Well, we are going to have to get some netting or chicken wire over those window wells because four bunnies have now fallen down there. Each one has taught me a valuable lesson, and after this last one, I think it is time to learn those lessons without any trauma for a bunny.
The latest one apparently was injured in the fall. I found it just as we were getting ready to leave so the realtor could show the house to some potential buyers, and I didn’t want to traumatize it by trying to get it out in a big hurry, so I put some lettuce out for it and left. When I again remembered the little one was out there, it was getting dark, and if indeed it had been chased by a predator when it had fallen down the window well, it probably happened at dusk, so again, I didn’t want to traumatize it any further by lifting it out at that time. So I brought out a box for protection from the rain, a towel to cuddle against and more food.
The next morning, my husband and I went out to retrieve the bunny, but it was very sick and not moving. It may very well have dehydrated and finally I realized the poor thing was injured. I cussed at myself for not doing what I know to do as a healer the moment I found it—to slow down, scan its energy field to check for injury, and check in psychically to see what it needed, rather than what I thought it needed.
Immediately, I gave it some sound medicine and nursed it with dropper-fulls of water. It received both, but I wondered if I was too late. Animals usually respond very quickly to sound medicine, but this little one seemed to be using the medicine to make its crossing rather than to heal. By late afternoon, I felt its spirit leave its body. When I sang its crossing song, I saw it in the spirit world. It turned to look at me and I knew it had wanted to die at my house. I could sense it was doing something for me, but beyond the lesson to create more room for intuitive guidance, even when I’m in a hurry and to balance intuition with logic, I wasn’t sure what else it had done for me. I was please to see that its spirit was happy as it hopped into green woods. And I was surprisingly happy too.
That evening, my husband suggested this may have been one of the bunnies that fell into the window well earlier, that we had rescued. “Maybe it was supposed to die,” he suggested, “and we delayed it.”
“Hmmm. Maybe you are right,” I answered. “Maybe my mistake in not tending to it was necessary in order for it to die as was intended. I can see a truth in that, and yet, in the future I will check my intuition in addition to my reason. I would have liked to participate in this more consciously.”
The next day, as I reflected on our little friend, I once again noticed how happy I was feeling. I do believe, our rabbit buddy took something with him—some old pain or guilt or something I had been holding on to. I couldn’t name exactly what it was and didn’t feel a need to define it. Sometimes when such an energy is gone, it is simply better not to name it, so that one doesn’t start thinking about it attracting it back in. But, I did offer a big prayer of thanks.
In Cherokee tradition, I was taught by an elder that rabbit represents fear. If my little friend had taken some fear of mine with him, then I knew I had been greatly blessed. Can mistakes be part of a bigger plan? I’m pretty sure they can. Some would say everything is in perfection. I’m not as sure about that. I do think it is good to notice the lessons that come to us and to receive the gifts that are given.
In honor of the gift my little friend gave to me through his very life, I find will remember to continue to surrender my fears and to live a happy life.
