This fox might seem without motion, frozen, but her stillness is not passive, and her animal silence is not mute. I see her as a feminine spirit, but she can exist in all of us   Riveted yet open to the Heart-dramas we enact, she sees us without fear, without sullenness nor adorned by some plans of her own. She is not a guide, and she is certainly not giving advice.

Her portrait reminds me that if we are to accomplish deep life-altering work, we need a loving witness with us to hold this space with sacred light.

Such beings have appeared in my life when I was unlovable, quite profoundly lost in the dark. Some had names: teacher, lover, sister, therapist, faithful mammalian friend.  Some did not have recognizable roles, but they stepped out of safety anyway and into the clearing and onto a momentarily stage. And in their wondrous compassion, they waited with engagement, alive, and patient, and they saw how I was not my brokenness. In this, they allowed me to do the work, to recognize my Inspired desires and to find a path I had not taken.

Today I will find moments to step out of my current enactments and remember those who brought their active receptivity like open arms—powerful magic—when I most needed it