A HAWK GUIDES ME ON MY SPIRITUAL PATH

 January 10, 2021 

8:50 a.m. Last Wednesday's vicious and horrifying mob attack on the Capitol left me with great heartache. On Thursday I was drawn into my studio. I had no idea whatsoever what I would paint; all I knew is that I wanted to produce something to comfort my aching heart.

I used the palette knife to spread thick layers of paint on the canvas. I felt like I was frosting a huge cake. What emerged was a bright painting with the glowing yellows of egg yolks. My son wrote to me and said the painting looked "DELICIOUS." My writer friend Nancy Dunlop saw galloping horses in the image; she compared them to the images that haunt the walls of the ancient Lascaux caves in southwest France. 

She wrote a delightful myth about the painting. 

After reading Nancy's piece, another friend of mine, Renee Pettit, wrote a free-wheeling journal entry that was inspiring.

Today I am staying in the safety of the buttery white and yellow colors. The world is so full of knives and blades and guns and hatred.

8:55 a.m. Guide my way forward with this book, Lord, please! I am asking for Divine inspiration. I am asking for Mom's help, too, as she has guided this book from the very beginning. Mom, are you as blissful now as Mary says you are? I'm sitting here smiling and letting your love fill my heart. I close my eyes and I can see and feel you.  

8:58 am I am chanting OM NAMAH SHIVAYAH when suddenly I look up and see what at first looks to be an owl sitting in the bare tree overhead.  I think of my dear friend Kellie, who communicates with owls. But no! I see it's the red-tailed hawk that has visited before. I feel it right in my heart.

Mary would call this another miracle, and I agree. I was just now asking for Divine guidance. 

I take a photo of the hawk and text it to Rich and in that moment the hawk lifts up from the branch, spreading its magnificent wings and rust-colored tail. The hawk flaps lazily down the meadow and disappears in the pine trees. 

9:06 a.m. I google, "What does it mean when a red-tailed hawk crosses your path?"

"...the hawk symbolizes the ability to use intuition and higher vision to complete tasks or make crucial decisions...hawks serve as animals that heighten our spiritual awareness and help us along our path."

Thank you Lord for giving me yet another miracle, another signpost to help me as I am writing this book.