Swallow totem. A long journey home.

https://alltotems.com/spirit-animals/swallow-meaning-symbolism/

When I was 15 years old I had the small image of a swallow tattooed onto my left shoulder.
(where Left is the 'side' of the spiritual nagual influence 

nagual

[nah-gwahl, -wahl]

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noun

a guardian spirit among Mexican and Central American Indians, believed to reside in an animal.:)

It was a bird I liked and used to see often when I went home to Ireland. They flocked together on the wires chattering. 'Flights' (groups) of swallows swirl out from their holes in the sand dunes cliffs flying out over the beaches and back again. They spend a long late summer in practice for their migration flights for miles upon miles to sunnier places, this always happened late August for their flight in September.

The journey swallows make

European swallows spend the winter in Africa south of the Sahara, in Arabia and in the Indian sub-continent. 

British swallows spend their winter in South Africa - they travel through western France, across the Pyrenees, down eastern Spain into Morocco and across the Sahara. Some birds follow the west coast of Africa avoiding the Sahara. Other European swallows travel further east and down the Nile Valley. Swallows put on little weight before migrating. 

They migrate by day at low altitudes and find food on the way. Despite accumulating some fat reserves before crossing large areas such as the Sahara Desert, they are vulnerable to starvation during these crossings. Migration is a hazardous time and many birds die from starvation, exhaustion and in storms.

Migrating swallows cover 200 miles a day, mainly during daylight, at speeds of 17-22 miles per hour. The maximum flight speed is 35 mph. Read more at https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/swallow/migration/#w3i1lG8luPESW1d1.99

Swallow tattoos are said to be favoured by sailors and indicate completing a successful voyage.

It was only later that I equated my swallow tattoo with a Long journey home.
And even later in life when I figured it was actually symbolic for me of an even longer journey, a spiritual journey back Home...
But where is home?
Home is in the heart.

Home is the heart.
So its a long outer and inner journey.... to return to the self. THE SELF and THE HIGHEER SELF.
Spiritually, the journey is going on in many levels.

It only just occurred to me to have a look at my tattoo again. I feel like I want to add a small olive branch, held in it's beak, for peace, and maybe extend that branch to a distant star to symbolise that the journey home to the heart.... is navigated by the stars.

When I was 15 I had no idea that the life path ahead was going to be such a journey....
Or...maybe I did.
Michaela