For the past week or so we've had a red headed woodpecker come, every day, sit outside our kitchen window clinging to the brick siding and then deliberately fly into the window multiple times. There was no rhyme or reason to it. We thought it peculiar! I tried to capture some pictures but this is the only one that turned out.
This past Monday morning I began to take this little guy and the visits a more seriously. Now the woodpecker went from being peculiar to being mystical.
Lately I have been doing a lot of reading and thinking about life. The deeper meaning of life, the guidance we get from our soul, a synchronicity that will occur pointing us in certain directions, all of these things and many more. One of the key elements is to be quiet enough to listen and hear these subtle messages. I began to wander if the woodpecker was indeed a messenger.
Excitedly I went to the internet to see what I could learn about the meaning of a red-headed woodpecker and came across this. I earnestly heard these messages. I am grateful that I listened and followed thru to learn more.
By the way...I haven't seen the woodpecker anymore since Monday.
If Woodpecker has come knocking…
It is time to really pay attention because opportunity has come knocking along with it. It is signaling you that great changes are happening in your life and it is up to you to seize the moment. Whether it is the renewal of an old project, the finishing of a new project or simply a serendipitous meeting with someone in your life. Whatever way you perceive it know that the door is wide open for you right now and that success is your for the asking.
When I hear the woodpecker knocking, I think of opportunity. You know the old saying "when opportunity knocks, answer the door." That's precisely what I'm driving at here.
Woodpeckers are extremely opportunistic themselves. Each tree is a door, revealing tender morsels of food (grubs and ants are their favorites). Other trees will yield against their beak-hammering to provide great mansions for their young.
When the woodpecker comes tapping into our awareness, it's also a signal to use our heads. Just as the woodpecker uses its head (beak) to hammer out solutions (food, shelter), we too can use our intellect in finding solutions to our own barriers.
The symbolic meaning of woodpeckers also point to a need for creative vision. Being opportunistic, woodpeckers can see value everywhere, even in dead trees. Have you ditched an idea or given up on a project? The woodpecker may be trying to tell you to breathe new life into your project, just as they build new homes into dead trees.
Further, the symbolic meaning of woodpecker indicates a return to our roots, or having trust in our basic (gut) feelings. Dr. Carl Jung observed the woodpecker as a symbol of a return to the womb of creativity. In this observation the tree is symbolic of a womb; earthy, grounded, sturdy and secure. The woodpecker's home within the tree is analogous of a fierce determination to return and protect that which is sacred to us.
When this bird comes pecking, it is a call for us to return to our roots, back to the womb of our ideas and use our intellect and discernment to follow through with our plans.
This analogy is doubly profound in the case of red-headed woodpeckers as the color red is associated with the root chakra. Prime, protective energy. Another clear sign for being aware of our core impulses, and our basic beliefs.