Saw an eagle soaring high over the city yesterday! A sign of spring? I don’t know whether there are any eagles wintering in Calgary.

But watching this majestic bird soaring brought incredible feelings of hope to me! And it caused me to think of a dream I had quite some years ago involving an eagle. In the place my wife and I were in at that time, we phrased this dream as receiving eagle medicine. I viewed the eagle as my totem. It was a way in which the Creator spoke to me. It was a way to get in touch with some of my spiritual qualities.

Eagle medicine speaks of nobility, of integrity, of seeing big pictures, of seeing the big picture.

If I find my journal account of the dream I will share it here. But right now I want to share one other encounter with an eagle. It happened close to the time I received the dream. I was on a trip, driving solo to Washington to visit family. On highway 22 south of Calgary there is a very slight pass which the highway crosses. As I drove up this pass, rain turned to wet snow. Near the top it was almost white-out conditions. Driving quite slowly for safety, I had a brief glimpse of a bald eagle flying very near the ground, swooping toward the highway and my car, and then up and out of sight into the driving snow. This happened so quickly and was over so fast that I had to doubt what I saw. But the more I thought about it, the more certain I was that I had seen, for a second or two, an eagle! It had appeared almost headless, due to the white colour of its head. This distortion contributed to my confusion and doubt over what I had seen. But when I realized that I would not have seen its head clearly, due to its colouring, I realized that I actually had glimpsed an eagle.

Would an eagle have been out flying in a blinding snow storm? I do not know much about their habits. But this snow was quite localized. It had been rain until the road rose toward the pass. Perhaps the eagle had been pursuing some prey and flew briefly into the snow.

And of course, I believe that the eagle was sent to appear to me for my own encouragement! This was a heavenly vision sent to me as a gift. And I continue to be truly grateful for this wonderful gift. It has stayed with me for many years.