me for 13 years of my life, a man who meant so much to me, and helped guide and shape me into the person I am today.
This heartbreaking time was also very much a big deal in my path of awakening. Experiencing with him and my beautiful family during his transition, from this earthly plane to the after life really affected me deeply, perhaps more so than anything ever has.
The day my husband and I arrived to NZ from Australia to be with him in his last days, we all gathered around his bed and we heard a Morepork call close to the house, "listen to that', my mother in law (who is of Maori heritage) said. We could all hear the call of the Morepork, not a common bird to be in the area.
