SEPTEMBER 2020
On Saturday, September 6, 2020, at 11:43 a.m., the East Bay experienced a small earthquake (3.5). Ricardo and I felt the house shake. Later that afternoon, Ricardo and I talked about my possibly relocating to his place in Boca de Tomatlan, near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
We had pretty much finished working on the outside of his house in Oakland Hills, and he now wanted to start modifications on the inside. He thought I would be more comfortable in his place in Mexico, considering there would be a lot of noise and dust. I couldn’t disagree.
But the idea didn’t completely resonate with me. I told Ricardo that I would give it some consideration. He then had a friend walk around the property to take some photographs.
The first image I saw was the 100+ steps leading down from the highway…
to the small house buried in the jungle near the ocean.
When I first laid eyes on the steps, I grew very concerned. I had a tough time trying to imagine carrying groceries, bottled water, or any other items up and down 100 steps. Just unloading the vehicle would be a significant challenge for me. Not to mention the humidity, the slippery steps, and so on. I couldn’t see myself living in this place at 59 years old. I had significant doubts. Two days later, a large black bird appeared on one of the surveillance cameras right outside the house.
After watching the video several times and doing some research online, I figured out that the bird was a Common Black Hawk, also known as a Mangrove Black Hawk.
This was my first sighting of this type of hawk. Given my history with hawks, I took this sighting as a time to consider my options carefully. The yellow feet made me think caution, caution, caution. The next day, on Wednesday, September 9, 2020, I woke up to something else I had never seen before. An orange, hazy, foggy sky.
A closer inspection revealed that the orange sky was caused by the thick smoke from the large fires surrounding the Bay Area. A thick layer of smoke was in the upper atmosphere, blocking the sun and turning the sky to a foreboding, ominous color. I no longer felt safe. I felt trapped. I felt suffocated.
I could no longer spend any length of time outside, go on hikes, or do anything else outdoors. I had thought about driving to Oregon to look for a job, but the fires and smoke were also terrible there. The air quality along the entire West Coast was extremely hazardous.
While all of this was happening my sister’s health grew weaker by the day. Text messages from my niece led me to believe that she was losing her will to fight, and it was just a matter of months or weeks before she finally gave up. I thought about driving my van to North Carolina to visit her, but with COVID still raging, the condition of the van, and my budget, it just didn’t feel smart or safe.
The last two months of my Saturn Return or Second Turning were starting to put a lot of pressure on me. I wasn’t sure which way to turn. No option felt great.
On Sunday, September 13, 2020, the hawk again appeared on the surveillance camera in Mexico. That afternoon, in Oakland, two hawks circled overhead while giving out a very loud screech, which came across as another warning.
On Tuesday, September 15, 2020, I woke to some video footage of a gaze of four Raccoon’s making their way around the property. I looked up the spiritual meaning of Raccoon, and I discovered the following:
The raccoon spirit animal is a problem solver. A clever totem, the raccoon offers lessons about the importance of adaptability in any situation and looking at the entire picture, not just what one wants to see. Those who have the raccoon as their totem are problem solvers who leave no stone unturned in their quest for truth and solutions. Remaining calm under pressure, these individuals also have an insatiable curiosity about the world around them and possess the wherewithal to know to look before they leap. The raccoon power animal is also symbolic of Disguise, Secrecy, Curiosity, Intelligence, Courage, Resourcefulness, Assertiveness, Questioning, Illusion, Adaptability, and Self-defense. – Source
And just look at the numbers in the time and date stamp of the video. Something was going on.
That night, while looking out over the Bay Area from the living room window, I noticed the half-moon, Saturn, and Jupiter hanging quietly over the city lights of San Francisco. It was a magical sight to behold. While I sat there, taking in the magic, I noticed the silhouette of an owl flying across the sky in front of the moon. It was the perfect ending for such a mystical day.
Ricardo and I spent the next several days moving his things into the house, and we ended the month with him taking a trip to Mexico on September 30, 2020.