This is a story about Christine and her father. It shows the power of animals to be messengers from the other side, how spirits use the wisdom and symbolism of animals to convey signs to us, and how embracing animals as signs can bring peace and happiness into our lives.
Nearly a decade ago, Christine’s father had been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer. He flew from his home in New York to Southern California to live with Christine while he received treatment. He was with his daughter for five months before he passed away.
“When they came to take his body away from my home, there was a lot going on. A lot of family and friends had gathered with us, and it was, of course, a very emotional time for everyone,” Christine said. “As we were all gathered outside at one point that day, a few of us spotted a huge hawk flying above our house. We noticed it because in all the years we had lived there, we had never seen a single hawk. Every one of us saw it soaring above without pointing it out to each other. We were mesmerized by its beauty. Dad had been in a lot of pain and had been asking to die every night for weeks. He was ready to go and begin his next life. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was a sign from him.”
Christine felt she had found the answer to that in the days that followed. Every morning for the next month, she said a red-tailed hawk would land on a tree in her backyard and be in no rush to leave.
“It was a big pine tree. The hawk would land there at almost the same time each day and stay for several hours. I could clearly see it from my kitchen window. I didn’t even have to search for it. I would just look out my window and there it would be on the same branch. It was bizarre how long it would stay there, and that it would always land right where I could see it.”
After that month, when the hawk no longer landed in the tree each day, Christine began noticing hawks wherever she went.
“They were everywhere,” she said. “I would see them when I went on bike rides. I would see them in Toronto and Montreal when I would travel to Canada for work. And I know it sounds crazy, but it seemed like anytime I would talk to my dad in spirit, a hawk would appear, no matter where I was.”
Some people truly did think she was crazy. “I would tell people these stories, and they’d say ‘Really?’ Not with a tone like they found it fascinating, but as though they didn’t necessarily believe me. A perfect example is one time when I was on my way to a hotel with a friend while we were vacationing in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. She was one who had been skeptical of my hawk stories. While we were in the cab, I was talking about my dad. She was listening to me and looking out the window when suddenly she exclaimed, ‘Christine! Look!’ There was a hawk flying right beside us. She believes me now.”
For her part, Christine believes so much in the appearance of the hawk as a sign from her dad that it has physically become part of who she is.
“Never in my life had I ever thought about getting a tattoo, but about a month ago I decided to get one of a hawk on my right wrist to keep my dad’s spirit right in front of me every day. I also framed a picture I’d taken of that hawk that had been landing on my pine tree. It sits in my living room.”
So, what was the significance of a hawk before her dad died?
“There was none at all,” she said. “Like I said, I had never even seen a hawk where we lived. And I don’t think hawks had any significance in my dad’s life. It was just a feeling I had, that we all had, as soon as we looked toward the sky and saw the hawk that day he died. There was a real internal, spiritual connection. It brought me comfort then, and it continues to bring me comfort today.”
Christine’s story is a very good example of why we need to keep our minds open to any possible sign. Most people look for signs that would relate to themselves or to the person who died. And while I would say that often that’s how spirits will communicate, it won’t always be the case. Their number-one goal is to get our attention however they can. Christine’s dad obviously saw a chance for the hawk to mean something to his daughter, at that moment and beyond. Had this sign not worked, he might have tried something else later. But it did work, because of Christine’s openness to all possibilities.