The Rabbit is Dead, Long Live the Rabbit

I have been somewhat absent this week. Enormously tired and stuck in the grip of Game of Thrones. I have been writing this post in my head for several days.....

It all began the morning of the eclipse. I drove to work and parked in my normal spot. There were two creatures waiting for me. A magpie further up the bank, not so unusual, given I feed them. But the second animal was the one that gripped me. It was nother of my totem animals, a rabbit. But this one did not run.

It sat there, nose in the grass. I couldn't be sure if it was quivering or eating. Probably quivering. I could only see one side, but they eye on that side was swollen shut. The animal had not even moved at my car drawing up no less than two metres from it. I called to a colleague and that caused it's head to lift for a moment or two.

In work I spoke to some colleagues and they went out to kill it, but it had a sudden lease of life and did an amazing sprint. My colleagues were doubtful of my fears of myxomatosis.

The next day one of those colleagues told me that two rabbits had been euthanazed by different colleagues since the previous day, including my rabbit. One of the two was in a terrible condition....

I have a lot to say on many things surrounding this.....

Firstly, killing can be merciful in my view. I am not against Euthanasia. I am firmly of the opinion that keeping people and animals alive beyond a certain point is cruel. If ever I am in that sort of state, with no hope, I hope I have the choice. I have had pets give me that look, I want to go now, make it stop, help me please. Those rabbits would have suffered and suffered if my colleagues had not been brave enough to do it, and merciful. Any rabbit who can not run like that and is unaware of what is going on around them.... Even a rabbit with a broken leg would be hard to catch!

I have killed to give mercy. A fly struck blackbird. I would do it again. I hate the idea of it. mostly because i am not confident of my physical ability to deliver a clean death. I don't want to make things worse. Now putting a needle in, with the correct dosage, that I could do, with the correct training or a book.....

And as to the person who first found Myxie in a lab.... And as to those who released it first in Australia.... and those who released it into Europe... and those who helped it spread.... Un-necessarily cruel. This is a disease that causes immense suffering before it kills. The decimation of rabbit populations led to crises for their predators to. Why don't we eat rabbits as well as cows?

Anyway enough of the gloomy bit. A blind rabbit, by my car, waiting for me.... An omen? I pulled two cards that night asking for guidance as to this omen. I got the owl and the bat. The bat is all about shamanic death and initiation. The owl is all about knowledge and arcane understanding, also deception but I struggle with that....

i then Reya's post of the day..... About the eclipse and about letting go of our identities and any obsolete ideas we have about them.

So I spent a lot of time thinking about all this, the fact that this omen was delivered by Rabbit, the fear-caller, the timing, the symbolism, the cards.... And I came to the conclusion that it means something... but I don't know exactly what... but I am tired... and happy to just wait and see what shape it takes. I am watching for it now and that is enough.

Then this morning as I pulled up, I saw a young healthy rabbit leaping over the bank into the long grass and safety beyond.