I had such an interesting encounter with an animal I didn't think existed so close to New York City. I live on a mountaintop in New Jersey so close to the city that I can see the skyscrapers at night twinkling. My mother lives at the base of the mountain, with a forest separating us. I had left my children with my mother so I could speak to a woman about receiving some of her students from her shamanic studies program as apprentices for my herbalism lectures. So basically I dropped my children off with my mother so she could have a visit with them and I could speak with her unfettered. I had gone to the event and we finalized some details but I left feeling a bit unsure of embarking on this path, I felt some trepidation about the whole thing. Anyway while I was driving home there was a terrible thunderstorm and it flooded out the lower highway road from my mother's house to my own. This would mean that I would have to take the upper road, which is a precarious, meandering path through the forest that has no lights and there is a lot of wildlife. I don't like taking this path at night, with my children in the car because there are lots of deer that often run across this small mountain road and there are lots of trees that get knocked over and cross the road, etc. So I was telling my children to look out for any deer and sure enough we saw a bunch as we got to about the midway point of the hill. I slowed down to a mere crawl as the lightning struck and the children were spooked out because of the storm. Then I saw it, a large dog I thought at first, I screeched and swerved as the cat turned its head and OMG those funny triangular ears and its face were unmistakably a lynx! The kids were screaming as it was very large and it just looked at us while we drove by. Anyway I decided to look up this animal to see what potential message from the Sylvan spirits it might be trying to convey as lynxes are not supposed to be part of this habitat here in suburban NJ. The following is summarized from Andrews' "Animal Speak"

LYNX: keynote- Secrets and Vision of the Hidden and Unseen

The lynx' main prey is the snowshoe hare. So close is the fate of the lynx tied to that of the hare that when the hare population plummets during a regular eleven year cycle so does that of the lynx. This 11 year cycle is very symbolic because 11 is a metaphysical master number. It is associated with inspiration, revelation, mysticism and occult teachings. Because a lynx is gray in color is also significant because gray is the color of clouds who symbolically hide ancient wisdom. The lynx is the animal whose powers enable it to cross back and forth and draw out knowledge and secrets from behind the clouds. (REmember we were driving during a storm.) In Norse traditions the lynx was sacred to FREYA (my patron deity in the West) and her chariot was sometimes depicted being drawn by a lynx! They lynx has been attributed with supernatural vision, with the ability to see error, falsehood, secrets and all that is hidden. If a lynx has shown up in your life, look for that which is hidden. Trust your instincts in believing others, and that the things that you imagine are probably more accurate than you think. With Lynx vision you can see the inner working of others, especially that which people hide from others and themselves. It is not unusual to find that some people will become very uncomfortable around you. On some level they will recognize that you can see right through them.

things that make me go hmmmm,
JB