Animal messages come to us frequently, we just usually don't notice them. One morning while I was out for a walk with my dog, I had an encounter with a young fox. Often I see foxes in my neighborhood, but they are always running to get themselves hidden in the bushes. More often than not I only catch a glimpse of a tail or spot ears sticking out from behind a bush. After all, foxes a very cautious animals and prefer not to be seen. Well, this encounter was anything but.
As I was walking along the sidewalk in front of the middle school on my street, I spotted a young fox just sitting in a grassy area by the school parking lot. He (or she) couldn't have picked a more open spot to observe the world around him. I slowed my pace so as not to frighten him and it was then we made eye contact. He just sat there looking as us. I expected him to take off, but no. While watching him I spotted two others in the distance. The first one (the mom) was just a tail slipping into a long row of bushes. Shortly after that another young one in the distance ran across the grass and into the bushes behind mom.
Meanwhile, this young fox just sat there looking around, sniffing the air and continuing to make eye contact with me. I keep my pace slow and steady to see just how close I could get, all the while sweetly talking to him. My Lab spotted the fox soon after I did and was very interested, but remained calm and curious. Then, something interesting happened.
When I got to the black top of the parking lot, now about 100 ft. away, the fox stood up and started to walk, not run, toward the row of bushes. I told him I was sorry we got too close, but that he wasn't in any danger from us. He then turned around and sat down. Again he made direct eye contact with me as I continued walking slowly. While stopping to pause every few steps, keeping the eye contact and speaking gently. My dog continued to remain calm. Then I asked him why he was allowing us to get so close and I swear I could see him smile at me. Not a cunning smile, but so sweet. Now I know he wasn't physically smiling, but he was most definitely smiling from the inside out to me. This fox was giving me a message.
Reading the message
When we have unusual encounters with animals, that's when we have to pay attention to what we were just thinking about because they’re responding to our thoughts. Seeing foxes running into the bushes isn’t having an encounter. A message encounter is when the behavior is out of the ordinary for that animal or sadly when we accidentally kill them.
If you have an out of the ordinary encounter with an animal, stop and ask yourself, what was I just thinking about? This isn't easy because we get all tied up in the encounter and quickly forget what we were just thinking about. That's exactly what happened with me when I saw this young fox. I immediately went into animal communication mode. But I do remember some of the thoughts that were running through my mind during my walk.
Finally...
Now you might be asking how to get the information if you don't have the books. It's easy, Google it! Just type in the animal and "meaning of". Read through what you find and see what resonates with you. It's likely that not all of what you read on the animal will be meaningful to you. But something will and that's the message. I also suggest you sit quietly with the spirit of the animal and the information received for a few minutes or maybe journal your thoughts. Whatever way works for you to "take it all in". You'll be amazed at the powerful insight that creature has to offer you.
The message I got from this fox was a little different because of the strong eye contact we had. He said to watch and pay attention more than just by listening. Trust your intuition more, trust yourself and to keep silent about what I'm learning.
One last thought. The animals you have an encounter with are not necessarily your totem animal. We can receive messages from any animal, a plant and even rocks. After all, we are all made of this earth and we are all connected to everything on it.
“Animals are not only beholders of great beauty, but they are also beholders of ancient wisdom.”
~Molly Friedenfeld
Namaste’
Stephanie