torefestival.blogg.se - Trickster mythology

Depicting a person with a crow’s head, archeologists see this crow-man as an insight into the totemic beliefs of the people and how they perceived the journey of the soul after death. This is evident in a painting in Lascaux cave in France.

Excavation reveals bizarre Celtic burial with hybrid-animal bone arrangementsĪs far back as 15,000 BC, human beings living in what is now Europe perceived some kind of spiritual relationship with crows and ravens.

Ancient Symbolism of the Magical Phoenix.

But this wasn’t always as negative as it might sound, because in ancient cultures the trickster was the survivor, the wriest and wittiest, and the most charming and inventive. Often perceived as the keepers of secrets, these birds frequently played “the trickster” archetype, focusing on satisfying their own greed, regardless of the requirements of the greater community. In creation myths crows and ravens are always magical, semi-divine and able to shape-change into human or animal form, and sometimes into inanimate objects and even pure light. ( CC0 ) Spiritual Links Between Humans and Ravens and Crows In fact, before falling from grace crows and ravens were ancient superstars, key players in creation stories of the universe, carriers of divine light, and the bringers of life force.Ĭrows and ravens have not always been seen in a negative light.

It is the case that when we look beyond the beliefs of these two relatively modern religions into the creation myths and folkloric systems of comparative religions, we find a time when these birds were not thought of as being spiritual and environmental menaces.

Keeping a safe distance from humans is a great example of their wit - and it might be this aloofness that has caused them to penetrate so deeply into social myths, cultural folktales, philosophies, and religions of so many ancient peoples. (See, for example, Job 38:41) However, these negative attributes mask the bird’s cleverness and problem-solving skills. These two major world religions have mostly rebranded the ancient corvids as being dirty, aggressive, noisy, and destructive creatures. Neither does Islam offer these homeless birds a safe perch to land, as it holds them as one of the five animals we are “allowed” to destroy. In the Bible, crows and their close cousins, ravens, were called “unclean” and with this unshakable spiritual grey cloud these bullied birds have subsequently been associated with the occult, witchcraft, and death.