The summer season has been an amazing time of communications from nature. Most mornings, six squirrels, four bunnies, and a regular pair of black-bellied whistling ducks stop by to munch.
But this morning, 7-11, a special delivery made me sit up and take notice! While watering the meditation garden, a family of hump-backed critters moved quickly through the tall green grasses inside the pasture fence. A young family of raccoons, I smiled. But just then, the sunlight revealed four armored-bodies glistening as they scurried away in tandem, moving as one.
Armadillos!
What was the angel message? It was magnified as several years have passed since one was sighted, and here there were a family of four. 
I knew it had to do with protection and the inner child. Armadillo is a Spanish word meaning little armored one. It has bony protection plates covering its head, back, legs, and even the tail. When threatened, it covers up all the vulnerable parts by rolling itself into a ball. (They are most vulnerable when they expose
their soft underbellies, or inner workings.) Armadillo teaches how to carry
your protection with you, and when to let your defenses down.
When a little armored one appears, you may need to set
up healthy boundaries for yourself and others. You don't have to
isolate and curl up in your protective shell. Speak what's true for
you.
The armadillo also signals: "Sensitivity and susceptibility to outside influences are increasing, so use discrimination and protect yourself."
Ask yourself, When it is beneficial to be unyielding? When would being more flexible best serve you and others? Then follow your inner truth. It's wonderful to have empathy, but balance is needed when helping others.
An opportunity for a new birth is coming
within the next 8 or 9 months. It will be important not to roll up and hide from the opportunity in fear we may be vulnerable. Armadillo teaches how to adjust our rhythms so that what
we wish to create will occur at the safest time.
A fascinating fact about the nine-banded armadillo is one of adaptation to change. By gulping air it can inflate itself and float across rivers to reach its destination. This reminds me of going within when faced with uncertainty and let the breath of the Holy Spirit fill you up so you can float to where you need to be.
God will always make a way. I've found that praying Psalm 91 each morning brings protection and assurance when I abide in the Secret Place of the Most High. For he shall give his angels charge over you to guide and protect you in all of your ways. (Psalm 91:11)
Love and peace,
Rae Karen
Animal-Speak, Ted Andrews
Animal-Speak Pocket Guide, Ted Andrews
Picture: armadillo in our neighborhood many years ago
