“I do not want to change anything about you, I love you the way you are.” -Unknown

While being placed in a deep meditation by my teacher, Kathy Golden, for the Unconditional Love placement for my Usui Holy Fire III Reiki II certification, I was given a story from the Angels. Because of my deep understanding and lifelong experiences with wildlife, the story was interpreted to me through a Peregrine falcon and a mountain lion. As a biologist, my species of focus during my degree and post-school, was carnivores and birds of prey, making this an easily digestible concept for me.

I looked up the spiritual meanings for both of these animals to clarify the download that was received. www.spirit-animals.com

Cougar/Mountain Lion/Puma: Coming into your power. Take charge of your situation and show your strength. Leaping into opportunities that are now available. Balancing power. Knowing when gentleness is needed versus asserting your energy. The power of yin/yang. Cougar-Power/Trust.

Peregrine falcon: New opportunity of a significant positive change in life. Planning and strategy as well as action. Trust you have the tools needed to take advantage of this new opportunity. Independence. Staying focused and being grateful for all that is coming your way. Success is determined on quick reactions. Falcon-Freedom/Action.

I was given a brief 10-15 minute download of information solely with a picture in my mind of the lion under the tree and the falcon perched above. For the purposes of this post, I’ve added additional descriptive text for the telling.

The Story of Unconditional Love

Given from Archangels Ariel and Raphael

A beautiful, tawny female mountain lion lounged under a tree, in the forest, peacefully grooming herself. Oak leaves surrounded her from the trees above. She could hear, in the distance, the rustle of the needles from the pines and spruce that mingled with the oaks in the canyon beyond that lead to the ocean. As she nestled in the bed of leaves, a feeling of power and contentment rose through her. She remembered, not too long before, the sorrow and pain that had overwhelmed every fiber of her being, every cell of her body. She would scream out her fiery anger into the air, her frustration into the wind. But now, she allowed herself the present moment of the contentment and love she embodied. Her pink heart shaped nose was given to her from the Angels for the love she carried in her heart.

Above her, a Peregrine falcon was perched in a branch preening his delicate feathers, looking down on the lioness. When he would watch her here before, his heart would often expand with such powerful love that it would alarm him, causing him to rapidly catch flight, leaving him in such grief. He, too, would remember how the longing and despair would envelope him and consume his entire being. Watching her as he did now, he noticed how the love and contentment filled his heart. For this, he was given tiny hearts all over his chest feathers by the Angels.

They would spend hours like this, radiating love to each other and being content that each could still be in each others lives. But it wasn’t always like this.

You see, he was of the air and water and she was of the earth and fire. They had fallen in love with each other, but because he was a bird and she was a mammal, neither could love each other physically. After her mate failed to return to the cave one night, her nature now was of solitude, living her life by going within. His was one of raising chicks and teaching them to go out and fly in the world.

She would feel her heart break every time he would leave the branch to hunt for his brood, and he would hear her cat screams echoing on the winds. Instead of the merciful way he used to hunt his prey, he would find himself brutally massacring other birds, to bring back to his hungry chicks in the nest, on the cliff beside the ocean. This disturbed his long-term mate, as she could see he was being deeply effected by something. She grew even more distant from him and the chicks, leaving him to do most of the hunting. He didn’t mind, as it allowed him to stay busy, raising his offspring, and not thinking about the lioness.

The lion and the falcon eventually stopped meeting at the mouth of the canyon that lead to the ocean, where the breeze would stimulate her smell and ruffle his feathers. It was just too painful for both of them. He stayed on the cliff side and she wandered deeper into the canyon, both trying to forget each other. But the memories of the time at the tree would continuously haunt both of them. They couldn’t stop loving each other, but they couldn’t figure out how to change who they were.

As the seasons cycled, not once but twice, she, in her cave and he, on his cliff, both learned the ways of healing, and the mending of the wounds that had been brutally opened up by each other: the faults and flaws they saw in each other and themselves, and the pain and sorrow that had been experienced through lifetimes. And with that work, they finally carved their way back to the love.

On an early fall day, as the oak leaves starting turning the colors of yellow, orange and red, and the pine needles started dropping, when the nights started cooling, but the days stayed warm, the lioness up on a mountain peak looked up into the bright blue sky and saw the falcon floating on the air currents. Knowing immediately it was him, she felt her heart fill with the most beautiful kind of love. A love that didn’t need an outcome, a love that didn’t have expectations, a love that knew no bounds. A love for him, just as he was, in all his perfect glory with the sun shimmering off his sleek feathers. She saw him look down at her, and he called out and dove down toward the peak, landing on an outcropping. He turned his head, inquisitively, staring with his piercing gaze and heard the gentle purring emanating from her throat. The tawny gold of her fur glinted from the sun and his heart filled with joy. He also felt the release from her of expectations and outcomes; instead, he mirrored her belief and faith. They radiated pure love to each other and at that moment unconditional love was created.

The Angels saw and approved of this and as a reward for the long, hard inner work that had been done, they allowed a creation to be born from both of them. This creation signified the guarding of a treasure, possession or gift. The gift of Divine Power. And this gift was born with the head and wings of a bird of prey and the body and tail of a large cat, and they called him The Gryphon.

Thank you Kathy Golden for encouraging me to tell this story, and also Melinda Combs for being my editor and helping me express myself. Love to you both!

Thank you for reading. xoxo