What Does the Fox Say?

A few weeks back, as I stood in my kitchen looking out the back door, I saw something running in the woods behind my house. At first I thought it was a deer although they don’t really run as much as they prance and jump. It ran through a bit of a clearing where spring hadn’t sprung yet on the trees and there were no evergreens, then I saw it. A beautiful red fox running furiously through the woods. It was the second time I had seen a fox that clearly near my property. My property does sit in the woods and those woods are home to deer, fox, wild turkeys and I’m sure other wildlife that I fortunately don’t see. Beyond the fenced in part of my yard sits, depending on which side of the house you are on, I own and use another 40 or so feet. My shed with all of my gardening tools sits right in the woods about 20 or so feet from the fence and 20 feet from my property line.

Earlier this week, Charlie was barking incessantly and looking toward the shed. He was standing in the kitchen so I stood next to him, got to his eye level and looked where he was looking. I saw a lot of flitting around and thought it must be birds and perhaps a dead animal.  I decided to go look. As I walked toward the gate that leads to the shed I saw what looked like around 5 kittens. At least that’s what I thought at first. Then I realized they weren’t domestic cat kittens, but I wasn’t sure what they were until I saw the Mom. She was beautiful and red and a fox. She saw me and let out a loud screech that signaled for the babies to run for cover as she ran away from them, bringing danger toward her and away from her babies. The quintessential mom play! The babies all ran under my shed! That was their den. Suddenly a number of things that happened during the week; hearing this strange noise at night when I was out with Charlie that sounded like a bird dying, Charlie’s nose in the air toward the shed as he sensed and smelled something, made sense.

Through conversation with my tribe, I decided to look into what a fox may symbolize, why is it here? Is this by chance or is it telling me something? The fox is a magical animal as it is cunning, and brings with it feminine energy; energy that is open to receive, flows, is intuition based, connecting heart and head. The fox is a master of camouflage and brings that ability to be a bit invisible. The fox brings creative energy with it and means new doors are opening, new realms are going to be open to the person receiving. This is the time for new opportunities. The fox can help you understand what is growing and shifting in your world. The red fox specifically, is associated with the freeing of creative life force. The fox can teach how to also remain “invisible” with your intentions, moving silently in the direction that serves your highest good. The fox has amazing acute hearing and it is thought that those with this animal totem can hear what is not being said. Although the fox is really part of the “dog” world, it envelopes many feline characteristics, with cats being feminine energy. Showing up in someone’s life could mean it is time to fully embrace feminine energy and exert the creative energies.

As I read and read about the fox totem and what it could mean I realized that some of what I am reading is also what I have been feeling and saying about where I am right now.  I am in the midst of some creative energies, enjoying being in the flow. My focus has been less on controlling the outcome of things to being open to all possibilities, everything is an opportunity. I spent my entire career fighting my heart and being in my head most of the time. I needed to think about things not feel them. I couldn’t use my intuition the way I wanted, as people in business want hard data. And today that has gone to an extreme, where baseball teams have changed the way they play and pitch because of data. Data takes away the human aspect of anything, and I don’t think should be the be all end all. It is important for sure, it helps you understand trends and such, but people need to incorporate heart and feeling into the data. Sometimes you know more intuitively than any data is going to show you. For years I had to squelch that part of me a bit, and not show my heart, my feminine energy much. Since I left corporate America, I have been learning to trust my feminine more, be more in my heart. Be more open to the flow instead of having to have every step planned out perfectly. Begin to have faith that all will turn out the way it is supposed to turn out, that what I am open to will arrive. Being more open to hearing what is not being said, using my intuition more.

The more I have been in the flow, the more doors are opening, opportunities are showing themselves to me. The fox family seems to have shown up in my life right on time. Partially here to validate that I am on the right path and that all that I want and all that I put out in the world will be mine. It is also here to teach me a few things. Perhaps the idea of invisibility, where I don’t share everything that I am doing and learning, that I observe more and talk less. I walk more gently on the path, allowing for things to happen without fanfare or without me shouting about it. This part of the lesson is the one I am clear on right now. I have backed off from pushing my thoughts, fears and feelings to some who have decided to retreat from my life. I no longer am in the spiral of texting, calling and virtually begging for someone’s  love and attention. Perhaps that is where I needed to become more invisible.

It also could be reminding me that being in the feminine is right for me and that I no longer need to fight it. As I continue to meditate on this and be open to all that surrounds me, the lessons will continue to show themselves to me. The fox family is here for a reason, and I am open to learning what the fox really does have to say to me.