Spiritual guidance of the mighty hawk

I just completed a three week solo meditation retreat. If you want to dig deep, I highly recommend it. Basically, all the stuff you've been repressing throughout your life comes to the surface.  It's not easy, especially when you're alone. But that's the thing. You're not. You never are.
 
You are accompanied along the way with your higher guides, your spirit guides. These may show themselves as the gods and goddesses whom you believe in, whether that's Jesus and Mary or Buddha and Prajnaparamita.  It may be a holy person, prophet or diety from another religion or philosophy. Or you may be accompanied by a spirit animal like the hawk.
 
When you have faith, your faith supports you through thick and thin.  There is an inner knowing that everything will be all right. That you can do this.  The power of spiritual guidance is not to be underestimated.
 
Why is it important to clear the gook you’ve been burying inside? Because underneath all that stuff is where the magic lies; where your true essence lives, and when it emerges, the bliss of emptiness is discovered.
 
The Mighty Hawk.  
 
Throughout my three weeks of meditating six hours daily, a beautiful hawk visited me. She flew outside my window nearly every day. This hawk has visited me before, especially while doing healing and energy work with clients.
 
With a beautiful underbelly of white feathers and a tail of blazing red, this hawk swirled by the sky sometime so close to my window that I thought it might try to enter.
 
I wondered if I had stood outside and put my arm out, would she set herself upon it. I didn't try this so I can’t give tell you!
 
According to powerofpositivity.com:
 
“The hawk symbolizes the ability to use intuition and higher vision in order to complete tasks or make important decisions. ... Hawks represent the messengers of the spirit world, so seeing them definitely means the universe wants you to learn powerful lessons or expand your knowledge and wisdom.”
 
As I write this, the hawk is circling above me. I am inspired as she spreads her wings in the expanse of the big sky.
 
Let's look at the first part of this definition. 
 
“A hawk symbolizes the ability to use intuition and higher vision to complete tasks or make important decisions.”
 
Use your intuition to make important decisions. This makes absolute sense to me. How does it feel to you? Do you use your intuition to make decisions?
 
How often have you made a decision and kicked yourself afterwards saying “Gosh I knew I shouldn't have done that.”
 
Why did you know? Most likely because your gut told you so. 
 
This is usually where your intuition lies. It makes itself noticeable in your gut. Think of a baby kicking its mama's belly because it's hungry or because mama just had a cup of coffee and what was she thinking! 
 
Your belly will make you feel something when you are not choosing the right path. Butterflies, nausea. Even so, we ignore our intuition, our gut instincts. We look for something more concrete to base our decisions on, and unfortunately, we rely solely on these.
 
Here's an example. You're shopping for a new car and have your heart set on the color red. But the sales person convinces you that black is the color trend. You go ahead with that decision and purchase a brand new shiny black car. 
 
As you're driving around in your beautiful new car, you notice that every other car you pass by seems to be a shiny red car! You become frustrated and wonder why you allowed another person's opinion to shift yours.
 
This was a financial investment that should have brought you pleasure and excitement, and instead brought you frustration. If you had listened to your gut, given credence to your true desires, and maybe done some research on what the sales person was suggesting -  ie. are black cars in fact more trendy, and even if they are, does it matter - you could have balanced your decision on all of these. 
 
What's important here, as our wise hawk reminds us, is to validate our intuition. 
 
My suggestion is to balance it with knowledge i.e. research, and perhaps advisement from others.  But always, and I mean always, go back to your gut. If it doesn’t feel right, it’s not. It may not be the right time to make the decision. Don’t feel rushed to choose unless you are good and ready to do so.
 
Let’s look at the second part of the definition:
 
"Hawks represent the messengers of the spirit world, so seeing them definitely means the universe wants you to learn powerful lessons or expand your knowledge and wisdom.”
 
Yes. Absolutely true. During my 3 week solo meditation retreat, I learned powerful lessons and yes, both my knowledge and wisdom expanded. Now, I will honor the time needed to absorb it all, and then, make important decisions. ​