Animal Encounters

[Middleagedseeker]

Greetings all! I have been coming into contact with an awful lot of hawks and turkey buzzards for close to a year now. And just last month a huge vulture landed on my neighbors roof and I swear it sat there watching me for the longest time, then flew off and came right back and sat and stared directly at me. It almost felt like it was trying to communicate with me? Chickens and ducks also were coming to me on a regular basis for months, but have since disappeared. I'm still a newbie when it comes to paganism. As my username says it, I'm a Middleagedseeker. Does anyone with more experience know if this is a particular Goddess communicating with me?

[azriel]

The first thing that pops into my mind is the fact all of these animals are birds, so the element of air might be calling to you or you may simply have a very strong affinity with our avian brethren. As for whether a deity is trying to contact you, is there a particular pantheon that you feel drawn too? This might help you gain a better understanding of where to look.

One pantheon that holds most of the birds you mention in reverence are the Egyptians. The hawk is associated with Horus, and all of his various incarnations. The vulture relates to Nekhbet, the patroness of Upper Egypt and a protector of the Pharaoh. Finally, the duck or goose is related to the earth god Geb.

I do not know what pantheon draws your interest but this was the first one that I could think of that included most of the birds you mentioned.

I hope you find out more about the messages being sent to you!

Azriel
^-^~

[SnowCat]

April has some good suggestions. I tend to attract, for lack of a better word, a number of different animals. Cats are at the forefront, reflecting my work with Bast and Sekhmet. I also have foxes, raccoons and hawks appearing on a regular basis. I do also work with Loki, so maybe the variety is a small reflection of chaos. I definitely have had chaos throughout my life, but I've learned from it. Most of the time anyway.

Snow

[Middleagedseeker]

Hey Azriel and Snowcat, thank you both for responding. At this time I really don't have a particular pantheon that I'm interested in, just the Great Mother Goddess in general. However I HAVE been learning more about the elements and have been honoring them in my own way. So what you said Azriel about the element Air is very interesting indeed. I have also been interested in learning more about the Dianic path , but when I tried to let Artemis and Diana know that I was interested I didn't really feel anything, if you know what I mean? Not like when I work with the Mother Goddess herself, or with Mary. I'm still learning tho, and enjoying searching out information on the internet and books. And sitting outside in the woods behind my house is amazing. I kept hearing people say just get outside in nature and connect with the Goddess, and I understand now what they are talking about. : )

[azriel]

I would keep track of the birds and animals that you are seeing, and if you start to notice a pattern then it might simply be that the animal is one of your animal guides rather then a specific deity.

I am jealous that you have woods, I have a Middle and a High school in my backyard. -_-' The only animals I come across are in the middle of the night when I walk my dogs.

Anyway, good luck on your journey and don't worry if something does work out now because it may simply be the deities way of saying, "not yet. soon. but not yet." Who knows, maybe in a little while you will start receiving little messages from Diana and Artemis when you aren't expecting any!

Azriel
^-^~

[Floyd Pinkerton]

Kinda related to the topic, but I didn't wanna make another topic of my own for something so small. Do all wild animal encounters mean something? Or are they sometimes just coincidence? Once I saw two salamanders near a lake I hiked around once and I read that they were kinda significant in Wicca, etc.

[SnowCat]

In my opinion, some animal encounters are just encounters. A bit like seeing a neighbor on the street. Other encounters have more meaning. I would consider the salamanders as something more meaningful, because they're not seen all that often in my experience. Just my thoughts.

Snow

[Middleagedseeker]

So I did some internet searching and apparently buzzards and hawks are actually associated with Artemis? At least that is what one of the websites I was on said about her. That is very interesting, as I have become interested in Artemis/Diana and in Dianic witchcraft in particular.

[SnowCat]

Well there you go! Sometimes we don't see what's right in front of us. Then we have that eureka moment.

Snow