What a sight!

On Friday I saw a Pileated Woodpecker at work on a tree and fly from one tree to another. It was an awesome sight. It was so much bigger than any woodpecker I had seen in the past. Who would think you could find grace and beauty in a woodpecker. But maybe that's because I love the birds, and am attracted to that color. As most of you know my favorite bird is a cardinal. Most likely due to it's bright red color!

Meanings of seeing the woodpecker:
Woodpecker - Power of rhythm and discrimination, new inner rhythms
From: Symbolic Animal Meanings
"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".