Surprising Oneself .....

It is not often that my actions surprise me.   Not in a lack of spontaneity  - gosh how do you spell that again.......  how to be that again......... and yet this is a tale of this rarity that unfolded.

One of great power.

Last week I ventured into town.
Beautiful blue skies with the few chemtrail streaks, vines slowly moving energy to their roots, sacrificing their foilage.

Entering the village the car in front of me hits a bird.
It rockets and tumbles into the sky simultaneously.
Shit I say.   And before I know that I have made a decision , the car is slowed down.
The thought is then there I must check on the bird although I could not see how it could have survived.   My next thought is well she is fresh enough to be food for Athena.

She is standing in the road, very still.    Approaching her and reassuring her through clicks she lets me pick her up.  I hold her against my chest, she is alert and still.
And very tame.   There are tags on her legs and after some investigation it is assertained that she is a racing pigeon from the Eastern Cape.   I wondered if the fires in the region may have confused her.   Anyway gave my details and awaited .....

Two days later Penelope is now in my office.   She situates herself under the altar.
She is unperturbed by the dogs and cats.  Fits right in.

Two days later still no word from the owner.   My office is decorated with pigeon droppings and let us face it birds need to be outdoors.   So Penelope finds herself in the garden in a grazing cage.  Katie has placed  a perch in there for her.
The sun shines gently on her universe.

A few nights later it is winter solstice  and a fire is made in the garden. 
Hypnotized by the flames and gluewein it is very cold by the time I remember to take Penelope inside.  She is shivering.    She is lovingly placed in a box with a hot water bottle under a cushion to warm her. 



 
  
The next day in the crazing cage, on another perfect winters day Penelope attracts the attention of Athena who flies at the cage to try and reach her.  She is relentless.
Again there is effort to contact the owner.   Silence.

 

Into the late afternoon, sitting under the pecans Katie mentions that she had covered Penelope so intense was Athenas attention.  I was sun cupping and had the thought that maybe Athena needs to eat the racing pigeon.   Katie walked over and said the exact thing  - It was as if  Athena herself  instigated the thought of the feed.
How did this thought come to two animal lovers at the same time?
and our response....

Well before I go into that racey issue I need to recount a life event.
Not major.  But still in the memory banks.
When Sage was much younger and was being unschooled he wanted to do falconeering.    When I was interviewed they asked if he would have a second.
I knew nothing and they explained that because you have to hunt for raptors until they can hunt for themselves, you need a substitute should you be unable to aid the food quest.
There was no second for him and falconeering was delayed for many years.

Until now.  With this bird. 
Sage who gave  Penelope her name  had gone away for a few days.
There was no food for her. 
A storm was coming up. 
Last time Sage had gone away she had gone looking for food and nearly being killed.

So in that second that I broke the cardinal rule of this house, that no animal that has been named can be fed to snakes or such.   There were breeders and they were never to be prey.     And yet when Athena was able to hunt Penelope , I became a second .....

We removed the covering from the grazing space and Athena leapt in.
I walked away with my heart in my throat.

She ate the bird for two days.
It took incredible effort.
She ripped off the head and pulled everything out.
Her eyes were blinking with the perfection of this meal for days.

After the hunt she matured greatly.   A deep peace.  Lots of closed eye time, not that constant seeking ......

With my tent still being unlivable I headed upstairs to a bedroom.
A  part of this ancient building that the owl has not ventured before.

This morning in the darkness,  I opened the door to hear the sounds of the trees and there was Athena to greet me as I greeted the slowly rising sun.

She spent the day there hanging out with me.  And how could I go anywhere else when she was so very present.

She saw my eyes with her half hooded eyes and gave the most complete darshan.

So I just wanted to share my surprise of how the much cared for Penelope became Athena.