As I drove my little old car, with the aging struts up the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, well past the setting of the sun — the darkness of the road really shrouded in upon the narrow path forward. My traveling companion was fast asleep in the passenger seat and I was just navigating on memory, although I had never been there.
That is when she appeared.
Just ahead in the road, the dark dark road – my headlights cast upon a giant white creature. Taller than my car, wider than it, standing stoically. Eye fixed on me, and unmoving. I stopped in the breathless moments, captivated by her eye — a transmission in the connection.
She stood like a wall, like a massive message for me to pay attention carefully now.
I received this message — and as it gradually made its way into and through me, it then suddenly entered my nervous system, like fear… OH, I kicked into gear again… what if she charges my car? Omg.
I backed up quickly down this dark road, giving her some space.
She just kept looking into me. So I sat for moments longer, and then when she was done, she continued to walk, slowly off the road and then turning alongside my car to walk the length of it from the forest edge, still eyeing me, and then out of sight… into the dark cloaks of this insanely magical place.
Holy crap, I thought… that was a buffalo. A white buffalo.
Photo by Sebastian Unrau on Unsplash
I could never corroborate my findings with anyone at the North Rim. As far as they knew, not even cattle were in these woods – and of course, I was sure that this animal was not as small as a cow - although that would’ve been quite something as well.
This was one of my first experiences with this spirit animal.
I was well aware of the Native American prophecy back then even, of the white buffalo that would come – a sacred sign of change coming, a truly rare sign and a bringer of hope. I didn’t know back then that I would open to and re-member my own shamanic medicine but in holding the bigger picture, it seems it was an indication of things to come for my own life and the calling from my guides to awaken. For clarity — my medicine lineage of this lifetime is of Celtic and Nordic ancient practices, and I have deep reverence for Native American, Indigenous medicine as I do for all spiritual practices. The prophecies are like a truth telling that can buoy and usher our world into greater integrity.
The white buffalo has never left me. The awe, the transmission that called me into them — attuning me, The reverence, and then the fight or flight response in my nervous system, which seemed to plant it deeply.
The whole package.
Had I been through a portal that evening? Well, as I would come to learn, that is a thing I do. But also, is there not room in this world for us to allow apparition? and did it even matter if my logic left brain could make sense of it?
Opening to this experience was pivotal in my evolution of opening to my gifts.
In the most effortless of interpretations, she served as a guide for me to come through my shadows to my own heart and light, arriving on my own true path.
So now here we are, roughly 30 years later and we are witnessing these calls to us from the animal totems coming through in more widely, public and provocative ways. Because, through my lens, here we are at a great awakening opportunity for humans.
Evolutionary times.
There is a blue eyed, white raven that has become a local celebrity in Alaska, Anchorage area. It is leucistic - which means it has a gene that causes pigmentation loss, a condition different than albino – essentially, the gene is additive and purposefully makes the raven be born without its telltale black feathers.
Quite a sight to behold, I imagine. Even the pictures are eerily stunning.
At the very simplest level, this delight has brought our attentions to the ravens. Raven — a stalwart and powerful spirit guide for many, always known as a black bird, invoking apprehension for some and delight in others for its association with prophecy, death portals and psychopomp – which is most simply defined as “a guide for souls”. They are powerful creatures indeed.
Photo by Cristina Glebova on Unsplash
We may see the white raven’s prominent arrival as prophecy in and of itself — or as an omen coming forth for what has arrived in our human lives and broader ecosystems, for integration.
As a mystic, ever-curious about the unfoldings in our lives, I often ponder what the meanings are. Here is a smattering of my modest inquiry.
In Yin Yang theory, the yin and the yang define one another — they meet one another at the ever changing boundary of what each is.
We are likely all familiar with the symbol of yin and yang, sometimes called the taiji, – its encircling currents of black and white with the dots of each within each. These opposites are really complements, existing because the other exists. Through one, you gain access to the other.
If Raven has been our association with the jet black, with shadowy things and deeper themes – then White Raven brings the bigger picture of a lit path that exists within the shadow.
The interplay of shadow and light encourages us to look at this relationship more intently. Waking us to the idea that it might be time to work out that relationship between inverses. Here, “shadow” refers to our unhealed tendencies and behaviors that we are finding our lessons within. “Light” can be likened to our highest expression of truth, aligning with our divine self.
Learning to embrace our shadow and see that it is our sacred ally in growth – is a guide-line safely through egoic dictatorship. Shadow can provide us with a humbleness that preserves our earnest desire to evolve. Befriending our shadow may help us to resist the urge to judge, compete, indulge in power struggle, and rather to invite resonance and harmony. It may help us to reach and welcome our divine expressions of self.
Another way to speak within the sphere of Yin Yang theory, that I feel intimately applies to our human lives, is with regards to the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine. The feminine is most broadly seen as yin and the masculine as yang.
An ever graceful dance occurs between the two, an infinity dance, as they are always able to contribute to one another to achieve divine balance – whatever that looks like within relationships, within individuals.
It is an integritous and forgiving path towards this balance, and not towards the egoic aspect of achieving perfection. Quite simply — it is a dance, it is a practice.
So very simplistically, we might layer in how Raven is showcasing yin and yang, light and dark, divine feminine and divine masculine, complementaries of infinite array, self defining within the myriad postures they might take.
We, as humans – all hold some balance of Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine. It is said that we are eternally trying to create a great marriage within ourselves, to find this harmony. So it is that the occurrence of, the arrival of the white raven brings in the idea of balance too as well as of partnership.
It is time to pay attention – to this aspect in our lives and relationships. We have evolved beyond simply donning one aspect or another, and we are being invited to embrace the existence of both within our own selves.
…and If it is time for the great marriage within ourselves, our relationships, our communities – how do we do this?
We let both the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine unfold as collaborative equals, necessary for the existence of one another. We welcome the Divine Masculine and Feminine Feminine, represented in this omen of the White Raven amongst Ravens… and we begin to expand our view of what is possible.
A representation of the duality, a welcoming of it. An invitation to enter the portal to truth, and an invitation for the dance and thus the expansion.
There has also been a white buffalo born this year, much celebrated on social platforms and in the ethers that connect us across space and time. Deeply revered on the actual land where they live.
It occurs to me that Jesus was a white buffalo really – in the way that he was spoken of as a savior, prophesied about, in the way that he was a rare gem and brought hope and change to whoever would receive his blessing. A sacred guide. I can’t help but wonder if this darling calf dancing about as they are filmed because of the color of their hide knows the spiritual message they bring. My guides say yes, all of the animal allies do. This is the way.
And so the time has come for us to welcome hope and change – and I’d say for us to welcome the Divine dualities into sacred union within ourselves just as the animal allies are showing us. They always show us the way. Nature always speaks to us.
They say that the wound is where the light comes in and this is most certainly true of this opportunity. Looking deeply at the places where we are in the shadow feminine and masculine, cradling those places, honoring them, and hearing what it is that those places need from us. This is healing the soils of our bodies and planting seeds in the fertileness that our divine may blossom and bloom.
Long prophesied, the time has come for the guides. The time has come for the partnership. We can welcome the overt duality – as an opportunity to more fully balance ourselves, as a “both/and”. As we witness the omens, we can accept the challenge to befriend all that in us wants for us to root and rise.
If you choose to let the expansion land all around you – like a field of blessings,
If you take a posture of allowing within it, stretching your toes and fingertips outwards a little bit farther,
If you let it wash over you, ebb and then flow into you, …
The time has come for your shadow walks towards your divine expression. Baby steps, like the baby white buffalo. One present moment at a time.
Just the other day, I walked with a dear friend amongst the copious native plants of the land and forests where I live. The Camas Lily is a sacred plant to the native peoples and a delight to behold in the season when it blooms. They are a deep purple, indigo color and provide much nourishment through their bulbs.
I was relaying how I had learned that in such wild settings, there is a rare white camas too that can grow amongst the purple, but that it was known as the death camas, for its poison content. I had never seen one in the many fields that have blessed my time here – and then, just as certainly as I spoke the words, we happened upon the white camas. While I would not recommend eating this white camas, her luminous presence was as that of a revered guest. I was certainly awe struck.
Like the yin dot in a sea of yang — she boldly swayed in the breeze, a reminder of this same journey through relationships. Death within life. Life within death. Complements, balance, and invitation to embrace the lessons and seek our light.
Hi, I am Melissa — a Shamanic Coach, Healing Practitioner & Alchemist. But at the heart of it all, I am Mystic & Mage.
More about my work can be found at spiritmedicine-lifecoaching.com
Hope you enjoy the short shares, podcast style here. They sort of dance around life, experiences throughout my time here on this planet, and the work I do.
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