Hawks and Doves and Dreams

The drama continues

In some of my recent stories I have been talking about how a family of three hawks have rather forcefully entered my life as of late. I hear them screeching all day long from about 8:30 in the morning to just before the sun sets. And their favorite perch seems to be the telephone pole directly outside my office window where they will sit and screech for hours. It has actually made it a little difficult to focus on writing.

(Perhaps they want me to write about them.)

Of course I am only guessing that they are a family. Two of the hawks are larger than the third one. The smaller hawk is almost as big as the two larger hawks, with less coloration, and I think it may be the offspring of the two larger hawks. I’m thinking it’s like a teenager — although I doubt that is the correct ornithological terminology.

Yesterday I saw one of the bigger hawks bring a morsel of food in its talons which it deposited on the very top of the telephone pole. The smaller hawk, which was sitting on the power line just a couple of feet from the pole, hopped up to the top of the pole and began eating. How long, I wondered, do hawk parents continue to feed their young? Shouldn’t the parents be teaching the teenager hawk how to hunt? How long will the teenager hawk continue to mooch off its parents?

It is the smaller teenager hawk that has made the telephone pole outside my window its home. It is there almost every time I look out the window. I don’t have to stare at it for long before one of the larger hawks comes and sits close by with it. Then eventually the other larger hawk comes by and dive bombs the larger hawk perched on the power line. The perched hawk will jump up and the two larger hawks will dance in mid-air, their wings flapping like crazy.

It looks like they are fighting but I am not sure that is what it is. I think it is more like playing. Or maybe it’s a romance thing. I don’t know. I’m not an ornithologist. But neither of the two larger hawks do that with the smaller hawk. They only play/dance/fight with each other.

Occasionally, all three hawks will be on the pole and nearby power lines at the same time. One of the larger hawks and the smaller hawk will be perched close to each other while the other larger hawk will be perched several feet away. They will just sit up there screeching and screeching and screeching. The noise is deafening! It’s like I’m trying to get some work done inside a Hitchcock movie.

I had a dream before waking up this morning that took place in Southern California. All my dreams always take place in specific geographic locations. Over ninety percent of my dreams take place in either New Mexico, Colorado or Southern California. The one geographic location that has never, ever appeared in my dreams is the geographic location in which I currently live!

Isn’t that odd?

Seriously, I have never dreamed about the geographic location in which I have been living for the last seven and a half years. Never. And I think I may be starting to figure out why.

I have started to notice that the specific geographic locations where my dreams take place correspond with certain psychological/spiritual aspects of myself. Southern California represents my sexy starving artist aspect. Colorado represents my social businessman aspect (my extrovert aspect). And New Mexico represents my wise old spiritual sage aspect (my introvert aspect). I slip into these aspects in Dreamland and the geographic location of my dreams correspond with whatever aspect I am in while dreaming.

But there is one of my aspects that never appears in my dreams. It’s my warrior aspect. Perhaps it is because I have shoved him so deep down within myself and locked him up that he can’t get out — not even in dreams.

Well, guess what? The geographic location that corresponds with my warrior aspect is where I am currently living! Perhaps I am meant to deal with my warrior aspect not through dreams but rather in the awake state. Could this be what the hawks showed up in my life to tell me? Hawks and some other birds of prey are considered to symbolically represent warriors.

In my previous stories I mentioned how the species of hawk that now lives outside my window is famous for preying on smaller songbirds. This is rather sad for me because birdsong is nourishment to me and since the hawks moved into the neighborhood most of the small songbirds have left the neighborhood. Instead of hearing delightful bird music now all I hear is the constant screeching of the hawks.

But there is one smaller bird that has always been and still is quite plentiful in the neighborhood. These particular birds seem to have no fear of the hawks whatsoever. These are the doves.

Earlier this morning I looked out the window and I saw the smaller hawk and one of the larger ones sitting on the power lines. They were only about two feet apart. Then I noticed a dove sitting on the same power line only about four feet away. The three birds seemed oblivious of each other. They were merely sharing a power line.

And that is when it hit me. Doves represent peace and hawks represent war.

Were the birds trying to tell me something?

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