Last week I had an awesome (and very close) encounter with a newborn Fawn.
I was mowing the grass along the orchard fencing at Braided Root Waters Healing Sanctuary when a Fawn bolted up out of the tall grass and ran about 100 feet before stopping and trying to hide in another clump of grass, still along the fencing.
I turned off the mower and very slowly walked to within about 20 feet of the Fawn- I’ve never been so close to one before! We watched each other for maybe ten minutes, until my attempt to very slowly back away sent the Fawn running off towards the shelter of the hedgerow.
A Mother Deer, or Doe, leaves her newborn fawns alone in tucked away places, returning periodically to feed them. The Fawn’s camouflaged coloration and lack of strong body scent naturally protect them from predators, whereas the Doe’s scent and much larger presence can attract predators. The Does do this until the Fawn is about 4 weeks old and strong and awake enough to keep up with her.
I still wonder if Fawn and Doe found each other again. I truly hope so.
As a person living a Shamanic life immersed in Earth-Based Spirituality, encounters like this with animals always hold significance for me. Deer has been a Spirit Guide for me with the energy of “gentle and persistent self-love” since 2018.
I sought a deeper message from this unique experience by going on a Shamanic Journey— by intentionally travelling into the Spirit World to connect with my Deer Spirit Guide to seek the meaning.
In this journey, I experienced the encounter from the point of view of the Fawn, and the Fawn’s perspective was then related to the human experience. As the Fawn I’d been safe, comfortable, warm, curled and sleeping in the tall grass, as humans, this safety, comfort and warmth is our intended natural state as newborns.
As Fawn, a loud and terrifying sound startled me awake and my body reacted instinctively and I ran, stopping when my burst of strength ran out and I found a somewhat safe spot to take stock. As humans, at some point, through some trauma or series of traumas, very early for some, later on for others, the chaos of life in the world, such as it is in these times, jolts us out of safety and tosses us into reality.
As the Fawn, I then stood, cowering, in the presence of this much larger Human being whose intentions I did not know. Importantly, from the Shamanic perspective, we are all One. All Beings are microscopic cells in the much vaster body of Life. So as Fawn looking at, and being looked at by the Human, I was looking at and being looked at by my own self.
As Humans, hopefully at some point in our lives, our traumas and wounds cause us to stop and take a good hard look at ourselves, our lives, what we want and don’t want, and why we are here- what our purpose is. This is the beginning of the healing journey- the journey home to our True Selves.
As Fawn, when the Human moved, I knew it was time to take action on my journey home, to take the next steps toward my purpose of finding my way back to the body of my Mother, the Doe. For infant mammals, being with the body of the Mother is being home.
For Humans, this is also meant to be true. Unfortunately, so many aspects of patriarchal capitalism have removed the human infant from the “at homeness” of being with the body of the Mother. So many of us have very early traumas of forced separation from the Bodies of our Mothers.
And, with some exceptions for individuals and cultures that remain very connected to the Earth, the generalized current human condition, caused and enforced by patriarchy and capitalism, is one of being catastrophically separated from the body of our Mother, the Earth.
Healing from our traumas, and healing from the larger trauma of being separated from Mother Earth, is the task of the journey to find our way home to ourselves. Deer can help us do this with the energy and medicine of “gentle and persistent self-love.”
If you would like to find your way home to yourself and to your Earth Mother, come experience the gentle healing energy of Deer in a Guided Shamanic Journey with me on Zoom on Monday, July 7 from 3:30 to 6 pm PST. To register, contact me at [email protected]
Blessings and Courage,
Betti
Betti Rooted Lionheart (she/her) is passionate about working with Queer People, Teens, Healers, Activists, Change Makers, and anyone who feels despair for the Earth and Humanity. She is a Shamanic Healer, a Spiritual Empowerment Activist, a Fire Priestess, a Writer, a Facilitator of the Work That Reconnects, a Minister of the Church of Earth Healing, the Mother of two Sons, Queer, and the founder of Braided Root Waters Healing Sanctuary in Trumansburg, NY. Betti offers powerfully transformative one-to-one Shamanic Healing Sessions.