The Dark Harbinger

I walked outside one day, it was hot and humid in the middle of the summer. It was also broad daylight and as I was going about doing chores, I started hearing an owl hooting close to me. It sounded as if it was only about 30 feet away at the edge of the barn. I tend to stay away from this barn. First of all is not on our property even though it's very close to our house. It's on the other side of the fence. In addition, it is also creepy. My kids have explored it a couple of times. It's weird because it's abandoned but is in great condition. It would be a perfectly good barn for hay or whatever else people use barns for. I looked closer in the open door of the barn and I could see the owl. He was just staring at me and it gave me goosebumps all over my body.

Back in my previous life, before I was spiritually awakened, I probably wouldn't have noticed the owl. Now I am much more attuned to these metaphysical occurrences. The owl continued hooting for a while. In fact he didn't stop the entire time I was outside. Every time I would go inside and then come back out it would start again, the moment I opened the door. I asked my other family members if they heard this owl everytime I went out. They confirmed that they did hear it so I know it wasn't just in my head.

I've learned that the universe, or our spirit guides, are desperate to get messages to us. I mean they can't just text us or call us. So, they have to get creative about. Consequently there is the theory that nothing is a coincidence n this world. Everything is a message, but we do not always get these messages. In fact, we probably do not understand most of them. They want us to get the messages so bad, they even use animals to get the message across. Animal spirit guides are very powerful and extremely helpful on our journey in this life.

So, I did more research on owls and I thought back on my life experiences with these mysterious creatures of the night. I came to the conclusion that the owl is in fact one of my spirit guides. I remembered a time when my father and I were taking one of our walks in the woods. We often did this to just talk and enjoy being in nature together. Dad would always tell me that his church was out in the forest. He didn't need to go to some building to worship. He wanted to be in the church that God made himself. This always resonated with me and we both had a deep respect for the Native American views on spirituality. On this walk it was in the daytime and we walked under a tree that an owl was perched in. As I walked under it, I must have startled the owl because it screeched and took off flying right above my head. It scared me but I thought it was pretty cool afterwards. This happened on two other occasions. My dad laughed and said “I don't know what it is about you but the owls sure do like you."

I hadn't thought about that memory in years and years. It's funny how things that were so important to us as children just kind of fade away overtime if they're not accessed through our memory. I was reminded about how my connection with the owls was something I took a lot of pride in as a kid. I thought I was special because the owls did seem to be drawn to me.

The following day my cousin stopped by to visit and we were standing outside chatting when the owls started in again. I told him about how the owl is my spirit animal and that they are trying to get a message across to me. He has a very different experience with owls. well not just owls, actually birds in general. When we were little kids, a rooster jumped on top of his head and started pecking him and clawing at him so he has a valid reason. He was visibly creeped out and said “That's a bad omen. Don’t you remember Grandma used to always warn us that when you see an owl that means somebody is going to die so I don't want to see any owls.”

He always has been a scaredy cat. He really hates hearing that because he is my older cousin, but it's just the truth. I told him some of the information I had researched about owls and some of the feelings I picked up intuitively. As I was talking the owls kept hooting as if in agreement to what I was saying. He was getting increasingly more uncomfortable but I kept pressing on. I said, “Owls don't cause people to die. They go back and forth between this world and the world that is there after we die. They are there when people die as like a guardian spirit or a guide to the other world.” This didn't seem to help him much especially since the owls really started hooting when I said that. He started to get into his car when he turned and said, “So cousin what's my spirit animal? It only took me a second to think and I replied, half-jokingly, “A rabbit because you run scared of everything.”

A few days after this I was doing an online course to become a Shaman. In this first course we were taking a journey to meet our spirit guides. Basically, we were supposed to picture a gate and I pictured my grandma's backyard where she had this gate that led down to a pond. Well, lots of different things happened on this journey but that story is for another day. Near the end of this journey, we were to picture a big bonfire. Around this fire were people who supported us; our spirit guides, spirit animals and passed over loved ones. My spirit animal was there but he didn't look quite the way I had expected. He was an owl, well at least half owl. His body was that of a man and his head was an owl. I know this does sound kind of terrifying but he was shirtless with lots of muscles and a six pack. He told me to not be scared of the things I will see in the future. That I am a medium and there are lots of messages the spirit world wants me to get out.

The next day I had to talk to someone about this and the only one who wouldn't think I was totally crazy was my fraidy cat cousin, Jared. I went over to his place and told him about what I saw and the message I got. He was surprisingly supportive but he did add, “Of course your guide would have muscles and a six pack.” I said, “Duh, they wanted to make sure I was paying attention.” It was then that an owl started hooting close to his house. It just would not stop. I said, “That owl sounds weird, like he's old and in pain or something.” Jared looked confused and replied, “What do you mean the owl sounds old.” I sighed and told him, “You know, just like people can sound old. I don't know he just sounds old and it's kind of scaring me.” Jared laughed and said, “Remember your message you're not supposed to get scared.” I rolled my eyes and started to get in my car. He leaned in my window as I was leaving and said, “My mom is getting pretty bad if you want to see her you probably better soon." His mom, my aunt, was ninety years old and she was living with his brother. We all knew it was getting close to the end of her time here on Earth but it was still hard to accept. We both started crying a little and I told him that I would go see her the next day.

The next day I got busy doing stuff and I kept thinking that I could just go see her later this week. Right at the moment I had that thought I heard the old owl. I knew right then I had to go see her now. When I got there, she did look as if she was on deaths doorstep. She wasn't talking coherently. Seeing her like this was very hard on all of us. She was one of the strongest women I've ever met. She divorced her first husband back in a time when no one got divorced. She raised two sons being a single working mother and then got remarried. It was with her second husband that she had my cousin Jared. Then Jared’s father died of cancer. Jared was only four years old at the time and she found herself a single mother again. She did everything for Jared and wanted to make sure he never lacked anything. He was spoiled, to say the least, but I can understand how this would happen given the circumstances. The other sons were adults so it was just the two of them. They always had an extremely close relationship and I worried about the affects her death would have on Jared.

She kept squeezing my hand but couldn't really say anything. My mom told me that she hadn't been talking for a couple of days now and that she didn't understand anything. However, I felt that she did still understand. I told her, |Don't worry you can go on to the other side and be with grandma and grandpa now. I will make sure and look after Jared for you.” It was like she had been waiting to hear that. She gasped for breath and then she was gone. I drove home afraid of how Jared was going to handle the loss of his mother.

The next day I waited until afternoon to go by his house in case he was sleeping in. He was not home but his car was in the driveway. I tried calling and texting him but no answer. I called his best friend as well, but no luck. I left him a note on the door telling him to get ahold of me because I wanted to see how he was doing. I figured he must have gone out partying or something to get his mind off of things. I worried all night long but I kept telling myself he was fine.

The following day I woke up early because I had a really busy day ahead of me. The sun was just coming up while I was drinking my coffee outside. I looked up and saw a rabbit about three feet from me just staring at me. He wasn't afraid he was just staring at me, twitching his nose. Then a sinking feeling came over me. I said to the rabbit, “What? Is it something with Jared?” The rabbit then bounced away towards my car. when he got beside my car he stopped and looked back like he was thinking are you coming or not.

I quickly went in, got dressed and then raced over to check on Jared again. This time his dogs were inside going crazy. His car was still in the driveway but no one answered the door. I peeked through the glass and thought I could see someone laying on the couch. The door was locked so I started banging on it frantically. It was then the owls started hooting again. It sounded like there was probably three of them this time in the trees around the house. They were hooting with a sense of urgency and I knew I had to get in the house. I ran around the house, like a crazy woman, trying to find a way in. I was about to give up when I saw the rabbit sitting on Jared's front porch. So, I found a huge rock and threw it through the window.

Long story short it turned out Jared was almost dead. He overdosed, accidentally. I guess he took something that he thought was something else and apparently it was too strong for him. I called 911 and started administering CPR. The EMTs told me he was lucky I got there when I did. That if I had been even a few minutes later he would have been dead. He was in a coma for about three days. After he woke up, I went to visit him in the hospital. I told him about the rabbit and I said, “So cousin what do you think about spirit guides now.” He replied, “I guess owls aren't that bad and I always have liked rabbits. I guess you're not as crazy as I thought. Maybe I should look more into this spiritual awakening thing you're always talking about.”