Signs and Coincidences – Three foxes of Imbolc

It is usually wisest to notice signs as they happen and then to act upon them at the time. Less wise is to realise that signs were presented to you and you managed to notice them but do nothing as a result. Well, sadly it was the latter that happened to me recently over the Imbolc festival period. We live and learn, as the saying goes. Let me explain.

I was driving home from work the night after Kal and I had been to Yorkshire in search of inspiration. The sun was just about to set below the horizon, a soft ice-cream sorbet sun melting deliciously below the black rim of the foreground hills. The sky was a clear azure blue prickled with stars that were eking their way into the evening’s display. As usual I was half concentrating on the road and half on the surrounding loveliness. I have learned to be wary of this state of mind for something always happens when I do that. Something happened.

In the remains of the day a sleek ginger fox slunk across the road, barely slowing as it spun its head to check that I was sufficiently slow to allow it to cross only feet in front of my car. Luckily I was going slowly in this residential area, so I got to see its full shiny copper shape. I gogged. I had been doing this route from work to home for the last twelve years and had never seen a fox cross with such nonchalance or so close. Sure, I’d seen what looked like a fox one morning dash at full pelt half a mile ahead of me once, but this was an intimate meeting.

I continued to chase the setting sun. The ambient light was still enough to see clearly, and miles later down the road I was still bubbling with excitement at having seen that fox. What was it doing out that early in the evening, and so close to civilisation and to me? Still, it was a once in a long time encounter that would stay with me until..until I saw another fox crossing in front of the car, this time going the other way, right to left. Just as clear, just as unhurried in its crossing, and with that same lingering look into my eyes as I approached slowing the car as I neared. Wha…? Impo…..how? Why tonight? Within the space of thirty minutes two red foxes had crossed my path very near to me when none had done so for the past twelve years!

I decided to do some research to try to explain it. Here’s what I found out about the habits of the fox at this time of the year – Imbolc, late Winter:

“This is the mating season and when young foxes disperse from their natal area. Males follow females at close quarters. This is the period when fights and vocalizations are their highest. Towards the end of the winter, the female will look for a suitable den where she can give birth to the cubs.” (source: TheFoxWebsite.org)

Maybe this is the outcome of the fox-hunting ban that the previous government had put into law? Maybe this was a sheer coincidence. Maybe this was significant? I didn’t see how at the time, but then slowly things began to come together.Let me set the chronology clearly for you. I had been out at a stone circle a few days before Imbolc trying to discover my path for the next part of the year. Nothing happened. I forgot to try even! It was like a door that had got stuck because the hinges had rusted through lack of use – I couldn’t open the way into the Otherworld.

Then I saw the foxes. The next evening I was able to sit beneath an old oak tree and made a connection with it to discover my task for the next part of the year. I was startled out of my trance at the exact moment when I connected with the oak tree. It was a fox – it had reached the perimeter of my aura and had startled itself by touching it. Moments later I crossed the threshold between worlds and got my vision of chakras and sound that would form my journey for the period between Imbolc and Spring Equinox. I can see now how it was the ‘invitation’ of the foxes that guided me to cross the threshold to discover my next part on the journey.

The day after my Imbolc revelation I happened to visit Gwydion’s “Sparrowhawk Haven” website. I had read most of the posts on the blog, and followed most of the links but one link that I had not visited was his “This Month’s Animal” link. I knew the basic concept – he would draw a tarot card from his animal tarot pack each month and that would become the feature animal – the totem for the month’s meditation, if you like, the symbol of the time’s powers and frequency. I reasoned that if I needed such a symbol I would draw my own from my own tarot pack. Anyway, today, a day after Imbolc I clicked the link. I was soon face to face with a picture of a fox!

Gwydion explains the significance of the fox like this:

“fox…leading its ‘followers’ through a particularly difficult or impassable door.” (source: Sparrowhawkhaven)

I hadn’t connected the three things until Gwydion mentioned that interpretation of the fox on his web site. The foxes has been symbolising some form of release for me – a way for me to break through my stale habits and cross into another dimension. This seemed especially symbolic as they were both crossing a road, from one wild area to another. They were making a crossing, out of their comfort zone, breaking their own habits in search of something primal and instinctive.

Interesting….As if by another strange coincidence or crossing point on my path, this article reared its head just as I was writing this post. It suggests that foxes are able to sense the earth’s magnetic field and use it in order to catch their prey. Well, these foxes just keep getting more and more cunning!

Gwas.