Norse Druid Mythology Skadi and the Magpies Clan Art

Birds have been creatures of the mythic imagination since the very earliest times. Various birds, from eagles to starlings, serve as messengers to the gods in stories the world over, carrying blessings to humankind and prayers up to the heavens. They lead shamans into the Spirit World and expressionless souls to the Realm Beyond; they follow heroes on quests, uncover secrets, give alarm and shrewd council.

The movements, cries and migratory patterns of birds have been studied as oracles. In Celtic lands, ravens were domesticated equally divinatory birds, although eagles, geese and the humble wren also had their prophetic powers. In Norse myth, the two ravens of Odin flew throughout the earth each dawn, then perched on the raven-god's shoulder to whisper news into his ears. A pigeon with the power of human spoken language saturday in the branches of the sacred oak grove at Zeus'due south oracle at Dodona; a woodpecker was the oracular bird in groves sacred to Mars.

Co-ordinate to diverse Siberian tribes, the hawkeye was the very first shaman, sent to humankind past the gods to heal sickness and suffering. Frustrated that human beings could non understand its speech or ways, the bird mated with a human woman, and she presently gave birth to a child from whom all shamans are at present descended. In a mystic cloak of bird feathers, the shaman chants, drums and prays him- or herself into a trance. The soul takes flying, soaring into the spirit earth beyond our everyday perception. (Smashing intendance must exist taken in this practice, lest the wing-borne soul forgets its way back home.)

Likewise, the shamans of Finland call upon their eagle ancestors to lead them into the spirit realms and bring them safely back again. Shamans, like eagles, are blessed (or cursed) with the ability to cross between the human world and the realm of the gods, the lands of the living and the lands of the dead. Despite the healing powers this gives them (the "medicine" of their bird ancestry), men and women in shamanic roles were oft seen as frightening figures, half-mad by any ordinary measure, poised betwixt co-existent worlds, fully present in none. The Buriats of Siberia traced their lineage back to an eagle and a swan, honoring the ancestral swan-mother with migration ceremonies each autumn and spring. To impairment a swan, or even mishandle swan feathers, could cause illness or death; likewise, to impairment a woman could bring the wrath of the swans upon men.

A swan-maiden was the mother of Cuchulain, hero of Republic of ireland'south Ulster bike, and thus the warrior had a geas (taboo) against killing these sacred birds.  In "The Children of Lir," one of the 3 Great Sorrows of Irish mythology, the four children of the lord of the sea are transformed into wild swans by the magic of a jealous footstep-mother. Neither Lir himself nor all the keen magicians of the Tuatha De Danann can mitigate the power of the curse, and the four are condemned to spend three hundred years on Lake Derryvaragh, three hundred years on the Mull of Cantyre, and a final iii hundred years off the stormy coast of Mayo. During this time, the Children of Lir retain the apply of man speech, and the swans are famed throughout the land for the beauty of their vocal. The curse is ended when a princess of the Southward is wed to Lairgren, male monarch of Connacht in the N. The swan-shapes fall away at last, just now they resume their human shapes as four withered and ancient souls. They before long die, and are buried together in a unmarried grave by the edge of the sea. For many centuries, Irishmen would non harm a swan considering of this pitiful story -- and state folk yet say that a dying swan sings a song of eerie dazzler, recalling the music of the Children of Lir...and echoing the ancient Greek conventionalities that a swan sings sweetly once in a lifetime (ie: a "swan song"), in the moments before it dies. (More than swan tales can be found hither and hither.)

The Tuatha De Danaan, the fairy race of old Ireland, were known to appear in the shape of white birds, their necks adorned with aureate and silver chains; alternately, they also took human shape, wearing magical cloaks of feathers. The Celtic islands of immortality had orchards thick with birds and bees, where beautiful fairy women lived in houses thatched with brilliant bird feathers.

Crows and ravens are also birds omnipresent in myth and folklore. The crow, commonly portrayed as a trickster or thief, was considered an ominous portent -- and yet crows were also sacred to Apollo in Graeco-Roman myth; to Varuna, guardian of the sacred society in Vedic myth; and to Amaterasu Omikami, the lord's day-goddess of quondam Nippon. The ancestral spirits of the Maratha in India resided in crows; in Egypt a pair of crows symbolized conjugal felicity. In the Aboriginal lore of Commonwealth of australia and the myths of many North American tribes, Raven appears every bit a dual-natured Trickster and Creator God, credited with bringing fire, light, sexuality, vocal, dance, and life itself to humankind.

In Celtic lore, the raven belonged to Morrigan, the Irish war goddess -- as well as to Bran the Blessed in the slap-up Welsh epic, The Mabinogion. Tradition has it that Bran's severed head is buried under the Tower of London. A ceremonial Raven Chief still keeps watch over the birds of the Tower; an old custom says that if Bran's birds e'er leave the Belfry, the kingdom will autumn.

The owl is a bird credited with more malevolence than any other, even though its reputation for wisdom goes back to our primeval myths. In Greece, the owl (sacred to both Athena and Demeter) was revered equally a prescient animate being -- yet also feared, for its phone call or sudden appearance could foretell a death. Lilith, Adam's wife earlier Eve (banished for her lack of submissiveness) was associated with owls and depicted with wings or taloned feet.

In the Middle East, evil spirits took the shape of owls to steal children away -- while in Siberia, tamed owls were kept in the firm as protectors of children. In Africa, sorcerers in the shape of owls acquired mischief in the night.

To the Ainu of Japan, the owl was an unlucky creature -- except for the Hawkeye Owl, revered as a mediator between humans and the gods. In North America, the symbolism of the owl varied amongst indigenous tribes. The Pueblo peoples considered them baleful; the Navajo believed them to be the restless, unsafe ghosts of the expressionless. The Pawnee and Menominee, on the other hand, related to them as protective spirits, and Tohono O'Odham medicine singers used their feathers in healing ceremonies. When nosotros plough to Celtic traditions we find that the owl, though sacred, is an ill omen, prophesying death, illness or the loss of a woman's honor. In the Fourth Branch of The Mabinogion, the magician Gwydion takes revenge upon Blodeuwedd (the girl he made out of flowers, who married and then betrayed his son) past turning her into an owl and setting her loose into the world. (I highly recommend 2 novels inspired by this fascinating myth:Owl Service by Alan Garner and The Island of the Mighty past Evangeline Walton.)

The crane is another bird associated with expiry in the British Isles. It was i of the shapes assumed by the Male monarch of Annwn, the Celtic underworld. To the druids, cranes were portents of treachery, war, evil deeds and evil women...nevertheless the bird enjoyed a better reputation in other lands. Information technology was sacred to Apollo -- a messenger and a honored herald of the spring. The pure white cranes in Chinese lore inhabited the Isles of the Blest, representing immortality, prosperity, and happiness. In Japan, the crane was associated with Jorojin, a god of longevity and luck. In the folktales of Russia, Sicily, India and other cultures the crane was the "animal guide" who led the hero on his adventures; and tales about cranes who ally homo men can be found throughout the far East.

In Celtic lore, the magpie was a bird associated with fairy revels; with the spread of Christianity, however, this changed to a connection with witches and devils. In Scandinavia, magpies were said to exist sorcerers flight to unholy gatherings, and yet the nesting magpie was once considered a sign of luck in those countries. In old Norse myth, Skadi (the girl of a giant) was priestess of the magpie clan; the black and white markings of the bird represented sexual union, likewise as male and female energies kept in perfect remainder. In China the magpie was the Bird of Joy, and two magpies symbolized marital bliss; in Rome, magpies were sacred to Bacchus and a symbol of sensual pleasure. In England, the sighting of magpies is still considered an omen in this common folk rhyme: "One for sorrow, two for joy; three for a daughter, and four for a boy. Five for silverish, six for gold, and vii for a secret that's never been told."

The wren is another "fairy bird": a portent of fairy encounters, and sometimes a fairy in disguise. The wren was sacred to Celtic druids, and to the Welsh poet-magician Taliesin, thus it was unlucky to kill the wren at any time of year except during the ceremonial "Hunting of the Wren," around the winter solstice. In this curious custom (all the same skillful in some rural areas of the British Isles and France), "Wren Boys" dress in rag-tag costumes, bang on pots, pans and drums, and walk in procession backside a wren killed and mounted upon a pole busy with oak leaves and mistletoe. In some areas, Wren Boys also appear on Michaelmas, 12th Night, or St. Stephen's Day conveying a live wren from cottage to cottage (in a small "Wren House" decorated with ribbons), collecting tributes of coins and mugs of beer wherever they stop. The wren is known as the male monarch of the birds, an honorific explained in the following story: All the birds held a parliament and decided that whoever could fly the highest and fastest would be crowned rex. The eagle easily outdistanced the others, but the clever wren hid under his wing until the eagle faltered -- and then the wren jumped out and flew higher.

The dove is a bird associated with the Mother Goddesses of many traditions -- symbolizing light, healing powers, and the transition from one state of existence to the next. The dove was sacred to Astarte, Ishtar, Freyja, Brighid, and Aphrodite. The bird likewise represented the external soul, separate from the life of the body -- and thus magicians hid their souls or hearts in the shape of doves. Doves give guidance in fairy tales, where (in contrast with their usual gentle image) they show a marked penchant for bloody retribution. White doves light upon the tree Cinderella has planted upon her mother's grave, transforming rags to riches so she tin can go to the prince'due south ball. These are the birds who warn the prince of "blood in the shoe!" when the stepsisters endeavor to fit into the delicate slipper by hacking off their heels and toes. The birds eventually blind the treacherous sisters, pecking out their eyes. Murdered children in several fairy tales reappear as snow-white doves, hovering around the family habitation until vengeance is finally served. As well, the white dove in the Scots Border ballad "The Famous Flower of Serving Men" is also a human soul in limbo: a knight cruelly murdered by his mother-in-police force. He flies through the forest shedding blood-scarlet tears and telling his story. The woman is eventually burned. (See Delia Sherman'due south Through a Brazen Mirror and Ellen Kushner's Thomas the Rhymer for literary adaptations of this tale.)

The mysterious vocal of the nightingale has besides inspired several classic tales; most famously: "The Nightingale" by Denmark's Hans Christian Andersen and the tragic story of "The Nightingale and the Rose" by England'due south Oscar Wilde. (I recommend Kara Dalkey's lyrical novel The Nightingale, based on the old.)

Geese were holy, protected birds in many aboriginal societies. In Egypt, the great Nile Goose created the earth by laying the cosmic egg from which the sun was hatched. The goose was sacred to Isis, Osiris, Horus, Hera, and Aphrodite. In Bharat, the goose -- a solar symbol -- drew the chariot of Vishnu; the wild goose, a vehicle of Brahma, represented the creative principal, learning and eloquence. In Tibet, gooseheaded women can be plant among the dakini,  which are volatile female spirits that aid or hinder one's spiritual journey. In Siberia, the goddess Toman shook feathers from her sleeve each jump. They turned into geese, carefully tended and observed by Siberian shamans. Freyja, the goddess of northern Europe who travels the country in a chariot drawn by cats, is sometimes pictured with only one human foot and one human foot of a goose or swan -- an image with shamanic significance in various traditions. Berchta, the fierce High german goddess (or witch) associated with the Wild Hunt, is besides pictured with a single goose foot as she rides upon the backs of storms. Caesar tells u.s.a. that geese were sacred in United kingdom, and thus taboo as food -- a custom still existent in certain Gaelic areas today. Goose-girls, talking geese, and the goose who lays golden eggs are all standard ingredients in the folk tales ("Mother Goose" tales) of Europe. The phrase "silly equally a goose" is recent; Ovid called them "wiser than the canis familiaris."

The stork is some other Goddess bird -- sacred to Hera and nursing mothers, which may be why information technology appears in folklore carrying newborn babies to earth. The pelican is symbolic of women's faith, sacrifice, and maternal devotion -- due to the belief that it feeds its young on the blood of its own chest. Kites and gulls are the souls of dead fisherman returned to haunt the shores -- a tradition limited to the men of the body of water, non their daughters or wives. "The women don't come up dorsum no more," explained one former English language fisherman to folklorist Edward Armstrong. "They've seen problem plenty." The lark, the linnet, the robin, the loon...they, likewise, have engendered tales of their own, winging their way between heaven and earth in sacred stories, folktales, fairy tales, sometime rhymes and folkways from effectually the earth.

The following prayer comes from the Highlands of Scotland, recorded (in Gaelic) more than than 1 hundred years ago:

Power of raven be yours,
Power of hawkeye be yours,
Power of the Fiann.
Ability of storm be yours,
Power of moon be yours,
Ability of sun.
Power of sea exist yours,
Power of country exist yours,
Ability of heaven.
Goodness of ocean be yours,
Goodness of earth be yours,
Goodness of sky.
Each mean solar day exist joyous to you,
No twenty-four hour period be grievous to you lot,
Honor and compassion.
Dearest of each face be yours,
Decease on pillow be yours,
And God be with you.

"I pray to the birds," says Terry Tempest Williams (in her gorgeous book Refuge) "because they remind me of what I love rather than what I fear. And at the end of my prayers, they teach me how to listen."

The art above is identified in the picture captions (run your cursor over the images to meet them). All rights reserved by the artists and photographers, who are: Ione Rucquoi,  Arthur Rackham (1867-1939),  Gregory Colbert, Susan Seddon Boulet (1941-1997), John Duncan (1866-1945), Milo Winter (1888-1956); Carson Ellis, Lisbeth Zwerger, Audrey Niffenegger, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Brian Froud, Rima Staines, Steven Kenny,  Fred Hall, Henry Ryland (1856-1924), Heidi Holder, Sulamith Wulfing (1901-1989), H.J. Ford (1860-1941), Rie Cramer (1887-1997), Danielle Barlow, Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935), Józef Marian Chełmoński (1849-1914), Gretchen Jacobsen, Lisbeth Zwerger, and Fidelma Massey.

For more bird lore, I recommend: Secret Language of Birds by Adele Nozedar, The Language of the Birds edited by David M. Guss, The Healing Wisdom of Birds by Lesley Morrison, The Sociology of Birds by Edward A. Armstrong, and Birds in Fable, Fable and Folklore by Eastward. Ingersoll.

The folklore of birds

Birds have been creatures of the mythic imagination since the very primeval times. Diverse birds, from eagles to starlings, serve as messengers to the gods in stories the world over, carrying blessings to humankind and prayers up to the heavens. They lead shamans into the Spirit World and dead souls to the Realm Beyond; they follow heroes on quests, uncover secrets, requite alert and shrewd quango.

The movements, cries and migratory patterns of birds take been studied as oracles. In Celtic lands, ravens were domesticated as divinatory birds, although eagles, geese and the humble wren also had their prophetic powers. In Norse myth, the 2 ravens of Odin flew throughout the earth each dawn, then perched on the raven-god's shoulder to whisper news into his ears. A dove with the power of man speech sat in the branches of the sacred oak grove at Zeus's oracle at Dodona; a woodpecker was the oracular bird in groves sacred to Mars.

According to diverse Siberian tribes, the eagle was the very first shaman, sent to humankind past the gods to heal sickness and suffering. Frustrated that human beings could not understand its spoken communication or ways, the bird mated with a human woman, and she before long gave birth to a child from whom all shamans are now descended. In a mystic cloak of bird feathers, the shaman chants, drums and prays him- or herself into a trance. The soul takes flight, soaring into the spirit world beyond our everyday perception. (Bang-up care must be taken in this exercise, lest the fly-borne soul forgets its way back home.)

Besides, the shamans of Finland call upon their eagle ancestors to atomic number 82 them into the spirit realms and bring them safely dorsum over again. Shamans, like eagles, are blest (or cursed) with the ability to cantankerous between the human world and the realm of the gods, the lands of the living and the lands of the dead. Despite the healing powers this gives them (the "medicine" of their bird ancestry), men and women in shamanic roles were often seen every bit frightening figures, one-half-mad by any ordinary mensurate, poised between co-existent worlds, fully present in none. The Buriats of Siberia traced their lineage back to an eagle and a swan, honoring the ancestral swan-mother with migration ceremonies each autumn and spring. To harm a swan, or fifty-fifty mishandle swan feathers, could cause disease or death; too, to harm a woman could bring the wrath of the swans upon men.

A swan-maiden was the mother of Cuchulain, hero of Ireland'due south Ulster cycle, and thus the warrior had a geas (taboo) against killing these sacred birds.  In "The Children of Lir," 1 of the Three Great Sorrows of Irish gaelic mythology, the four children of the lord of the sea are transformed into wild swans by the magic of a jealous stride-female parent. Neither Lir himself nor all the great magicians of the Tuatha De Danann tin can mitigate the ability of the curse, and the four are condemned to spend three hundred years on Lake Derryvaragh, three hundred years on the Mull of Cantyre, and a final iii hundred years off the stormy coast of Mayo. During this time, the Children of Lir retain the use of human speech communication, and the swans are famed throughout the country for the dazzler of their vocal. The curse is concluded when a princess of the South is wednesday to Lairgren, rex of Connacht in the Due north. The swan-shapes fall away at concluding, simply now they resume their human being shapes as four withered and ancient souls. They soon die, and are buried together in a single grave by the border of the sea. For many centuries, Irishmen would not impairment a swan considering of this sad story -- and country folk still say that a dying swan sings a song of eerie beauty, recalling the music of the Children of Lir...and echoing the ancient Greek belief that a swan sings sweetly once in a lifetime (ie: a "swan song"), in the moments before it dies. (More than swan tales tin be found here and here.)

The Tuatha De Danaan, the fairy race of old Ireland, were known to announced in the shape of white birds, their necks adorned with golden and silver chains; alternately, they also took man shape, wearing magical cloaks of feathers. The Celtic islands of immortality had orchards thick with birds and bees, where cute fairy women lived in houses thatched with bright bird feathers.

Crows and ravens are also birds omnipresent in myth and folklore. The crow, commonly portrayed as a trickster or thief, was considered an ominous portent -- and yet crows were too sacred to Apollo in Graeco-Roman myth; to Varuna, guardian of the sacred social club in Vedic myth; and to Amaterasu Omikami, the sunday-goddess of old Nihon. The bequeathed spirits of the Maratha in India resided in crows; in Arab republic of egypt a pair of crows symbolized conjugal felicity. In the Ancient lore of Australia and the myths of many North American tribes, Raven appears as a dual-natured Trickster and Creator God, credited with bringing fire, light, sexuality, song, trip the light fantastic, and life itself to humankind.

In Celtic lore, the raven belonged to Morrigan, the Irish war goddess -- as well as to Bran the Blest in the great Welsh epic, The Mabinogion. Tradition has it that Bran's severed head is buried nether the Belfry of London. A formalism Raven Master still keeps watch over the birds of the Belfry; an former custom says that if Bran's birds ever exit the Tower, the kingdom volition fall.

The owl is a bird credited with more malevolence than any other, even though its reputation for wisdom goes back to our earliest myths. In Hellenic republic, the owl (sacred to both Athena and Demeter) was revered as a prescient creature -- even so likewise feared, for its call or sudden appearance could foretell a expiry. Lilith, Adam's wife before Eve (banished for her lack of submissiveness) was associated with owls and depicted with wings or taloned feet.

In the Middle East, evil spirits took the shape of owls to steal children abroad -- while in Siberia, tamed owls were kept in the business firm as protectors of children. In Africa, sorcerers in the shape of owls acquired mischief in the nighttime.

To the Ainu of Japan, the owl was an unlucky creature -- except for the Eagle Owl, revered as a mediator between humans and the gods. In Due north America, the symbolism of the owl varied among indigenous tribes. The Pueblo peoples considered them baleful; the Navajo believed them to be the restless, dangerous ghosts of the dead. The Pawnee and Menominee, on the other hand, related to them equally protective spirits, and Tohono O'Odham medicine singers used their feathers in healing ceremonies. When nosotros turn to Celtic traditions we find that the owl, though sacred, is an ill omen, prophesying death, illness or the loss of a adult female's honour. In the Fourth Branch of The Mabinogion, the magician Gwydion takes revenge upon Blodeuwedd (the daughter he made out of flowers, who married and so betrayed his son) by turning her into an owl and setting her loose into the world. (I highly recommend ii novels inspired past this fascinating myth:Owl Service by Alan Garner and The Island of the Mighty by Evangeline Walton.)

The crane is another bird associated with death in the British Isles. It was ane of the shapes causeless by the King of Annwn, the Celtic underworld. To the druids, cranes were portents of treachery, war, evil deeds and evil women...yet the bird enjoyed a better reputation in other lands. Information technology was sacred to Apollo -- a messenger and a honored herald of the spring. The pure white cranes in Chinese lore inhabited the Isles of the Blest, representing immortality, prosperity, and happiness. In Japan, the crane was associated with Jorojin, a god of longevity and luck. In the folktales of Russia, Sicily, Republic of india and other cultures the crane was the "animal guide" who led the hero on his adventures; and tales most cranes who marry homo men tin be found throughout the far Eastward.

In Celtic lore, the magpie was a bird associated with fairy revels; with the spread of Christianity, still, this changed to a connection with witches and devils. In Scandinavia, magpies were said to be sorcerers flying to unholy gatherings, and yet the nesting magpie was one time considered a sign of luck in those countries. In onetime Norse myth, Skadi (the daughter of a giant) was priestess of the magpie clan; the black and white markings of the bird represented sexual union, equally well equally male and female energies kept in perfect balance. In Communist china the magpie was the Bird of Joy, and two magpies symbolized marital bliss; in Rome, magpies were sacred to Bacchus and a symbol of sensual pleasance. In England, the sighting of magpies is all the same considered an omen in this common folk rhyme: "One for sorrow, two for joy; three for a girl, and four for a boy. Five for silver, half dozen for gold, and vii for a secret that'southward never been told."

The wren is another "fairy bird": a portent of fairy encounters, and sometimes a fairy in disguise. The wren was sacred to Celtic druids, and to the Welsh poet-wizard Taliesin, thus information technology was unlucky to kill the wren at any fourth dimension of year except during the formalism "Hunting of the Wren," effectually the winter solstice. In this curious custom (notwithstanding practiced in some rural areas of the British Isles and France), "Wren Boys" dress in rag-tag costumes, bang on pots, pans and drums, and walk in procession backside a wren killed and mounted upon a pole decorated with oak leaves and mistletoe. In some areas, Wren Boys as well announced on Michaelmas, 12th Nighttime, or St. Stephen's Twenty-four hours carrying a live wren from cottage to cottage (in a small "Wren Business firm" decorated with ribbons), collecting tributes of coins and mugs of beer wherever they terminate. The wren is known as the king of the birds, an honorific explained in the following story: All the birds held a parliament and decided that whoever could fly the highest and fastest would be crowned male monarch. The eagle easily outdistanced the others, merely the clever wren hid under his wing until the hawkeye faltered -- and then the wren jumped out and flew higher.

The dove is a bird associated with the Mother Goddesses of many traditions -- symbolizing calorie-free, healing powers, and the transition from 1 state of existence to the next. The dove was sacred to Astarte, Ishtar, Freyja, Brighid, and Aphrodite. The bird also represented the external soul, separate from the life of the body -- and thus magicians hid their souls or hearts in the shape of doves. Doves give guidance in fairy tales, where (in contrast with their usual gentle epitome) they show a marked penchant for bloody retribution. White doves light upon the tree Cinderella has planted upon her female parent's grave, transforming rags to riches then she can go to the prince's ball. These are the birds who warn the prince of "claret in the shoe!" when the stepsisters try to fit into the delicate slipper past hacking off their heels and toes. The birds eventually blind the treacherous sisters, pecking out their optics. Murdered children in several fairy tales reappear as snow-white doves, hovering effectually the family unit home until vengeance is finally served. Also, the white dove in the Scots Border ballad "The Famous Flower of Serving Men" is too a human soul in limbo: a knight cruelly murdered by his female parent-in-law. He flies through the forest shedding ruddy tears and telling his story. The woman is somewhen burned. (See Delia Sherman's Through a Brazen Mirror and Ellen Kushner'south Thomas the Rhymer for literary adaptations of this tale.)

The mysterious song of the nightingale has also inspired several classic tales; most famously: "The Nightingale" by Kingdom of denmark'southward Hans Christian Andersen and the tragic story of "The Nightingale and the Rose" by England's Oscar Wilde. (I recommend Kara Dalkey'south lyrical novel The Nightingale, based on the quondam.)

Geese were holy, protected birds in many ancient societies. In Arab republic of egypt, the great Nile Goose created the earth by laying the catholic egg from which the sun was hatched. The goose was sacred to Isis, Osiris, Horus, Hera, and Aphrodite. In Republic of india, the goose -- a solar symbol -- drew the chariot of Vishnu; the wild goose, a vehicle of Brahma, represented the creative principal, learning and eloquence. In Tibet, gooseheaded women can exist found among the dakini,  which are volatile female spirits that aid or hinder i'due south spiritual journeying. In Siberia, the goddess Toman shook feathers from her sleeve each leap. They turned into geese, carefully tended and observed by Siberian shamans. Freyja, the goddess of northern Europe who travels the country in a chariot fatigued by cats, is sometimes pictured with only one man foot and ane foot of a goose or swan -- an paradigm with shamanic significance in diverse traditions. Berchta, the fierce German language goddess (or witch) associated with the Wild Chase, is also pictured with a unmarried goose human foot as she rides upon the backs of storms. Caesar tells united states of america that geese were sacred in Britain, and thus taboo as food -- a custom still real in certain Gaelic areas today. Goose-girls, talking geese, and the goose who lays gold eggs are all standard ingredients in the folk tales ("Mother Goose" tales) of Europe. The phrase "silly every bit a goose" is recent; Ovid called them "wiser than the dog."

The stork is another Goddess bird -- sacred to Hera and nursing mothers, which may be why it appears in folklore conveying newborn babies to world. The pelican is symbolic of women's organized religion, sacrifice, and maternal devotion -- due to the belief that it feeds its young on the blood of its own chest. Kites and gulls are the souls of expressionless fisherman returned to haunt the shores -- a tradition limited to the men of the sea, not their daughters or wives. "The women don't come back no more," explained ane onetime English language fisherman to folklorist Edward Armstrong. "They've seen trouble enough." The lark, the linnet, the robin, the loon...they, too, have engendered tales of their own, winging their way between heaven and world in sacred stories, folktales, fairy tales, sometime rhymes and folkways from effectually the globe.

The post-obit prayer comes from the Highlands of Scotland, recorded (in Gaelic) more than one hundred years ago:

Power of raven exist yours,
Power of eagle be yours,
Power of the Fiann.
Power of storm be yours,
Power of moon exist yours,
Power of lord's day.
Power of bounding main be yours,
Ability of land be yours,
Power of sky.
Goodness of sea exist yours,
Goodness of earth be yours,
Goodness of sky.
Each day be joyous to you,
No day be grievous to you,
Accolade and compassion.
Love of each face be yours,
Death on pillow be yours,
And God exist with yous.

"I pray to the birds," says Terry Storm Williams (in her gorgeous book Refuge) "because they remind me of what I dearest rather than what I fear. And at the end of my prayers, they teach me how to listen."

The art higher up is identified in the picture captions (run your cursor over the images to see them). All rights reserved by the artists and photographers, who are: Ione Rucquoi,  Arthur Rackham (1867-1939),  Gregory Colbert, Susan Seddon Boulet (1941-1997), John Duncan (1866-1945), Milo Winter (1888-1956); Carson Ellis, Lisbeth Zwerger, Audrey Niffenegger, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Brian Froud, Rima Staines, Steven Kenny,  Fred Hall, Henry Ryland (1856-1924), Heidi Holder, Sulamith Wulfing (1901-1989), H.J. Ford (1860-1941), Rie Cramer (1887-1997), Danielle Barlow, Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935), Józef Marian Chełmoński (1849-1914), Gretchen Jacobsen, Lisbeth Zwerger, and Fidelma Massey.

For more bird lore, I recommend: Undercover Linguistic communication of Birds by Adele Nozedar, The Linguistic communication of the Birds edited by David K. Guss, The Healing Wisdom of Birds by Lesley Morrison, The Folklore of Birds by Edward A. Armstrong, and Birds in Legend, Legend and Sociology by Due east. Ingersoll.

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Source: https://www.terriwindling.com/blog/2020/05/the-folklore-of-birds.html

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