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Old January 15th, 2012 #3
Steven L. Akins
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My great uncle used to have a talking pet crow. I've always liked ravens and crows. My family crest is a pair of ravens, thought to represent Hugin and Munin:




Last edited by Steven L. Akins; January 15th, 2012 at 08:47 PM.
 
Old January 15th, 2012 #4
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It's the same story the crow told me;
It's the only one he knows.
Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go.


THE COMMON CROW IS AN UNCOMMONLY CHARMING BIRD, SAYS A MAN WHO KNOWS HIS FINE FEATHERED FRIENDS
Bil Gilbert

This is about crows and ravens in general and several individual ones I have known personally. There are about 40 species of what ornithologists call common crows, all members of the genus Corvus. They are distributed over most of the world, have developed some odd local customs and vary a bit in appearance. But functionally they are about as similar as Swedes and Swahilis, and here all of them will be called crows unless there is reason to do otherwise.

Crows, like humans, are omnivorous, able to eat more or less anything that does not eat them first; they are hardy and clever enough to prosper in virtually any environment on the planet, from polar to tropical regions. Since they have always been around us in substantial numbers and have a good many behavior patterns quite similar to our own, we have been keeping crows under surveillance for a long time (and, very likely, vice versa). To give our side first, here are some observations and thoughts about crows:

They have big brains, larger in proportion to their size, than any other avian species. Behavioral investigators in laboratories have given many laudatory testimonials to how well crows solve puzzles, manipulate locks and keys and learn to do simple counting exercises. In the field, where they are free to do as they please, crows have been found using tools and weapons held in their beaks. They employ sticks and spines as picks and probes. British bird-watchers trying to get at ravens' nests have been repeatedly showered with stones intentionally aimed at them by the dive-bombing birds.

Crows are obviously, incessantly and raucously communicative. Ordinarily, they employ a hundred or so meaningful expressions and gestures, but individual birds will creatively alter these root sounds and movements to expand their working vocabularies. Many crows are talented, enthusiastic mimics and, like PBS commentators or wine critics, are apt to sprinkle their conversations with foreign mots. I have known crows who used phrases they have picked up from cicadas, ducks, dogs and humans. That they can do the last is well known. There is no reason to believe that the raven did not quoth "Nevermore." And if indeed the bird did, the poet probably took it too seriously. I am persuaded that ravens don't know or much care what they are saying in such cases, but that they shout things like "Hello, Jake," mostly for the gaudy effect.

At times crows are notably, even hysterically, social. In the part of the world where I live—central Pennsylvania along the Mason-Dixon line—at the end of the working day during the fall and winter most of them gather in large flocks, sometimes consisting of as many as 75,000 birds. Then they roost together in clusters of trees, cheek by jowl, and spend the night gossiping, wrangling and sometimes sleeping. Come spring, however, the birds go off to look for single-family nesting territories. Once established in a nest, they are very secretive about its location. In the manner of New Jerseyites who have come by a ranchette retreat on a quarter of an acre in the Poconos, they belligerently drive off all trespassers, regardless of size, species, color or creed.

In principle, crows are monogamous, mating for life, which can last 20 years or more. Males and females both work at nest building and may take turns incubating the eggs and feeding the young. However, their principles, like ours, are sometimes violated, and at times they will do things that would be called adultery or rape if, say, a TV evangelist did likewise.

We can only guess at the motives of other creatures and can describe them only by making figurative analogies based on our own experience. It is therefore impossible to say with certainty why a crow will lie flat on its back and juggle a pinecone or toss and retrieve stones or perform acrobatics in the air or on the ground. It certainly looks as if it is playing, as we might say, engaged in an impractical and unnecessary, but agreeable, activity. Also, crows are known to do drugs, apparently (one must admit, in keeping with the foregoing reservations) for fun. Case studies of sporting and junkie crows will be provided in due course, but before that, some consideration should be given to the reverse perspective—what crows may know about us.

As is apparent to anyone who has tried to approach these birds, they clearly have learned that humans can be dangerous. However, this information does not terrify crows as it does many less bold and astute beasts. To the contrary, judging from their actions, they may well regard people in the way it is thought early people regarded fire—as a tricky but, on balance, magnificent gift of the gods.

The spread of what is sometimes referred to as civilization has been a disaster for some species, and even we have at times had doubts about whether its rewards are worth the price it exacts. In pursuit of our various agricultural, commercial and domestic interests, however, we have turned vast tracts of the planet into habitat that is much more attractive and richer for crows than was the howling wilderness. Thanks to us, the short-term prospects are that this world will become a better and better one for these birds.

In Arctic regions where I have sometimes gone, there are days when the only other living things to be seen are ravens, glumly pecking away at ice floes or glaciers, trying to get at frozen lemming scraps and such. The toughness and ingenuity of these Arctic-dwelling birds is impressive, but these ravens are atypical. To see many more—and more adaptable—ravens than are found in the Arctic wilderness, go to Fairbanks, Alaska, or Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, or similar modern northland communities that have dumpsters and landfills. In addition to the abundant refuse they offer, the streets of such towns are paved with the equivalent of raven's gold: road kills, mashed pizza, french fries, kiwi fruit parings and other loose garbage, which ravens find as nourishing as iced lemmings and much easier to get at.

CONTINUE STORY:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...8116/index.htm
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Old January 16th, 2012 #5
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one video posted by winnicki asks "how intellegent is the average crow?". to which the answer is definitely more intelligent than the average negro.
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Old January 16th, 2012 #6
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Old January 16th, 2012 #7
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Written and compiled by George Knowles

The common Raven (Corvus corax) is a member of the Corvidae family, which includes Jays, Crows and Magpies. Raven can be found throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere, the high Arctic islands of Canada, Europe and even in the deserts of North Africa. A passerine (perching) bird, it is the largest blackbird in the world and can grow to a length of more than 60cm (24in).

The Raven has a long powerful bill that is slightly hooked, shaggy throat feathers and a long strongly graduated wedge-shape tail. Its body has a mostly black iridescent plumage and its eyes are dark brown. Ravens survive in many types of habitat and normally live for up to 10 or 15 years in the wild, but in capivity its lifespans has been greatly increased. Those in the Tower of London have been recorded living up to 40 years.

The raucous call of the Raven is a deep and grating kraa-kraa-kraa sound, but it can also produce an amazing assortment of other calls, studies have shown that he has more than 30 distinct vocalizations. Ravens have a wingspan of more than 1.3 m (4 feet) and are excellent flyers; they sometimes soar to great heights and love to engage in aerial acrobatics. Ravens do not migrate like many other birds, but a breeding pair will usually relocate each year.

Ravens start to breed at 3 or 4 years of age and then mate for life. Courtship rituals begin in mid-January with aerial acrobatics, demonstrations of intelligence, and the ability to provide food being key acts of courting critera. By mid-March mating pairs start roosting near their intended nesting locations but must then gain a territory of their own before they begin nest building and breeding. Their nests are made from coarse sticks lined with hair or shredded bark, and are built in high trees or on tall cliff ledges from where they aggressively defend their territory and food resources.

The female lays from four to eight light blue spotted eggs in a clutch, and once laid will stay in the nest to incubate them while being fed by the male. After about three weeks the chicks hatch and are fed by both parents who regurgitate food and water stored in a throat pouch. The chicks grow quickly and leave the nest about four weeks after hatching. Once the young Ravens leave the nest they form loose flocks during the day and then congregate to roost at night, as many as 500 have been seen to roost in one location.

Raven is omnivorous and consumes a wide variety of food, including: seeds, berries, fruit, insects, small birds, mammals and carrion. They are notorious scavengers and are common visitors to garbage dumps. They store surplus food items and learn to hide such food out of the sight of other Ravens. They also raid the food caches of other birds and animals. In the wild the Raven is a common associate of the Grey Wolf, who he follows to scavenge off the carcasses of its prey, particularly in winter.

Because the Raven is intelligent, sociable and highly adaptable, it has long been the subject of legend and folklore. Sadly the Raven has a near universal affiliation with dark prophecy and is often associated with death, although its cleverness and fearless habits have also won a degree of admiration, as can been seen portrayed in mythology.



Raven in Mythology

In many cultures Raven is considered a bird of ill omen associated with death. As a common carrion eater known to feed on humans killed in warfare or by execution, he became associated with the dead and with lost souls. In Sweden, Ravens are thought to be the ghosts of murdered people, and in Germany, the souls of the damned. Not all cultures feel this way however, for many Native American tribes in North American see the Raven as a creator Spirit who brought the world into being, to them he is Deity, the First Human and the original Shaman. In other cultures because of his intelligence and cunning he is thought of as a trickster, or associated with Deity as a signatory animal.

In a creation myth from the people on the West Coast of North America, they tell how in the beginning there was nothing, only water, darkness and a Raven. The Raven flew through the darkness with a bag hung around his neck, but soon began to tire. As he flew over the water he released a small rock from his bag and dropped it into the water creating an island. Raven sat down on the island to rest, and while resting took other rocks from his bag and threw them into the water creating land.

Rested, the Raven picked up his bag and flew on. After a while he became tired again and stopped to rest on a piece of the land he had created, there took more items from his bag. First he removed a fir tree, then a pine tree, a spruce, a redwood and all the other trees in the world. He also removed bushes, grass, wheat and all the other plants of the world, including the plants of the sea. All these things he scattered across the land and the water so they could grow.

Again the Raven took his bag around his neck and flew through the darkness. When he became tired again he sat down on another rock to rest. This time he removed a Wolf, an Eagle, a Salmon, a Bear and a Deer, and all the other animals of the land and sea. When Raven looked around him and surveyed at all he had created, it looked to be a good world, where everything was peaceful, happily working together in nature. But before he flew off again he looked into his bag and saw there was one thing left “Man”. So Raven removed man from the bag and placed him upon the earth, and then when the world began to change.

The Raven is also the principal creator figure of the Alaskan Inuit peoples who call him Raven Father. At the beginning of the world he is said to have come down from the sky and created dry land. He then created a man and then a woman as his companions, followed by numerous types of animals, trees and plants. Raven Father then taught man and woman skills, such as how to raise children, make fire and care for the animals.





Another myth from the Tsimshian tribe in the American Northwest tells the story of how a Raven stole the three heavenly bodies (the Stars, the Moon and the Sun) from a miserly old Chief, and replaced them in the sky providing light around the world. According to the legend a mean old Chief once hoarded the three light sources in the world creating perpetual night. The light he kept closed up in three dark bags, which were only opened for his pleasure. However, a Raven got bored of flying around in the dark and decided to bring back the light. To do this he turned himself into a leaf and fluttered down on a gust of wind into the Chief's tepee.

The Chief's daughter was sipping a drink in the tepee, when a leaf entered and landed in her cup as she was drinking. After swallowing the leaf, the daughter fell pregnant and gave birth to a baby with raven-black hair and dark glowing eyes, naturally they called the new arrival “Ravens Child”. The child however was very temperamental and whenever he was bored or wanted something, he shrieked, and shrieked and cried.

The Chief while a doting Grandfather, hated all the noise the child made and ordered, “Give the child what ever he wants”. So they gave the child the dark bag containing “the Light of twinkling Stars” to play with. The child was very happy as he played with the Stars, bouncing them off the sides of the tepee. So enthusiastically did he bounce them, that one day they bounced right up through the smoke hole in the ceiling and scattered around the dark of night providing a little Light, much to the displeasure of the Chief.

Having lost the Stars, Ravens Child soon became bored again and as was his way, he shrieked, and shrieked and cried, all the while driving the Chief crazy with the noise. The Chief relented and ordered, “Give the child what ever he wants”. So they give the child the dark bag containing “the Light of the Moon” to play with. The child was very happy as he played with the Moon, bouncing it of the sides of the tepee. So enthusiastically did he bounce it, that one day it bounced right up through the smoke hole in the ceiling and joined the Stars in the dark of night providing a little more Light, much to the displeasure of the Chief.

Deprived of yet another toy, Ravens Child threw a major tantrum, and shrieked, and shrieked and cried. So disruptive was the noise he made, it was causing the Chief to tear out his hair, as a result the Chief ordered, “Give the child what ever he wants”. The tepee staff were weary of the child by now, and fearful of the Chiefs wrath should anything happen to the third dark bag, so they tried to find something else to keep the child quiet and restore peace, but none of the usual baby toys would satisfy Ravens Child who kept pointing to the last dark bag. Finally they give it to him, but with dire warnings not to lose it, for it contained the Chiefs most prized possession “The Light of the Sun”.

Instead of playing with it as he had done with the other dark bags, the child suddenly turned back into a Raven and flew up through the smoke hole in the ceiling carrying the bag in his beak and stealing the Chiefs “Light of the Sun”. Untying the bag Raven spread light throughout the world bring to an end the perpetual night and creating day. The chief was very angry and his recorded comments contain very strong language in the Tsimshian dialect.



In Scandinavian mythology Odin was the King of the Gods. He had two black Ravens, one called Huginn (“Thought”) the other called Muninn (“Memory”), these he sent out daily to gather information from all around the world. Odin also kept a pair of Wolves, one called Geri (Greedy) the other called Freki (Fierce). Wolves and Ravens have an old and close relationship in the wild, where both lived and survived together. A great deal of a Raven’s food came from scavenging carcasses left by Wolves, particularly in winter. As the God of War, both Wolves and Ravens would have been a common sight on Odin’s battlefields, scavenging on the bodies of the slain.

In some cultures the Raven was originally white, like in the in the Greek tale of Coronis the daughter of Phlegyes, who was pregnant of Apollo. Apollo left a white Raven to watch over her, but just before the birth of his child, Coronis married Ischys. The Raven reported this fact to Apollo, which made him furious. In anger at being betrayed, he killed Coronis and Ischys, and turned the Raven black for being the bearer of bad news. During Coronis’ funeral, Apollo retrieved the unborn child who later became Aesclepius, the father of medicine.

In the legends of England, Ravens figure largely in the history of the Tower of London. During the reign of Charles II (1660–85), his astronomer John Flamsteed complained that the raucous noise made by the Ravens was putting him off his work, so the King ordered they should be destroyed. However the Raven was known as a bird of prophecy, so the King was warned that dire bad luck would follow should he destroy the Ravens. Instead, not wishing to tempt fate, the King ordered that the Ravens should be fed and sheltered forever. Since then the legend spread that should the Ravens ever leave the Tower, the reigning Monarchy and the Tower itself would fall, like wise the British Empire. Today at the Tower of London, the Ravens wings are clipped to stop them flying away, and are cared for by a Yeoman Warder with the official title of Raven Master.

In Celtic mythology the Ravens association with death is linked to the Goddess of Fate and is the totem bird for Morrigan in her three aspects of Macha, Badh and Nemain (Morrigan is the collective name for the three Goddesses).


Raven Totem Spirit and Medicine:

Contributed by - Patricia Jean Martin


If Raven has called on you, you may soon find the following show up in your life: Magick and mysticism, intellect and acute cunning, awareness and skilful perception, the ability to shapeshift into another for a more complete understanding of Spirit, and a journey into the depths in order to bring out the light. In all this, and more, Raven will be your guide.

The raven is part of the Corvids family (genus, Corvus), which also includes the crow, magpie, blue jay and others - crow being its closest relative. The main difference between a raven and a crow is size, whereas the raven is much larger and has a shaggier tuft of feathers in the neck area. Two other physical differences are the shape of their tail feathers and the length and appearance of their primary wing feathers - whereas a raven's tail feathers are wedge-shaped in flight, a crow's are more rounded...and where the longest feathers of the wing on the raven will have spaces between them when in flight, a crow's will not and will appear more compact. These slight physical differences aside, Raven and Crow bring much the same message, so those with Raven as their Totem would do well to also study Crow, and vice versa. But even through their many similarities, there are some differences.

Where Crow brings word of the magick that surrounds you both within and without, it is Raven who dangles the key. Ravens are known to be able to trigger the energies of the magick you feel all around you, and they will teach you how to fearlessly go about manifesting that magick to fruition. They do this through activating the link between intention and wilful action. Long associated with birth and death, Raven spirit knows best how to help you explore the deeper mysteries. Just as their colour (black) reflects that there are worlds of colourful light within, they are known to delve effortlessly into the darkness for the sole purpose of bringing out the light; this too aiding you in the realization and execution of your magick.

If Raven has come into your life, you can also expect that your imagination will be sparked, and you can definitely expect many changes to begin to take shape within your life. Raven is all about creation...and sometimes in order to create, we must first relinquish old habits. With Raven medicine you will be courageously led into the recesses of your inner self and be given not only the knowledge of what needs be done, but the wisdom and wherewithal to make those necessary changes. And although at times these journeys may be scary to undertake, they can be the most healing. Change is part of the natural Wheel of Life, and this is all part of Raven's reputation of being an omen that foretells of death. He or she is there to help you foretell and render what must be destroyed in order to birth something new. This is an important element of the mysticism of Raven's own magick.

Ravens are excellent shapeshifters - always willing to embark on journeys into the void, and very capable of delivering the messages brought back. The Norse god, Odin, possessed two ravens named Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory) that were his personal messengers. Odin himself would often shapeshift into a raven. So those with Raven Totem will find that it is not only Raven who will act as shapeshifter and messenger, but in return they will actually encourage and welcome you to enter their world. Like no other animal, Raven allows their own spirit to become one with the human spirit, thus allowing the messages they bring forth to be quick and clear. They also know how to intermingle and interrelate with other animal spirits, so those with Raven Totem may also find notably increased interaction with others, bringing about the advantageous ability to put one's self in another's shoes and seeing into their hearts. With this useful skill comes understanding, the increased desire to cooperate and work together, along with the ability to manipulate.

Where a crow is more likely to be seen physically living near people...ravens are hardly ever seen, preferring to live in densely wooded areas. Ravens are territorial and prefer lots of space, even amidst their brethren. People with Raven Totem will find not only the desire but the need to both physically commune with the forests and internally commune with the dense underbrush of one's own inner being. Ravens will teach you to be swift in deed but wary enough in your actions in order to proceed with safety. In the same breath, though, they also teach you how not to be intimidated. Ravens - just as their Crow brothers and sisters are known to do - will actually mob a hawk in order to chase them from their territory. This is a fine lesson in taking back your personal power.

Noted as being the most intelligent of all the birds, Ravens are excellent tool users. In one study and documentary, they are shown manipulating various ingenious tools and methods to maneuver and gain access into a feeder, using the uncanny ability to plan and think ahead. They are known to possess excellent puzzle-solving ability, good memory capacity and spatial perception, and even mental projection and visualization skills. Metaphysically, they are widely known to be able to see into both the past and the future. With Raven medicine, your own intellect will be acutely sharpened and your intuitions honed - your levels of awareness and perception greatly increased. You may find yourself embarking on new intellectual pursuits, and a new sense of cunning will make what once were looked at as difficult problems disappear. Your ingenuity will increase, and along with it, your self-esteem. After you begin experiencing these new or heightened aspects of yourself, Raven may then ask you to go on a mission quest, but you never need worry about it, as you will be given all the tools that you need in order to accomplish the task.

Ravens like to talk. Those with Raven medicine will find themselves becoming more vocal and/or gaining the ability to reach out to others through some form of communication - many times through the art of writing, painting, acting, dancing or performing. Just as the raven possesses a wide range of vocal tones and notes - actually having the ability to talk and mimic, and possessing a high command of language - your own communication skills will be enhanced. As noted in the text on Wolf, Raven is prone to be vocally helpful in alerting others to danger. In this way, you will find yourself also becoming very watchful and alert, and you will think it very natural to defend your family - be it blood or kinship. You will find it comes easy to bring them messages, whether in the form of warnings or fresh insights.

Ravens are playful and extremely amorous, and those harkening to Raven's call may also find these traits surfacing within themselves. A bit raucous and hardly ever fearful, Raven will teach you how to find humor in the most unexpected places, as self-assuredness through cunning and being 'in the know' relinquishes inhibitions. They will also teach you how to bring your own playful and amorous nature into the light...for bringing the creative life force to the forefront into the light is what Raven is all about.

In all these things and many others, Raven is a great teacher and guide.


End.
 
Old January 16th, 2012 #9
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Smile Riddle

Q:If storks bring White babies, and crows bring Black babies, then what kind of a bird brings no babies at all?

A:A swallow.

Last edited by Donald E. Pauly; January 16th, 2012 at 06:17 PM. Reason: typo
 
Old January 16th, 2012 #10
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cool thread..

Crow rock,

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Old January 16th, 2012 #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Armstrong View Post


Written and compiled by George Knowles


In Celtic mythology the Ravens association with death is linked to the Goddess of Fate and is the totem bird for Morrigan in her three aspects of Macha, Badh and Nemain (Morrigan is the collective name for the three Goddesses).
The Morrigan was herself one of three aspects of the Gaelic triple-goddess who corresponded to the waxing, full, and waning moon in her three incarnations of maiden (Brighid), mother (Danu), and crone (Morrigan):

Quote:
"And it happened that one day Brighid, the daughter of Dagda, was alone having wandered into the wilderness, for she was fond of all manner of herbs and green things and had great knowledge of their powers and uses. And in her wandering she ventured into the realm of Cerna who dwelt deep in the forests and was master of all the animals who lived there; for he more than any of the other gods was the most wild and feral among them.

Now Cerna had never seen such a fair and beautiful maiden as Brighid, and no sooner had he caught but a glimpse of her was he smitten with a deep longing to have her. But frightened was she of his strange appearance, for he was arrayed in rustic apparel wearing garments of green oak leaves and having antlers upon his head, so that she fled from his company. Yet did Cerna pursue her until she relented and the two became lovers, and from their union was born the race of man.

This did not bode well for Brighid for she was much beloved by Tuireann, and when he discovered her tryst with Cerna he set about to punish them. Taking a blade forged by Goibniu, Tuireann gave it unto Brian, and told him to go forth to the realm of Cerna and lay waste to it, so that the race of man could no longer look only to their father, the horned one, to aid them in seeking their livelihood by hunting and herding the beasts which he ruled, but that they should thereafter have to seek out the other gods of the Tuatha Dé Dannan to assist them in their toils and labours in raising crops by the sweat of their brows.

And because mankind had been conceived from the tryst of Brighid with the Horned One, Tuireann decreed that the race of man should not bide in the landof Tir nan’Og, but that they must forever dwell in the mortal lands of the earth. And for this reason their life there would not be unending, but that they should be mortal, wherefore age and death would come to them. Then did he cause a veil of mist to fall about Tir nan’Og so that it disappeared and could not be found by those who did dwell in the mortal world.

And after this was accomplished, Tuireann banished Cerna from the land of Tir nan’Og and sent him thenceforth unto Tech Duinn, the realm of ghosts and departed spirits; taking from him his oaken staff and giving him a crown of holly leaves, saying, “Thou art Donn, the dark one, for thou hast brought death upon those whom thou hast given life. Depart now from this land and go forth to rule over the kingdom of the dead.”

And when Cerna had taken the crown of holly leaves given him by Tuireann, the leaves of oak that made up the vestments of his apparel, which formerly appeared green and bright, began to wither and fade. Then did Cerna speak unto Tuireann, saying, “I shall not bide there alone,” and he told Tuireann that while Brighid was with him she had eaten of the berries of the rowan that grew amid the trees of his forest, and because she had partaken of them she was bound to dwell with him. Unto which Tuireann replied “Only for a season.”

And Tuireann decreed that from Imbolc to Samhain, the goddess Brighid would dwell among the Tuatha Dé Dannan and thereafter, while in the realm of the dead, she should not be seen in the shape of the beautiful maiden that had filled Cerna’s heart with longing, but as Morrigan, a haggard old crone who appears to wayfarers as three dark birds of death, Nemain, Macha and Badb, who stand at the entrance to Tech Duinn croaking out the warning “Do not enter, keep away, pass by!”

And so it came to pass that when Brighid went forth to dwell in the land of the dead each Samhain at the ending of the harvest season, the earth became dark and cold, and growing things would wither and fade, so that during this season the race of man might survive only by bringing death and slaughter to the beasts of the forests and fields.

But upon her return to Tir nan’Og each spring she would go at dawn on the morning of Imbolc to the well of youth and drink the water therefrom and be transformed once again into a fair and beautiful maiden whose touch turns the grass to green once more. Then would the days grow longer and brighter, and the earth become bountiful once again; and so men would return to the plough and seek the blessings of the gods upon their crops.

And as a reminder to all that life and death are forever connected one to the other, it was the legacy of Cerna that the serpent, whose bite is the most deadly of all creatures, should come forth from the depths of the earth each spring to bide among the forests and fields as a symbol that death is ever present wherever there is life. Yet even as the serpent doth shed its skin to be renewed, so too does new life come forth from death also.

But lo, a prophecy was foretold by Brighid, that a day should come when the gods themselves must take leave of their own immortal land, even as her children had been banished from its shores by Tuireann's pride, so too would the Tuatha De Danann be made to flee and seek refuge amid the mortal lands of the earth. And likewise, as Cerna had been cast out and sent forth to dwell within the nether realm, it should come to pass that the race of men would someday compel all the gods to live amid the hollow places under the earth in the land that they should come to dwell in."

http://leborfeasarunda.weebly.com/chapter-i.html
 
Old January 16th, 2012 #12
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&fe...&v=ArK6nsxCnaA
 
Old January 16th, 2012 #14
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If crows don't make you smile, you're dead inside.
 
Old January 17th, 2012 #15
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I love crows and ravens.

This is a picture I took inside the GPO in Dublin where the rebels of 1916 barricaded themselves. The statue depicts Cú Chulainn, an Irish hero who lashed himself to a stone in his death throes so he would die on his feet. His enemies only came forward to cut off his head once they saw a raven perch on his shoulder and drink his blood. A raven is featured somewhat prominently in the Cú Chulainn mythology.

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Old January 22nd, 2012 #16
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Lovely animals and more intelligent than disgusting chimpanzees that everyone fawns over. I think one day I will have a raven for a pet. You can purchase them from here http://corvitude.com/corvidranch.html
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Old January 22nd, 2012 #17
keifer
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My wife thought maybe the bird is trying to get at some food that might be frozen on the inside of the lid. The bird does seem intent on biting at the inside of the lid.
 
Old January 23rd, 2012 #18
littlefieldjohn
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Win or lose, the crows always laugh. Masters of the wry outlook.
 
Old January 23rd, 2012 #19
Steven L. Akins
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The Twa Corbies (The Two Crows)

an old Scots poem:

As I was walking all alane,
I heard twa corbies makin a mane;
The tane unto the ither say,
"Whar sall we gang and dine the-day?"

"In ahint yon auld fail dyke,
I wot there lies a new slain knight;
And nane do ken that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound an his lady fair."

"His hound is tae the huntin gane,
His hawk tae fetch the wild-fowl hame,
His lady's tain anither mate,
So we may mak oor dinner swate."

"Ye'll sit on his white hause-bane,
And I'll pike oot his bonny blue een;
Wi ae lock o his gowden hair
We'll theek oor nest whan it grows bare."

"Mony a one for him makes mane,
But nane sall ken whar he is gane;
Oer his white banes, whan they are bare,
The wind sall blaw for evermair."

(English version):

As I was walking all alone,
I heard two crows (or ravens) making a moan;
One said to the other,
"Where shall we go and dine today?"

"In behind that old turf wall,
I sense there lies a newly slain knight;
And nobody knows that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound and his lady fair."

"His hound is to the hunting gone,
His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl home,
His lady's has taken another mate,
So we may make our dinner sweet."

"You will sit on his white neck-bone,
And I'll peck out his pretty blue eyes;
With one lock of his golden hair
We'll thatch our nest when it grows bare."

"Many a one for him is moaning,
But nobody will know where he is gone;
Over his white bones, when they are bare,
The wind will blow for evermore."
 
Old January 23rd, 2012 #20
DMS
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Crow #1: Israel
Crow #2: AIPAC
Black cat: Iran
Brown & white cat: United States
 
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