To help Crow

I received a message from a friend of mine that he needed assistance with securing the fractured wing of a wild crow. Being quite new to Reiki healing I jumped at the chance to use Reiki. My first thought was to go online and learn as much as I could about the art of administering reiki on wild birds. To my great surprise there was not a lot of information available. Here is an account of my first session with wounded crow. Please note that I do not recommend trying to handle a wounded or wild animal without proper training or skilled assistance.  

Step one: Ask for permission

Because a bird is a living spirit, just as we are, it is important to ask it for permission to conduct Reiki healing upon it. Reiki should not be imposed upon any living thing be it person, animal or plant.

You may be asking the question, “How will I know if the animal has accepted a Reiki healing?” There is no real cut and dry answer to this question. I asked this same question to myself before I got started. Truth is the being will let you know. In my case I invoked Reiki and I stated my intentions allowed. I asked the crow if it would accept this healing. There was no large answer, I think that it is important to really listen to your heart and listen for a whispering inner voice or a sense of knowing. Perhaps as in my case the animal will look you in the eye calmly. I am sure the signal varies with each session and being.

It is important to remember here that the being may decline your attempt to offer Reiki. We must remember that this being is no different from us. We are all on a journey and just like us everything will eventually wish to return to its spirit source. If your Reiki offering was declined it is my suggestion to thank the spirit, wish it well in its journey and let it continue on its chosen path. It is ok to send distance Reiki to the spirits highest good and let the being accept it as needed.

Step Two: Slow beginnings

Because birds are so small and your physical presence may be over whelming to a wild animal who is not used to being around humans, not to mention it is wounded and not used to your presence it is best to start off at whatever distance the animal is most accepting of. I know that it is easy to forget about our clumbsy human bodies when we are filled with the love and light of Reiki but we must remember we are still very human and we can be intimidating to the creature we are seeking to heal. We must also remember that just because we understand our intentions, they may not be as quickly understood by others. It is important that we use caution and fight that urge to blindly pick up the wounded being and “fix it” like they do in Disney movies. So find a distance that is acceptable to the bird and comfortable for you. It is likely you will be in this position for some time. Some indications of a comfortable space where birds are concerned would be that the bird is not holding on to the side of the cage that is furthest from you, it is not nervously jumping from place to place and it is not squacking at you or showing signs of extreme anxiety or aggression.

Step 3: The Healing

Once you have found that agreeable, comfortable space between you and the bird begin sending Reiki. I started with emotional healing to calm the bird and to offer mental stability. I started by closing my eyes and visioning it in my third eye followed by consciously sending it to the bird. In my way, this was another way of sharing my intent or confirming it with the crow. Next I reached out to the being with my heart chakra and it shared with me a feeling of rapid heart rate and high anxiety. Because my heart was open and the crow had allowed this connection I chose to work on the anxiety within my own body, wrapping it in love and light and sending it away by using the emotional healing symbol.  I meditated on this symbol until the anxiety was gone. I opened my eyes to a remarkably calm crow. It was happy just sitting on the perch in its make shift cage watching me.

With this calmness I sensed it was a good time to move closer to the bird and I moved so that I was sitting about two foot from it and one foot from the cage. I made the power symbol in the air before it and I sent Reiki with my eyes. I noticed the bird was becoming agitated so I consciously turned down the Reiki I was sending with my eyes and  when that did not return the bird to its previous calm state I then dropped my dominate hand, placing my palm flat on the ground beside me. This left me sending Reiki with my non dominate hand which made the bird really comfortable. I held this position for some time. The bird turned and put the wounded wing towards me. I was then guided to use my breath to send healing and gently sent Reiki this way along with my hand. I also have a certain way that I like to sing the names of the healing symbols which I did for the crow. This bird really responded to the sound of me singing the words. It was really quite beautiful and fascinating.

Step 4: Sending Intent

Now that the bird was calm I began to send the bird images of the physical, medical healing we were intending to do and the reasons why we were going to do it. I sent the information to the crow by simply visioning how the process would go with the intent of sharing the thought and the feeling with the bird. It is really as simple as just having the intent and a pure heart. I sent visions of our intention to handle the bird in a gental way. I showed it visions of us using special tape to secure the wing to its body to prevent the wing from further damage. I sent a vision the bird living with this tape for a time. Then I sent a vision of us taking off the tape and the bird flying away.

Once I was sure that the vision was sent we began the physical healing stage. Jason reached in and calmly, and skillfully handled the bird, I worked quickly to tape its wing to its body and as promised we were as quiet, gental and quick as we could possibly be. Please note that the physical handling of this situation is extremely critical because if miss handled the bird will likely go into shock and could possibly die. This is where having trained or skilled help is important.  Remember, we must move within the bounds of our healing abilities.

 Because my strength in this healing was by using Reiki and imagery I let Jason, my skilled help handle getting the crow out of the cage. I turned off my Reiki completely at this time as it would have been far too strong on this tiny creature. We worked honestly and quickly and wasted no time with excess petting or handling of the bird.

Once we were finished we placed the crow back in the cage and it fell over. It lay still in the bottom of the cage. All others moved away from the cage and I turned my Reiki up and began sending Reiki with my breath and hands. Realizing that the bird was in a mild shock I started using my emotional symbol by drawing it in the air. Using my solar plexus I sent the crow feelings of renewed strength and control. When the time came that I felt the crow was still and becoming balanced internally I was guided to speak to the crow. I calmly, using my voices true tone,  said, “come now, it is time to rise, up you go now” and just like that, up it went. It stood up! It clumbsly hopped on its purch and looked at me. I closed my eyes and I concentrated on my breath moving in and out of my body and I noticed the rise and fall of my arms as I was breathing in and out, it felt like I was flying. I understood this to be the crow asking me if it would fly. I sent the message back that I would do my best to help it by breathing in and out several times really deeply and visioning blue and white sky. I then told crow if it couldn’t fly again, I would take care of it and it could live with me. Then the strangest thing happened. This crow came closer and made 4 almost soft almost whisper like caws at me….then it turned away.

Step 5:  Closing the healing

I sealed the healing with light and love and I told the crow that I would send it distance healing and to look for it in the night. I made the power symbol over the cage and left.