Like most people, I have always found the large raptors charismatic… even spiritual. But here’s the thing… the appearances that we enshrine are not really true. Until you’ve seen one attack a nest … a nest being defended by 6 different species of birds at once… and spread its wings over the children there… and consume them while they scream and their parents helplessly watch… you don’t know what a hawk is actually about.

Sure, that majestic red-tail looks noble in flight…

-But it eats children while their parents watch-.

And there’s an important set of lessons here about those things and beings we too easily aggrandize. We like the appearance, even make it ‘spiritual’… but have we actually examined the phenomenon itself? Too rarely. And even then, usually too superficially.