As a trauma therapist navigating through my own personal evolution while supporting others in doing the same, I have found a profound resonance with the turkey vulture, Cathartes aura, meaning golden purifier or purifying breeze.

These creatures are called “peace eagles” in some cultures, as they look very similar to an eagle from the ground, but unlike an eagle, they do not kill to eat or attack other creatures. Instead, they soar in calm spirals, often without flapping, on warm thermal updrifts. They will do this for hours a day, often with family members, until they smell a carcass that is already dead, to go attend to.

Turkey vultures eat dead animals that have various infectious diseases, but in the process of them digesting the animal and purifying their own exterior, especially with sunlight, the diseases are eradicated. So, they are known as nature’s purifiers, as they process the animal matter back into the circle of life while removing the diseases.

There are three aspects of the turkey vulture that really speak to me about the work I do.

One is that they are relaxed, circling on warm air with family. This represents the importance in trauma work of cultivating a true caring connection, and not doing too much too fast.

Two is that they use discernment, instead of chasing down injured animals, they wait until they can smell a carcass, sometimes from very far away. This represents the importance of sniffing out which aspects of our struggles are valuable, well-intentioned parts of us that have been pushed into extreme roles and need help, and which aspects are burdens from trauma that need to be released to allow us to live a more full, happy, free life.

Third is that they pick through and metabolize damaged things in a way that leads to purification and continued life. This is the work of trauma therapy. We patiently and persistently navigate toward the places we have been damaged by loss, violence, abuse, neglect, oppression, and so many other set-backs, to metabolize what is necessary to be able to get back up and move forward freer and lighter.