Transitions
It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, I was working around home as the sun rays bathed my space. I heard at “thud” and turned around to see a hummingbird fall to the floor in the corner front window space. It had flown into the window. I walked over to see the sweet birdy laying there on my wooden floor. I see the breath in its body. Whew. Pause.
I love these birds. I have a spectacular connective and deep relationship with hummingbirds. They are my most prominent spirit creature. Known for their colorful small bodies, skillful moves and long migrations, hummingbirds are great at remembering to enjoy the sweet nectar of life.
The hummingbird didn’t try to move, so I picked it up, feeling the heart beat and breath in the palm of my hand. I make eye contact with this creature, observing the pores of the eyelashes framing the eyelid as I eye gaze with this wild creature. I feel deeply connected.
I attempted to feed the bird some nectar, but it would not take any. I sat down, assessing how my creature friend might be hurt…if there is any way that I could help.
I assessed:
*the wings, stretching them out side-to-side-- no apparent injury or pain
*the body and legs-- no apparent injury or pain
*the head, beak and face-- no apparent injury
*the neck (I typically assess the site of which I suspect the problem to arise last.) I palpate, I pull gentle traction, subtly watching for the hummingbird to respond or react to evidentiate pain or not. –I feel no abnormalities and don’t see any outward evidence of pain.
Not sure what else I had to offer. I opened my hand outside offering it a chance to fly off, but it stayed calmly on my palm.
For 20 minutes I sat with this bird, eye gazing, petting, adoring, and loving, until it had what I suspected to be a seizure. It transitioned in my hand from a breathing presence on this reality to now just an earthly bird body laying in stillness upon my hand.
In my professional life I have seen many (1000+) human die in front of me but there was something different here. I was fully encompassingly holding this bird while it transitioned. This was my first time to be the only thing holding/touching the spirit as it passed. I have often queried when the soul/energy/spirit leaves the body during transition. Now after this bird transitioned in my hands, I was questioning where did that energy go? If energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed, where did the spirit of the hummingbird go as it died in my hands? Part of my logical mind would say the energy might transfer to the closest physical object (which would be me). So did I absorb the energy of that hummer? Or was the energy released from the body used to propel the spirit into another dimension? Or perhaps into the collective energetic field?
Thank you hummingbird friend. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for trusting me with your transition. Thank you for allowing me to support you and love you.