Three dead birds make an omen.
Finding a dead or injured animal may seem like an ominous omen. I assure you it’s not. Death is also a symbol of life, rebirth, new beginnings, and transition. To tie this more thoroughly into eclipse season, I’ll add the keywords endings, change, and shedding skin.
We are deep into the heart of eclipse season. What does this mean and how are we to navigate these torrential cosmic waters? I’ll tell you in my usual long, rambling way.
I’ve seen three dead birds in a week. I saw the first one on Easter while walking with my friend through the newly waking forest in Crosby Farm park. The first bird had beautiful blue iridescent wings. It was sad and a bit shocking to see it keeled over, dead on the ground. We lifted it onto a large piece of bark and made a burial space beneath a mossy tree trunk.
We saw another dead bird a few days later while walking through our neighborhood, a woodpecker. Upon finding the second dead bird, I said, “These dead birds are an omen.” To which, my Capricorn friend said, “Or it might just be the avian flu.” I told her that was a really Capricorn thing to say. I insisted it was an omen from spirit.
My contract with spirit is that if it’s an important omen or message, it will come in three. And sure enough, I found the third dead bird yesterday, while walking my mom’s dog. That’s three dead birds in a week. Avian flu…? Well, maybe there is some validity in that, but meaning can be multilayered.
I’ve been feeling the eclipse energy building steadily over the past few days. The magic was potent and palpable this weekend (for me anyway). I feel permeable to ethereal energy and messages, which I always do, but it’s extra right now. Maybe you’re feeling a little extra too?
The air is thick with old magic and celestial messengers. The eclipse energy is helping us to shed the last of our old skin (which ego will hold onto for as long as it can). Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. Can you feel your angels, spirit guides and plant allies doing everything in their power to help you in this rebirth?
These eclipses are a massive portal for change and renewal. We are coming into our beauty and goddess power (Taurus). Before we can do that, our shadow must become conscious (Scorpio). There is a dramatic contrast to these two energies of Taurus and Scorpio: simple beauty and dense shadow. (Of course, shadow is not all that Scorpio is, but that’s what it represents for this eclipse and the purposes of this post.)
We are being called to explore our shadow energies. They’re likely emerging despite your efforts to keep them hidden. Lunar energy (especially eclipses) cause things to surface. Hold on as you might, your shadow is crawling into the light. It’s never pleasant to see. I can attest to that. The past four months have been concentrated shadow work for me and it’s been ugly and exhausting (I hope it’s almost over).
As hard as it’s been to face the ugly truths about myself, it’s wildly liberating. I actually understand what liberation means (at least more than I did before). So, if liberation is the fruit of shadow work, why do we resist it? Our ego is dense, our neuropathways set, our minds made up that this is how I am. Spiritual work is the work of breaking through what we’ve build up and solidified in ourselves across a lifetime or lifetimes. You are unraveling energy that’s been bound up and calcified over generations. You’re not going to free yourself overnight. This path takes commitment, dedication and heartfelt effort. And I assure you it’s all worth it.
Back to eclipse energy and dead birds. There are messages coming in from the invisible and celestial realms. What does it mean? Why are the gods talking, and what exactly is their message?
The dead birds tell me something. Any time spirit communicates with a potent omen, whether it’s a dead bird, an overpowering sensation in your heart or a series of events so inexplicable they must have celestial influence, there’s a message for you. These celestial messengers speak in symbols, soul sensations and impressions. Dead birds are part of spirit’s language. We must listen not just with our ears and minds, but with our souls. We must nurture and hone our intuition and open the ancient doors of perception that reside within our hearts. We must tune out the ego’s lament and learn to listen beyond the noise of the overculture that tells us what is unseen is unreal.
Cosmic energy and messages from the gods are pouring through the eclipse portal and celestial gates. What are you noticing? What do you feel in your soul? What do your instincts tell you?
I’ve been crying a lot lately. More than usual. (It’s been a tough year. More on that than another time.) Many of those tears were in grief and hurt and loss. Lately my sobs have taken on a different tone. I don’t cry for what I’ve lost, rather I cry because I’m overcome with such profound soul-level sensation of change, shifting and possibility. A song rides upon these soul pulsations. Something is trying to reach me. I think it’s Life, expansiveness and possibility. Lately, it feels like the Universe is whispering into my heart, whispering change is coming, just hold on a little longer and you will see.
The exact message from spirit is often difficult to translate into words, but I guarantee, if you listen with your heart, you’ll get the gist of it. And, it’s not really for us to know the details- those work themselves out with time- certainly, we’re not meant to know what exactly will happen. What fun would that be? Rather, spirit is inviting you to see something hidden in yourself and in your life- that’s why we feel such potentncy when these messages come to us. Our soul recognizes the language of spirit as it rides along the ether. On some level, we know what the message is.
Let’s come back to earth and leave the abstract symbolism of celestial messengers for a moment. I’m reading Steven Forrest’s book on the Earth element called “The Book of Earth.” As you’d expect, he writes in length on Taurus. He says wherever Taurus is in your birth chart is where you need to relax. Taurus is about simplicity, comfort and enjoying of life’s simple pleasures. As someone with a highly active- often existential- mind, that’s hard for me. I have Taurus (also the ruling planet of my Libra ascendant and thus my chart ruler) in my eighth house of psychology, depth and death… Forrest’s insight suggests that maybe life isn’t as complex as I’d like to think. Maybe the answers I’m so fervently seeking- the answers I believe to be vastly complex- are in fact, quite simple. And maybe the solution to your problem is simple too?
How do we nurture and participate in Taurus energy, which for the next year is also tied into the wild energy of eclipses? The Taurus North Node is the collective direction and the medicine here is simple. Literally, it’s simplicity. Simplify your life and mind. Get back to the basics. Slow down, breathe, love and take in the beauty of yourself and the world. Forrest uses the Zen proverb as an example here: eat when you’re hungry and sleep when you’re tired. Perhaps you are more attuned to this wisdom than I, but I have a remarkably hard time with both those things! The point is: feed yourself well during this eclipse season, not just with what you eat but in every way. This is the time to fill your cup. Love up on your body: nourish with salt baths, herbal body oiling, meditation, good food and rest. Read a book. Eat a cupcake. Enjoy the physical pleasures of being alive upon planet earth. Whatever you normally deny yourself (because it feels indulgent or unnecessary) let yourself have it during this eclipse portal.
Ground yourself in the earth and get back to the basics. That’s one half of navigating this eclipse season. The other half brings us back to those seemingly ominous dead birds. I knew immediately upon seeing the first blue winged avian that it was an omen of change. Change can be ominous. What will it bring? Who will we become because of it? Only time can answer these questions. And so, we come back to Taurus. Taurus is earth energy. The earth is our mother, and she is a mother we can trust. The earth is solid and will always hold us. So, especially during the season of change (eclipses) we are reminded to trust the changes unfolding within us, whether grand or small. We are supported and encouraged to shed old skin that doesn’t fit- that feels too itchy to keep on any longer. Last month, I wrote a blog post titled, “Planting Seeds of the Heart,” where the dominant message was: be patient and trust. That is a good mantra for this eclipse season as well.
P.S.
Not all eclipse energy will manifest on the grand scale of deep soul work I’ve laid out above. In fact, this week and weekend, you’ll likely see the eclipse manifest in the mundane. I’ll give you a few examples.
Sunday night, I told my coworker at the yoga studio that I was a bit tired (in fact, I was exhausted, but that’s not the point). She didn’t so much acknowledge my fatigue, but her eyes lit up and she looked at me and exclaimed, “You’re the right person to ask about this! I’ve had the craziest dreams the past few nights.” (This yoga teacher is a professional musician and performs regularly.) “I dreamed I was performing with Mariah Carrey and she came into the dressing room to inspect our outfits before the show. She was really critical! ‘No, you can’t wear pink with that.’” I couldn’t contain my laughter. “That’s the Taurus eclipse!” I said. Music, outfits… “Literally, Taurus.”
Back at the yoga studio at 5:30am today, the man who delivers our towels asked me if the elevator was turned off. “Not to my knowledge,” I told him. I went over with a key, but the moment I saw his furrowed brow staring at the lifeless elevator, I knew it was eclipse energy manifesting. That elevator wasn’t turning on today. Eclipses bring unpredictability and curve balls. Alas, he had to haul five massive bags of used towels down the stairs and bring up all the new ones (without an elevator) and he was visibly annoyed about it. Eclipses ask us to roll with the punches. Expect the unexpected. Shrug your shoulders and move on.
This eclipse could bring revelatory realizations, or it could manifest on the small scale of mundane life. It could be both!