Do you have an animal? Native American Indian

@raydene (9871)
United States
April 14, 2007 10:01am CST
Since I was a small child I always knew the hawk was my animal. When I was about 7 or 8 years old we raised chickens for eggs and meat. We started noticing the chickens disappearing. My Da said there was a hawk taking them.He said that we had to decide what could be done. Would we take his life(shot him) because we couldn't afford to loose the meat and eggs..or what? It was hurting my Da but he knew the hawk must be killed. Early the next morning Ma woke us all up before it was light and we climbed to the top of the steep hill behind our house. We all layed back in the tall grass and waited for the sun to come up. It was chilly .. I can still remember the feeling of the goosebumps on my thin,tanned arms.. The sun started to come up..I looked up in the sky. I could see hawk flying in a circle. Ma started to talk to us.. a group of little tanned shivering barefooted kids laying flat on our backs in the grass around our mother.. we must have looked strange to hawk... "Watch hawk fly. He flaps his wings hard then floats on the wind. Feel him fly.. Feel his wings move.." she continued to talk about hawk.. "Close your eyes...you are hawk..feel wings working ... now you float....swooooop...Your wings are getting tired...you are hungry... so hungry...you must eat or die...you see no mouse or rabbit...so hungry...so hungry..what will you eat...Look..Farmer Raymond has chicken... surely he won't mind if you have just one... Farmer must know of your hunger..he would not want you to starve.. You will dive down..take one small chick...maybe tomorrow you will find a rabbit and leave farmer alone..." We went to breakfast talking about hawk and how each of us could fly so far.. My mother asked if hawk should die..We all decided no.. If we saved his life he would be our responsibility. How could we get hawk to not take the chickens... We decided that we would get chicken wire for the top of the fencing so hawk couldn't come down to get the chickens... Money was tight... We went to the feed store,asked if we could get the fence on time... I think now it was so strange that this man trusted a group of little barefoot kids to pay him... We fixed the top of the fence making a cage out of the chicken fence.. We then went neighbor to neighbor to ask for jobs to pay for the fence.. It took us almost 6 months to pay off that fence..and a few blisters too.. I knew from that day hawk was my animal... To this day I can close my eyes and imagine myself to the sky.. Do you have an animal that is your spirit animal?... Do you have a connection to one?.. Close you eyes and imagine youself an animal... Who are you?
4 responses
@kathy77 (7486)
• Australia
15 Apr 07
Well when I was a baby we owned a collie dog, and we always had different kinds of dogs when one would pass away, when I was 5 we went to live in the country and we had a lot of different animals there like cows, sheep, hens for our eggs pigs, horses and many more animals. We returned to the city when I had to go to school and had a different dog again. When I was 10 years old I received my first cat, and also we had turkeys and a duck with its babies. But I never had what I would call a spirit animal. Although out of all the animals I love the dog more. If I close my eyes an imagine I am an animal it would have to be a horse.
1 person likes this
@raydene (9871)
• United States
15 Apr 07
I can well image the feeling of galloping along only because I have riden ..I think to be a horse is nice.
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
15 Apr 07
Being Sioux and Apache I do have an animal that has appeared in my life throughout my life and it is an Owl. Part of FFA it was the sign of the part I was. I have jewelry that has come to me that is the shape of owls. I love the night and that is the realm of the quiet hunter of flight. The owl is my totem so to speak.
1 person likes this
@raydene (9871)
• United States
15 Apr 07
I love the owls..I just love birds and the idea of flying,gliding on the air currents is such a wonderful thought.I'm happy for you.
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
14 Apr 07
I wish I knew how to really find out, but I always felt that the wolf was my spiritual animal. Something about the lone wolf just watching and waiting connected to my soul.
1 person likes this
@raydene (9871)
• United States
15 Apr 07
I get a feeling about the wolf when I think of you...I think you may be right..Do you have any native friends that would help you?
@ElicBxn (63233)
• United States
14 Apr 07
I once psyicilly flashed into the horse I was riding. I had always felt connected to horses & even more so after that. I think my animal is the horse. Maybe not the noble steed, more the prankster pony!
1 person likes this
@raydene (9871)
• United States
14 Apr 07
Wow..That is great.I love horses but know the hawk is mine...It was my grandfather's also..Thanks so much for sharing that with me.