The Rabbit

All through the spring and summer of 2023, I had rabbits on the brain.  It began with an urge to re-read Watership Down, one of my all-time favorite novels.  And then, I started seeing rabbits everywhere I went.  In particular, there was one who would appear in the community garden where I have a large plot, who would stay near me in stillness while I worked away.   I named it Hazel after the main character in Watership Down and marveled that it did not seem concerned about my presence.   That fall, the graphic novel version of Watership Down was published and I pre-ordered a copy.   And then the dreams started.   And the appearances during my Ketamine sessions.  Rabbits in the background, rabbits crossing my path, rabbits in the corner of my eye.   Hazel in the garden, sniffing. 

Suddenly, I felt a strong desire to wear a golden rabbit charm on a necklace and I scoured the internet until I found the perfect one on Etsy.  Rabbits began crossing the path when I went on hikes or to visit swimming holes.  I thought maybe I was just noticing them more because of the weird fixation I had developed.   But then I asked myself if maybe this was some kind of sign or message.  And so I started looking up what it all might mean, what rabbits symbolize.  

Rabbits are symbols of intuition, luck, new beginnings, fertility, ingenuity, transformation and in several mythologies they are also wardens of liminal spaces.   Liminal spaces are transitional or “in-between” spaces, bridges between states of being.  In a psychological or metaphorical sense, liminal spaces are times of change and uncertainty.   And that was certainly where I’d found myself.   And suddenly, I had a guide.  

In Greek mythology, rabbits are a symbol for the goddess Artemis.  She of the wilderness, the hunt, and the moon.  Artemis is one of my favorite goddesses, a symbol of empowerment, independence and self-reliance.  She is an example of autonomous womanhood, strength and solidarity outside of the confines of Patriarchy.  Artemis protects women through rites of passage and is an archetype of feminine power.  When rabbits appear, it is a sign that Artemis is present. 

I went to see my therapist, who likes to interpret my dreams sometimes, and told him about a weird dream I’d had where I grew a tail.  Actually, in the dream I’d always had the tail but was unaware of it… but everyone around me had always been able to see it and hadn’t told me.  I was shocked and embarrassed that I’d been going through life with a tail that no one told me about.  The tail grew out of my sacrum, and looked like Troll doll hair.  My therapist looked at me quizzically and asked “like a cotton tail?” I was quiet for a second and then responded “like a rabbit?” He said nothing.  “Am I the rabbit?”  Nothing again.