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Just a few weeks ago my life changed when I started making friends with the local hawks near my house. I’m not sure exactly what started it, but every day now as I’m driving to and from work, you can find me searching the trees and the power lines, looking for my friends. Personally, I feel that I have a relationship with them. I’m overjoyed when I spot them up there and I actually ask them for help when I feel stuck. There have been a couple of times where I have felt torn, confused, and conflicted, and the hawks have helped guide me through those situations. Most notably, when I felt conflicted about whether I should see my ex boyfriend, the hawks told me “if you’re not sure, it’s a no” (I went).
So now that I have an emotional attachment to the hawks, I wanted to know what else they symbolize in the world. Here’s what I learned.
MindBodyGreen is one of my go-to websites for learning about wellness and spiritual topics, so that’s where I went first. Hawks carry a lot of meaning, but some of the most common meanings include clarity, intuition, messengers, trust, vision, wisdom, power, and protection, all of which we’ll explore deeper below.
Hawks are a prevalent symbol in many cultures all around the world, often with similar meanings. For example, Greek, Celtic, and Norse mythology, Hinduism, and some cultures in South America and southern Africa all view hawks as divine messengers from the spirit realm. This could be the start of something new, a big decision to be made, a monumental event coming up, or any number of other important messages.
The aforementioned meanings certainly ring true for me and my experiences with hawks. One word that came up for hawk symbolism is “direction.” The hawks have acted as a bit of a compass for me. I ask them for help when I need to decide which way to proceed in regards to all kinds of different things in my life. We may not speak the same language, but I know they carry an untapped wisdom that I truly appreciate them for, and I often feel a sense of clarity after talking with them.
One of the major themes that has come up from these kinds of talks is intuition. Like I mentioned up above, the hawks’ message to me in one situation was “if you’re not sure, it’s a no.” This left it up to me, ultimately, to make my decision in that situation, but the instruction in that message is to get quiet and listen to my gut, my heart, my inner knowing, my intuition. I shouldn’t force myself to make a certain decision based on what other people want, or even what a past version of me would want. Lead with the intuitive knowing of who you are now and who you are growing into. I think this also leads to a feeling of personal power and self trust, power and trust both being words that popped up for hawks’ symbolic meaning.
The other major theme that came up in my research was hawks as a reminder to change your perspective and look at the bigger picture. Celtic mythology states that a hawk sighting may be a sign that it's time to evaluate your life by taking on a bird's eye view. This way you can use your hawk eyes to more clearly examine the various aspects of your life and break the cycles and thought patterns that no longer serve you so you can fly freely too.
Speaking of flying freely, the last major lesson I have learned from the hawks is that your own independence and self reliance is of the utmost importance. Hawks mate for life, but are certainly not connected to their partners at the hip. When they are not actively mating or raising their young together, they spend their time alone. This offers a great reminder for us in our own relationships of all kinds. It is crucial to make sure that you are a whole and complete person on your own so you and your loved ones can foster healthy and fulfilling relationships, free of codependency. Kristen M. Stanton of uniguide.com writes, "Allow each other to soar, knowing that you will eventually return to each other." I believe this is one of the biggest keys to a successful relationship of any kind, and the hawks lead by example to show us the way.
So far I have learned quite a lot from the hawks, and it has only been a short time. I look forward to growing my relationship with them over time and seeing what else they teach me and where they take me. I hope we can all learn to be more observant of the friends and teachers who live in our backyard because the world is a better place when we remember that we are nature and part of the interconnected web of the world.
References:
Stanton, Kristen M. “Hawk Symbolism & Meaning & the Hawk Spirit Animal.” UniGuide®, 2 Feb. 2022, www.uniguide.com/hawk-meaning-symbolism-spirit-animal-guide.
“This Spirit Animal Can Signify That a Big Change Is Headed Your Way.” Mindbodygreen, 25 Apr. 2023, www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/hawk-symbolism.
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