Return Of The Night Owl

“Return Of The Night Owl.”

“Theres something so mystical about the Northern California redwoods,” Ashanti thought to her self as she drove her Suburu north, packed to the brim, ready for her next adventure.

“The way the full moon sits in the spine of the mountain roads, while riding her curves, she is perfectly illuminated in between the redwood trees”. Ashanti would often cite poetry in her head on her travels, she was a poet at heart. Ashanti was seeking freedom, always thirsty for new experiences, she sold most of her belongings, moved out of her house and was headed to see a friend on her family land in Fort Bragg, Mendocino, CA.

“Black Magic Woman,” by Santana played out the radio and Ashanti pulled up on to the dirt road of her friend Erins family land. Erin grew up in that house and watched her dad build it from the ground up, they were your good ol homesteading, off grid folk, the type of place that feels likes you have lived a thousand lives and has a nostalgic essence of home, theres hot cinnamon apple pie waiting for you in the kitchen, and all of your food comes from the organic garden.

Two dogs came jumping and smiling running out the door to greet Ashanti, “Hi Doggies!’ Ashanti said. Erin comes down the steps and gives Ashanti a big hug and kiss “Ashanti!” “So happy you made it back finally, welcome !” Erins house was an all wood and rustic mountain abode, felt like a warm hug from earth when walking in to it. Ashanti loved that. Ashanti met with Erin and her family in the dining room, jazz was playing out of a radio from the 60’s, old film photographs from her dads sailing expeditions on the wall, it was a timeless aesthetic. Erins family spoke of past time traditions and off grid living lifestyle, Ashanti listened deeply impressed and inspired. “ Welp, it has been a long beautiful drive, the ancient redwoods are captivating, would love to get some rest and start my morning early and see more!” Ashanti said in wonder, she gathered her bags and said her goodbyes with gratitude. Ashanti settled in the room, the windows were wide and tall and you could see the shadows of the giant tall redwoods kissing the heavens, the ancient forests surrounded the house. As she laid down, Ashanti fell asleep to the songs of the owls through the night.

Ashanti woke up and gazed out the window in gratitude of the peace and quite energy of the forest, she always felt at ease and deeply connected to the animals and nature around her, she decided to go on a walk on the land before everyone was awake. Ashanti made a cup of chamomile yogi tea, her little fortune on the tea bag read,”There is pleasure in the pathless woods.” She thought that was synchronistic giving she was about go on a walk in the woods and she was living life on the road unsure of her next destination. Ashanti would always take note of signs and messages in her life, her grandma taught her to notice even the things unseen in this life, her nana was a deeply spiritual person, growing up some of the neighbor hood kids would call her “Bruja.” A saying for witch in Spanish.

She walked along the path towards the entrance archway of trees, the gateway into the deep redwoods, the grandfather and grandmother trees stood tall and are some of the most ancient trees in the world. Ashanti felt the power of redwoods, her grandmother use to tell her stories about redwoods being spirits and being able to communicate with them your mind is in a certain state of consciousness and you truly believe.

As Ashanti started to walk, a breeze whispers through leaves of the trees, the sunlight twinkled through the leaves and she felt calm and at peace. “ I wonder if the tree spirits can hear me right now.””Ssshhhhhwwhoooooooooooooooo.” A loud wind blew through a tree on her right and made her jump. Ashanti noticed a sparkling flicker in her peripheral vision as the wind blew. “Hello?” Ashanti said as she walked towards the sparkle in the distance, as she walked she noticed a large circle of trees in front of her, with the biggest ferns she had ever seen, “FERNGULLY!" Ashanti screamed out-loud, she ran through the ferns dancing and humming like a bird rising with the sun. She was free.

Ashanti remembered a book her grandma had given her when she was 10, it was from a woman’s childhood memoir in Ireland, it was her first person account of witnessing other beings and creatures in the forest, she remembered the woman writing in the book that there were thousands of different kinds of beings in the forest we cant see, people have been aware of them for centuries, most people call them fairies. Even though she was 25 and a full adult, Ashanti was still so fascinated with stories of magic, other-worlds, extraterrestrials, superpowers, and myths of the past, she believed there was more out there than we could ever comprehend. Ashantis grandma would always tell her stories and share her wisdom about magic and spiritual realms. Ashanti always wanted to see spirits and move things telepathically, sometimes she would try but it would never work. “I want to see the forest fairies!” She screamed.

Ashanti started to hum a sweet melody from her heart, “faires, faries, I know your there, I believe your there, please show me a sign you are here, hummmm la la la hummm la la la hummm.” As she was humming her melody she gazed up and her heart dropped, there was a single floating feather descending from the sky, dancing in the wind, the sun rays were shooting through the feather and she felt this was a sign. The feather slowly danced its way down, Ashanti followed the feather with her gaze and watched in suspense as the feather rested upon the ground perfectly. She ran to the feather and noticed it was a perfect all white barn owl feather, not one missing strand, not on spec of dirt, it was perfect.

Ashanti felt a rush of emotions come over her body, she felt heard, a tear streamed down her face, she was in complete astonishment and admiration of the deep mystery and magic of this world and it hit her all at once. She new this random white owl feather was not just coincidence her mind was way more expansive than that. This feather was a gift. Ashanti screamed "thank you, I love you, I know your there, I am in gratitude to you beings, and will protect the forest and its creatures to my best ability!” She picked up the feather and skipped back through the fern gully back to her friends house, Ashanti was unsure if she should mention her experience, she thought maybe they would think she was a little weird, so she kept her experience to her self. Little did she know that was not that last of the owl magic she would receive.

That night, Ashanti was dreaming, all white owls soared through her dreams, hundreds of them, she was watching them swarm the forests, when ashanti woke up all she could remember were two huge white owl eyes staring directly in to hers. “Woah, that dream was crazy, I wonder what the white barn owl means.” She thought. She grabbed her computer and started researching owls, ashanti payed attention to all signs. Reading for hours she became fascinated with owls, how they could spin their heads in a complete 270 degrees and soar through the night, they are a bird of mystery with profound perception. Ashanti had the Feather placed on the window shield with a note, “Thank you.” Later that night Ashanti and Erin went driving up the coast and had bonfire on the beach, they drank hazy IPAs and sang songs and reminisced on childhood memories. Ashanti was driving through the curvy mountain roads, suddenly something raced past her windshield and hit it “AHHHH!” Ashanti slammed on her breaks, “Shit!” She exclaimed. “ What the fuck was that?” Erin said. “ Im going to go out and have a look.” Ashanti stepped out her car, the mountain roads were wet and misty, she looked on the ground, and there was a perfect white barn owl a precious baby, laying there dead. Ashanti immediately started crying, she felt so bad and also a very special connection to all creatures, especially the white barn owl after her experience in the forest the prior day.

Ashanti ran to the back of her Suburu and grabbed an empty box, she carefully scooped the owl up and put her in the box, she wanted to give this owl a proper burial and not leave her in the street. The next day Ashanti walked back to the spot where she had found the owl feather, she dug a hole, she wrote a poem blessing the owl on her path, and said a prayer while laying the owl in the burial, she was crying because she felt a special connection to this creature, she felt good about honoring her life. She made a flower altar on the burial and said her goodbyes.

That night Ashanti had another powerful dream, she was walking in the forest towards where she had buried the owl, there was a beautiful locket made out of abalone, she opened the locket and the white owl appeared in the tree above her. The owl was the spirit of the owl she had buried, she flew down to meet the gaze of Ashanti, the owl told her that she had been initiated into the path of the messenger of the night owls, after witnessing the way she walked through the world. “Ashanti, your role in this world is to expose the truth in darkness, the owl magic is the ability to soar through dark spaces and illuminate those space with light, you have that power.” The owl told Ashanti that the locket was her token to reach the owls. Ashanti held locket to her heart and next thing she was opening her eyes. The next morning Ashanti woke up, the locket in her hand. She knew what she had to do.