Milfoil
Sushi said:
I've always known these two rhymes to be associated with the magpie but never with the crow. Where did you find this listed as a crow poem? (if you don't mind me asking)
Crows as Omen or Sign?
I've always known these two rhymes to be associated with the magpie but never with the crow. Where did you find this listed as a crow poem? (if you don't mind me asking)
Sushi
Magpies aren't common in North America, so they've been associated with crows here for the last couple hundred years.
Milfoil
Ah, I see. Thankyou.
sharpchick
Crows will mob someone or something they feel to be a danger. . . so I also would look at the possibility that the flock was sending you a message to look out for someone who might not have your best interest at heart, particularly since you felt they were following you.
MeeWah
After moving to the present residence, discovered to my delight the neighborhood a bird sanctuary. Though not uncommon to see woodland animals--hare, squirrel, racoon & on rare occasions, even deer--drawn to birds in general. The crow amongst a few birds whose presence gets my attention.
Crows serve as personal messengers & generally appear in a flock, like the seagulls which proliferate here. Since we feed birds, that crows sometimes congregate in my front yard only & no other even whence we have not left an offering I tend to see variously, including a reminder they hungry & we forgot
A single crow, however, seems to be a warning. A pair of crows represents a message of blessing; presages a gift or other event.
Crows serve as personal messengers & generally appear in a flock, like the seagulls which proliferate here. Since we feed birds, that crows sometimes congregate in my front yard only & no other even whence we have not left an offering I tend to see variously, including a reminder they hungry & we forgot
A single crow, however, seems to be a warning. A pair of crows represents a message of blessing; presages a gift or other event.
Papageno
crows are cool, I like them.
I did have a very weird and omen-like experience years ago but it involved a Starling. it was a very bad and difficult period in my life, an inflection point actually, just before everything started to turn very positive, wheel of fortune, 10 of swords stuff.
a dying Starling literally dropped out of the sky right on top of my head (yuck!!!)
I was not having a good year.
I did have a very weird and omen-like experience years ago but it involved a Starling. it was a very bad and difficult period in my life, an inflection point actually, just before everything started to turn very positive, wheel of fortune, 10 of swords stuff.
a dying Starling literally dropped out of the sky right on top of my head (yuck!!!)
I was not having a good year.
Milfoil
Neither was the starling by the sounds of it!
Papageno
well............with all due respect to the Starling it was a memorable experience, unfortunately of the wrong kind. this thing literally landed on my head like there was a big bulls eye painted there and got tangled in my hair........I let out a hiss and started hollaring (oh yes, a very dignified scene in broad daylight on a crowded street) and finally got it off me. it lay there in the street fluttering weakly.
sweet_intuition
Mythology and folklore
Crows, and especially ravens, often feature in European legends or mythology as portents or harbingers of doom or death, because of their dark plumage, unnerving calls, and tendency to eat carrion. They are commonly thought to circle above scenes of death such as battles. The Child ballad The Three Ravens depicts three ravens discussing whether they can eat a dead knight, but finds that his hawk, his hound, and his true love prevent them; in the parody version The Twa Corbies, these guards have already forgotten the dead man, and the ravens can eat their fill. Their depiction of evil has also led to some exaggeration of their appetite. In modern films such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Omen II and Exorcist: The Beginning, crows are shown tearing out people's eyes while they are still alive. This, of course, does not happen as crows can distinguish between carrion and living people.
In Native American folklore, Crow is often seen as a similar trickster to Coyote. However, Crow's tricks tend to be more out of malice and they rarely (if ever) are portrayed as a hero. One possible explanation for this is that crows are often considered a pest to crops, which the tribes who came up with the stories featuring Crow needed to survive.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Chaldean myth, the character Utnapishtim releases a dove and a raven to find land, similar to what Noah does in the book of Genesis. However, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the dove merely circles and returns. Only then does Utnapishtim send forth the raven, who does not return. Utnapishtim extrapolates from this that the raven has found land, which is why it hasn't returned. This would seem to indicate some acknowledgement of crow intelligence, which may have been apparent even in ancient times, and to some might imply that the higher intelligence of crows, when compared to other birds, is striking enough that it was known even then.
In occult circles, distinctions are sometimes made between crows and ravens. In mythology and folklore as a whole, crows tend to be symbolic more of the spiritual aspect of death, or the transition of the spirit into the afterlife, whereas ravens tend more often to be associated with the negative (physical) aspect of death. However, few if any individual mythologies or folklores make such a distinction, and there are ample exceptions. Another reason for this distinction is that while crows are typically highly social animals, ravens don't seem to congregate in large numbers anywhere but a) near carrion where they meet seemingly by chance, or b) at cemeteries, where large numbers sometimes live together, even though carrion there is no more available (and probably less attainable) than any road or field.
Amongst Neopagans, crows are often thought to be highly psychic and are associated with the element of ether or spirit, rather than the element of air as with most other birds. This may in part be due to the long-standing occult tradition of associating the color black with "the abyss" of infinite knowledge (see akasha), or perhaps also to the more modern occult belief that wearing the "color" black aids in psychic ability, as it absorbs more electromagnetic energy, since surfaces appear black by absorbing all frequencies in the visible spectrum, reflecting no color.
Compendium of Materia Medica states that crows are kind birds that feed their old and weakened parents; this is often cited as a fine example of filial piety.
(taken from wikipedia)
Crows, and especially ravens, often feature in European legends or mythology as portents or harbingers of doom or death, because of their dark plumage, unnerving calls, and tendency to eat carrion. They are commonly thought to circle above scenes of death such as battles. The Child ballad The Three Ravens depicts three ravens discussing whether they can eat a dead knight, but finds that his hawk, his hound, and his true love prevent them; in the parody version The Twa Corbies, these guards have already forgotten the dead man, and the ravens can eat their fill. Their depiction of evil has also led to some exaggeration of their appetite. In modern films such as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Omen II and Exorcist: The Beginning, crows are shown tearing out people's eyes while they are still alive. This, of course, does not happen as crows can distinguish between carrion and living people.
In Native American folklore, Crow is often seen as a similar trickster to Coyote. However, Crow's tricks tend to be more out of malice and they rarely (if ever) are portrayed as a hero. One possible explanation for this is that crows are often considered a pest to crops, which the tribes who came up with the stories featuring Crow needed to survive.
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Chaldean myth, the character Utnapishtim releases a dove and a raven to find land, similar to what Noah does in the book of Genesis. However, in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the dove merely circles and returns. Only then does Utnapishtim send forth the raven, who does not return. Utnapishtim extrapolates from this that the raven has found land, which is why it hasn't returned. This would seem to indicate some acknowledgement of crow intelligence, which may have been apparent even in ancient times, and to some might imply that the higher intelligence of crows, when compared to other birds, is striking enough that it was known even then.
In occult circles, distinctions are sometimes made between crows and ravens. In mythology and folklore as a whole, crows tend to be symbolic more of the spiritual aspect of death, or the transition of the spirit into the afterlife, whereas ravens tend more often to be associated with the negative (physical) aspect of death. However, few if any individual mythologies or folklores make such a distinction, and there are ample exceptions. Another reason for this distinction is that while crows are typically highly social animals, ravens don't seem to congregate in large numbers anywhere but a) near carrion where they meet seemingly by chance, or b) at cemeteries, where large numbers sometimes live together, even though carrion there is no more available (and probably less attainable) than any road or field.
Amongst Neopagans, crows are often thought to be highly psychic and are associated with the element of ether or spirit, rather than the element of air as with most other birds. This may in part be due to the long-standing occult tradition of associating the color black with "the abyss" of infinite knowledge (see akasha), or perhaps also to the more modern occult belief that wearing the "color" black aids in psychic ability, as it absorbs more electromagnetic energy, since surfaces appear black by absorbing all frequencies in the visible spectrum, reflecting no color.
Compendium of Materia Medica states that crows are kind birds that feed their old and weakened parents; this is often cited as a fine example of filial piety.
(taken from wikipedia)
GoddessArtemis
Sushi said:
I saw two crows today on the way to work. I'm expecting plenty of mirth and good luck today, that's all I know!
GA
