Natures Beautiful Gifts

It is my belief that sometimes beautiful nature sends us messages. Sometimes these messages or messengers may appear in our lives for a brief visit, yet share a lifetime of wisdom. And so that is how this true experience goes with my family's' visit from a beautiful Barn Owl, also called ghost owl by some.

Years ago when my daughter was about 6 and we all had just settled into our home in the country, she was sleeping. It was at night when the first "whispers" from nature really caught our attention came. First my husband heard it, a whispering, rasping in the fireplace. I was folding clothes upstairs and he came running up the steps and said there is something strange about the fireplace. I am hearing sounds that are not like the sound of the wind.

We were still new to living on almost 8 acres after living in the city and an hour away. We were still adjusting to the quiet, to seeing the stars and to how nature seemed to make it self at home everywhere on the property because humans had not inhabited it over 20 years. Part of it had been a soybean field and part of the acreage by the creek had been left to grow. An old house with no electricity or plumbing had been left empty for 40 plus years. Here was a next new something for us to learn about.

I went downstairs and sat in our front room with my husband. I heard it too! A rasping in the chimney, scratching on the brick...then flutters. Then a haunted rasping again and clicking. It was a little scary.

We left the room and then peered from around a wall at the entrance of the room at the fireplace. We saw nothing, yet waited for what seemed like an hour. The sounds continued. Having a new chimney with no cap, we finally discerned an owl had settled into the lower chimney and was resting on part of the open damper. While it was sitting there it was echo locating like whales and dolphins, making it's clicking sounds and trying to find it's way around in the chimney.

Remember to us at first it was ghostly. It's sounds were all new to us and we did not physically see it for hours until it finally climbed over the damper and courageously began walking about in the fireplace that was screened yet thankfully had no fire in it. Once we saw such an incredible guest, we were in awe and well, in love, it was so beautiful. The incredible gold feathers with tiny specs of gray and then the pure white heart shaped face was stunning. It looked every bit as magical as its sounds.

We wanted only to help such a beautiful creature survive such an unplanned visit to what was surely a foreign place. Then of course, cap the chimney so no other visitors would be curious and get caught in our fireplace! So, we set about looking through information as to how to help get the owl safely out the chimney and back to its own natural way of living.

We called the local Raptor Center, within 24 hours the Raptor Rescue team arrived. The "team" consisted of this tiny adept woman that could stand almost fully in the chimney with long leather gloves on tiny hands and whisk the winged guest out deftly and gently. Then firmly holding feet and wings together she placed the beauty on blankets my daughter and I had placed around.

My daughter watched, I videoed, we were both astonished, the tiny woman seemed like it was an everyday event. We kept very quiet so as not to disturb the owl that watched us with equal perhaps fear and curiosity. The woman from Raptor Rescue then got out her healing kit. The owl was hydrated, then each and every wing feather at full span was checked. Next, each talon was filed, dulled by the chimney brick. The owl handled the intrusion of the check over quite well!

The raptor healer looked it over one more time and gathered it up whispering to me to open the front door. I did so and quickly. We watched in wonder as she lifted the stunned yet sturdy beauty. It had an elegant heart-shaped face, and deep serene eyes. It captured some part of my heart with its presence.

She gently moved toward the front door. Then there was the release, out the front door, onto the porch and out into the sky. It circled and landed in one of the oaks in our yard and rested for awhile. Perhaps it was orienting again to what was more natural than being in a chimney. We all felt so grateful that it could fly and looked well.

I hoped it began to feel more like itself and to have its broader scope of vision again. I hope it felt the power of its wings in the air again. The next week the chimney was capped! The new adventure left me wondering more about Barn Owls and their nature.

What a gift to have such a visitor. I didn't want to lose the wonder that such a visitor called forth in my heart and soul. Some of the things I found in my soulful research of barn owls are in the writings that follow. It became part of my journey to include it as part of my personal nature totem group. It was in this way I honored it as sacred.

Over the years I learned that owls in general are associated with wisdom, also mystery. With the barn owl I began by examining the magical coloring and heart shaped face. White is often associated with purity and also ghosts. Since the common barn owl has such beautiful white feathers and the white heart shaped face it is associated with both.

The heart shaped face, which is unique , hints at its message to listen to both your mind and heart. The golden color is often associated with the soul and the sun. For me then the "hints" gave rise to my wish and steps toward an appreciation of an integrative outlook and I sought to include developing this presence as a human with all our dimensionality. I became more aware of feelings and intuition, of my heart, mind, body, soul and spirit.

The ghostly impression also brought to mind my ancestors. Since the owl appeared at the hearth area of our home, I reflected on the importance of the hearth to my Irish, Scottish and German ancestors. Over the years I have researched them more, learned more about various customs, stories, music and recently have begun writing music that alludes to Irish sound and chant.

The barn owl as well as other owls use their auditory signals for honing their prey. I began to listen more closely to my inner hearing and also to discerning sounds. This started around the same time I began to meditate more deeply so it wove right in with the continuing practice of building awareness and presence. As a family we began to listen more closely to the sounds of all sorts of birds, including a wide variety of owls. It has added to the richness of life to see their relationships, hear their sounds, and learn more from them.

The hearth as a reminder of the gathering place to share family discussion, wisdom, warmth and stories has been ongoing for these 25 years. Our hearth became central again and again in the sitting area and has reminded us to keep our hearts warm even during cooler temperatures and around cooler personalities. The barn owl is one of our treasured family stories.

As I write this I am thankful for all the incredible depth of hearing and variety of voice that little owl inspired me to discover within myself and how to treasure natures voices. Sometimes gifts arrive in unusual ways and the barn owl was a surprising, unique visitor. All these years later is has become a very welcome addition to our family history and journey.

Reference:

Over the years there were many times I read about nature, many times I simply sat and listened and watched. One reference book though is :

Andrews, Ted, Animal Speak The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small, 1995.