This was an awesome read. Thank you for writing this. You mentioned being larger and unable to go where Fox goes. When Fox shows up it may indeed be asking you to follow a new and as yet unconsidered path. What might you leave behind, burdens, old myths of you, beliefs, that might be acting as barriers, in this case size-preventing growth or movement? This is for you alone to ponder and I don’t expect an answer. Maybe there isn’t one. Just sharing. Fox Medicine is strong and does not come to everyone. ❤️
In recent years l have come to believe the fox is my spiritual animal. The two (remarkable) experiences of having a fox grace my path has stayed with me...l connect the sightings to transition, a shedding of a skin, a symbol of letting go of an old life. This is purely because both sightings happened on the cusp of new beginnings, a new chapter on my life's journey. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the fox. Fire and fox - beautiful ❤️
This is such a beautiful description of what the fox means to you. It sounds to me like the fox is absolutely a spirit animal for you. Thank you so much for sharing this, and forgive my delay in responding. I got a little behind on correspondence here.
Your scenario sounds like a dream to me, as I live with temperate weather, although winter can be bitter as we experience polar blast winds from Antarctica. I long to sit by a fire pit and drink hot chocolate (with a dash of Baileys to warm the cockles). Dreams are so interesting, I believe we are the only ones that can interpret them (but that’s just me & my experience). Perhaps someone has passed and you can’t follow. Perhaps the image of the fox is giving you direction in the companionship they provide in turning up around you. Foxes are very adept in hiding, not many get to see them. Us curious humans, we need understanding, some things are more mysterious and like to stay that way. This is where we accept. We are coming into summer here in Oz. And it’s still fire pit weather, also the spring rains still coming in. I’m not complaining, but my skin aches for the sun. 🌞
Thank you so much for this response, it's fantastic. It's interesting you say someone passed and I can't follow. I didn't know it at the time, but someone very close to me lost someone. This person adored foxes, and I believe this was a message to her through me. It was a really beautiful thing, honestly. Where I grew up, foxes would often sun themselves in the gravel driveway. They were a common sight out there in my youth. Anyway, thank you again for reading and sharing.
Very beautifully written Justin. I saw a fox a while ago, very close. It looked straight into my eyes, without fear. I felt a deep connection as I watched it, as if I had seen myself reflected in its eyes. I don’t see foxes as cunning either. To me, the fox represents survival and adaptability. In Finland, the northern lights are said to be born when foxes sweep their tails through the snow.
This was really awesome, thank you for sharing it with me. I like the visual of that lore from Finland. I hadn’t heard that before! Thank you for reading.
Justin, I love this post. And I enjoyed the comments it generated. Foxes are magical creatures and also such an enigmatic part of the physical wild world. // Offering this for thought if you care to ponder---Not sure what your feelings are about Power Animals as our Guides and Protectors. Mine is Horse, a lifelong companion. On occasion another arrives to assist in a project or challenge. But regardless, how marvelous that Fox is gracing you with its Presence. // And while I'm *here* on your page this New Moon Day, 19th December, wishing you a wondrous and beautiful Winter Solstice. Love & Light, ~carol
Foxes are absolutely magical creatures. Incredibly symbolic. And I absolutely have a lot of thoughts about soul animals, I did a large post on it a while back that I'll be resurrecting soon! I hope you've had a great holiday, Carol, and a happy new year coming up as well.
Thank you for this. I like to think of the fox as that special presence like in the Little Prince. A being to be tamed and also who tames. The attachment becomes permanent, but unique and individual. The fox that tames us and whom we tame belong just to us, no one else. The fox of LaFontaine was always out to get someone. The fox of St. Exupéry was there to support and love. I prefer the latter.
I feel this and find myself wanting to drink coffee by the fire in the snow like a physical ache, and also chase foxes that I’ll never catch (and wouldn’t really want to). It’s beautiful.
What really struck me in your piece, Justin, is the way longing threads itself through everything — the strange warmth in the cold, the coffee against the wind, the fox against the snow. There’s a quiet search for balance inside all that polarity, and you illustrated it with such ease that it feels lived rather than explained.
To me, the point here isn’t in decoding or ‘knowing,’ but in the kind of wisdom that comes from witnessing what moves around and within us, and letting that witnessing shape the inner world. So much of the human experience — especially the spiritual one — lives in the yearning, the distance, the permission to simply be with what’s present without rushing it into clarity, for in doing so, we miss the "lesson" entirely.
And while you never asked for analysis, I think there’s a very human impulse — especially in spiritual spaces — to place ego above Spirit by rushing to interpret someone else’s experience. It’s tempting to reduce an entire inner journey to a few familiar symbols or agreed-upon themes. But doing that can unintentionally shrink the landscape you’ve opened here, rather than letting it breathe in its own mystery.
The longing in your writing doesn’t read like something urging you to ‘grow past’ or something you have to force-shed. It feels like a meaningful companion — something asking to be integrated rather than solved, something that might open a deeper alignment simply by being honored rather than interpreted too quickly, for the sake of forcing security. Growth doesn’t always come from letting go; sometimes it comes from letting in.
Your writing holds space for ambiguity and nuance in a way that is rare and striking.
I’m really curious how all of this sits with you — not in a way that asks you to define or resolve it, but simply in whatever sense feels true from inside your own relationship with these moments. If you feel like sharing more about that inner landscape, I'd enjoy more posts on the topic.
I’m pretty sure I will read this ten times. Dreams, dreams, dreams dreams. Big theme for me lately, but I want to ponder your beautifully written post in the light of day. If you have never done a dream journal, that might help you to further explore the more nuanced parts of your dream theme of the beautiful fox.
This was an awesome read. Thank you for writing this. You mentioned being larger and unable to go where Fox goes. When Fox shows up it may indeed be asking you to follow a new and as yet unconsidered path. What might you leave behind, burdens, old myths of you, beliefs, that might be acting as barriers, in this case size-preventing growth or movement? This is for you alone to ponder and I don’t expect an answer. Maybe there isn’t one. Just sharing. Fox Medicine is strong and does not come to everyone. ❤️
This is absolutely spot on and amazing. Thank you so much for sharing this with me.
In recent years l have come to believe the fox is my spiritual animal. The two (remarkable) experiences of having a fox grace my path has stayed with me...l connect the sightings to transition, a shedding of a skin, a symbol of letting go of an old life. This is purely because both sightings happened on the cusp of new beginnings, a new chapter on my life's journey. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the fox. Fire and fox - beautiful ❤️
This is such a beautiful description of what the fox means to you. It sounds to me like the fox is absolutely a spirit animal for you. Thank you so much for sharing this, and forgive my delay in responding. I got a little behind on correspondence here.
Your scenario sounds like a dream to me, as I live with temperate weather, although winter can be bitter as we experience polar blast winds from Antarctica. I long to sit by a fire pit and drink hot chocolate (with a dash of Baileys to warm the cockles). Dreams are so interesting, I believe we are the only ones that can interpret them (but that’s just me & my experience). Perhaps someone has passed and you can’t follow. Perhaps the image of the fox is giving you direction in the companionship they provide in turning up around you. Foxes are very adept in hiding, not many get to see them. Us curious humans, we need understanding, some things are more mysterious and like to stay that way. This is where we accept. We are coming into summer here in Oz. And it’s still fire pit weather, also the spring rains still coming in. I’m not complaining, but my skin aches for the sun. 🌞
Thank you so much for this response, it's fantastic. It's interesting you say someone passed and I can't follow. I didn't know it at the time, but someone very close to me lost someone. This person adored foxes, and I believe this was a message to her through me. It was a really beautiful thing, honestly. Where I grew up, foxes would often sun themselves in the gravel driveway. They were a common sight out there in my youth. Anyway, thank you again for reading and sharing.
🐦🤗🦊
🌲🦊🌲
Very beautifully written Justin. I saw a fox a while ago, very close. It looked straight into my eyes, without fear. I felt a deep connection as I watched it, as if I had seen myself reflected in its eyes. I don’t see foxes as cunning either. To me, the fox represents survival and adaptability. In Finland, the northern lights are said to be born when foxes sweep their tails through the snow.
This was really awesome, thank you for sharing it with me. I like the visual of that lore from Finland. I hadn’t heard that before! Thank you for reading.
Justin, I love this post. And I enjoyed the comments it generated. Foxes are magical creatures and also such an enigmatic part of the physical wild world. // Offering this for thought if you care to ponder---Not sure what your feelings are about Power Animals as our Guides and Protectors. Mine is Horse, a lifelong companion. On occasion another arrives to assist in a project or challenge. But regardless, how marvelous that Fox is gracing you with its Presence. // And while I'm *here* on your page this New Moon Day, 19th December, wishing you a wondrous and beautiful Winter Solstice. Love & Light, ~carol
Foxes are absolutely magical creatures. Incredibly symbolic. And I absolutely have a lot of thoughts about soul animals, I did a large post on it a while back that I'll be resurrecting soon! I hope you've had a great holiday, Carol, and a happy new year coming up as well.
Thank you for this. I like to think of the fox as that special presence like in the Little Prince. A being to be tamed and also who tames. The attachment becomes permanent, but unique and individual. The fox that tames us and whom we tame belong just to us, no one else. The fox of LaFontaine was always out to get someone. The fox of St. Exupéry was there to support and love. I prefer the latter.
This is such a beautiful commentary on the piece, thank you so much.
I feel this and find myself wanting to drink coffee by the fire in the snow like a physical ache, and also chase foxes that I’ll never catch (and wouldn’t really want to). It’s beautiful.
Thank you so much. Nothing better than coffee by the fire. It's heaven.
Awesome read! There’s a tranquility in a cold winter night that can’t be beat.
I agree with you so fully on that.
What really struck me in your piece, Justin, is the way longing threads itself through everything — the strange warmth in the cold, the coffee against the wind, the fox against the snow. There’s a quiet search for balance inside all that polarity, and you illustrated it with such ease that it feels lived rather than explained.
To me, the point here isn’t in decoding or ‘knowing,’ but in the kind of wisdom that comes from witnessing what moves around and within us, and letting that witnessing shape the inner world. So much of the human experience — especially the spiritual one — lives in the yearning, the distance, the permission to simply be with what’s present without rushing it into clarity, for in doing so, we miss the "lesson" entirely.
And while you never asked for analysis, I think there’s a very human impulse — especially in spiritual spaces — to place ego above Spirit by rushing to interpret someone else’s experience. It’s tempting to reduce an entire inner journey to a few familiar symbols or agreed-upon themes. But doing that can unintentionally shrink the landscape you’ve opened here, rather than letting it breathe in its own mystery.
The longing in your writing doesn’t read like something urging you to ‘grow past’ or something you have to force-shed. It feels like a meaningful companion — something asking to be integrated rather than solved, something that might open a deeper alignment simply by being honored rather than interpreted too quickly, for the sake of forcing security. Growth doesn’t always come from letting go; sometimes it comes from letting in.
Your writing holds space for ambiguity and nuance in a way that is rare and striking.
I’m really curious how all of this sits with you — not in a way that asks you to define or resolve it, but simply in whatever sense feels true from inside your own relationship with these moments. If you feel like sharing more about that inner landscape, I'd enjoy more posts on the topic.
Thank you for sharing it.
Great read. Reminds me of The Thought Fox by Ted Hughes!
Very kind praise, thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to read. 🌲🦊
I’m pretty sure I will read this ten times. Dreams, dreams, dreams dreams. Big theme for me lately, but I want to ponder your beautifully written post in the light of day. If you have never done a dream journal, that might help you to further explore the more nuanced parts of your dream theme of the beautiful fox.
Thank you so much for reading. Yes, you're right about that. I haven't considered a dream journal before, but it's not a bad idea!