I pushed through the campus doors and found a buck standing beside me under the building lights. He was startled as was I, then galloped out of the light, rejoining a doe nearby. Together, they paused in the darkness at the end of the snowy courtyard before slipping farther away from campus.
Deer are often associated in spiritual traditions with transition and awareness, appearing at moments that mark an ending or a shift. Unlike more dramatic symbols, they are tied to stillness and restraint. The pairing of a buck and a doe is frequently interpreted as balance — strength alongside gentleness, movement guided by instinct rather than force. As well as new beginnings.
The encounter came at a liminal moment. The last day of the semester carries its own quiet weight, signaling not just the end of classes but the temporary dismantling of routine. This was the day after. At night, the campus felt emptied of urgency. The presence of the deer sharpened that sense of pause.
Spiritual interpretations do not insist on meaning so much as an invite on reflection. In that moment was not a message about what comes next, but a reminder about how to move forward — with purpose, without haste, and with attention to what is felt as much as what is planned.
I sat in my car for a moment before leaving, watching the buck and doe stand together in the middle of the campus courtyard. The scene felt complete on its own. I captured some imagery, then drove away, leaving the courtyard and the semester behind.