The Raven

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TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://all.at/arcane"><U><B><U>ARCANE Images</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <B><U><IMG SRC="51d69660.gif" border=0 width="105" height="102" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="2bc20583.jpg"> <div> <B>Tannim's Religion</B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFF00" FACE="Copperplate Gothic Bold" >    </FONT></div> <div> <IMG SRC="03ef4010.gif" border=0 width="500" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> The Raven</div> <div> <IMG SRC="109761e0.gif" border=0 width="374" height="30" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="135968b0.gif" border=0 width="150" height="139" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div>   <A HREF="http://rs0.net/roving/StandAlone/fp.jsp?plat=i&p=f&m=4gyvknl7&ea=#CustEMail">Send Page To a Friend</A>   </div> <div> <IMG SRC="13419200.gif" border=0 width="537" height="32" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <IMG SRC="13ac8740.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="116" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="04519200.gif" border=0 width="537" height="32" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>The raven is one of those birds that have a tremendous amount of lore and mythology surrounding it, and it is often contradictory. It is a bird of birth and death, and it is a bird of mysticism and magic.</B></div> <div> <B>In the near east, the raven was considered unclean, because it is a scavenger. It is one of the foods as listed forbidden in the bible. The raven is one of the birds that Noah sent out after the floods, but it did not return to the ark. </B></div> <div> <B>(It knew that Noah was full of shit!)</B></div> <div> <B>The raven has a long history of being an omen. During the middle ages the croak of the raven was believed to foretell a death or the outcome of a battle. It was even taught to the common folk in Christian communities that wicked priests became ravens when they died. Even today, some old timers tell how you can expect hot weather when a raven is seen facing a clouded sun.</B></div> <div> <B>In Scandinavian lore, the raven played a significant role. The Norse God Odin had a pair of ravens who were his messengers. Named Hugin (Thought), and Munin (memory). Odin was known to shape shift as a raven himself. This reflects the idea of raven as being a messenger of the great spiritual realm.</B></div> <div> <B>The raven is a member of the corvids family, to which belong crows and magpies and other such birds. In truth, the only really significant difference between ravens and crows is in the size of the raven compared to the crow, the raven being much larger. It would be beneficial to study the aspects of the crow for anyone with raven as a totem. The raven is in many ways comparable to the coyote of the Plains Indians, the Bushmen tales of the mantis and other societies in which an animal plays both a significant and yet concealing role. The coyote was trickster and wise being, fool and wise one. This was true of the mantis in the tales of the Kalahari Bushmen.</B></div> <div> <B>In the Pacific Northwest, the raven brought forth life and order. Raven stole the sunlight from one who would keep the world in darkness. Nothing could exist without raven. Raven is honored in art and on totem poles, reflecting the tales and mysticism that have developed around it.</B></div> <div> <B>With raven, human and animal spirits intermingle and become as one. This is reflected in its deep, rich, shiny black. In blackness, everything mingles until drawn forth, out into the light. Because of this, raven can help you shape shift your life or your being. Raven has the knowledge of how to become other animals and how to speak their languages.</B></div> <div> <B>Ravens are great at vocalizations, and they can be taught to speak. They incorporate and mimic the calls of other species. In the Northwest are tales of the Kwakiutl Indians who offered the afterbirth of male newborns to raven so that when they grew up, they would be able to understand their cries. Raven can teach you to understand the language of other animals.</B></div> <div> <B>Ravens are playful, and they are excellent tool users. They will use stones and anything that is available to help them crack nuts and such. They are birds not intimidated by others, and they are very fast and wary. Because of this, they are not easy prey for other animals or birds. This implies the ability to teach you how to stir the magic's of life without fear or worry. There are also known for their amorous behavior, reflecting the strong creative life force to which they have access.</B></div> <div> <B>This creative life force can be used to work the magic of spiritual laws upon the physical plane. It can be used to go into the void and stir the energies that manifest to help you with what you most need. All this and more is what raven teaches. If raven has come into your life, expect magic. Somewhere in your life, magic is at play. Raven activates the energy of magic, linking it with your will and intention.</B></div> <div> <B>Raven speaks of the opportunity to become the magician and/or enchantress in your life. Each of us has a magician or enchantress within, and it is raven that will bring it forth from the darkness and into the light. Raven speaks of messages from the spirit realm that can shape shift your life dramatically. Raven teaches you to take that which is unformed and give it the form you desire.</B></div> <div> <B>The Solstice and winter season is the time of greatest power for those with raven as a totem. The Solstice is the shortest day of the year. The sun shines the least on this day, thus it is the darkest. From that day forth, the light shines a little more each day. This is symbolic of the influence of raven. It teaches how to go into the dark and bring forth the light. With each trip in, we develop the ability to bring more light out. This is creation.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="16419200.gif" border=0 width="537" height="32" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Folklore</B></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="547" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 1234 WIDTH="543"><div> <B>In folklore it is a bad omen if you hear a</B></div> <div> <B>raven croak from the left, especially early in the morning. </B></div> <div> <B>Ravens could also bring luck:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Make Prayers to the Raven.</B></div> <div> <B>Raven that is,</B></div> <div> <B>Raven that was,</B></div> <div> <B>Raven that always will be.</B></div> <div> <B>Make prayers to the Raven.</B></div> <div> <B>Raven, bring us luck.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>From the Koyukon</B><B> </B></div> <div> <B>**************************</B></div> <div> <B>Hunting</B></div> <div> <B>If you killed magpies, crows or ravens you would get into trouble. All corvids had somewhat to do with the devil. If you shot one of these birds, there were always consequences. The hunter's cattle would die, he would become wounded or ill,</B></div> <div> <B>and his gun would be corrupted.</B></div> <div> <B>**************************</B></div> <div> <B>The raven's feather</B></div> <div> <B>(The Sami people, Scandinavia)</B></div> <div> <B>The raven has a [feather called] lævedolge by means of which it finds meat and knows where the wolf goes at night. The raven sleeps at night, indeed; but when he gets up early in the morning he knows where the wolf has been in the night; and then they go there all of them [i. e. the whole flock of ravens], that feather leads them thither [i. e. to the carcass]. - And that feather is under the wing, and he who gets it can find anything he wishes. He finds reindeer [who have gotten away from the herd] or reindeer-carcasses [the Lapps keep track of the carcasses in order to know what reindeer have been killed] or wolf's cubs [in order to kill them]. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>But it [i e. the feather] is not easy to find. There certainly is an account [of how to get possession of the feather]: he who can get a raven half-dead must catch it; and if there happens to be [in the neighborhood] water that flows slowly, such as is called a tranquil stream, then you must pluck the feathers [of the raven which is still alive] therein, and see if there is a feather that goes against the stream; then you must take it and place it under the arm, in the hairs there, and bind firmly around, so that it can stay there for three days and nights. Then it is not dangerous any more [i. e. it will not be able to get away]. Then it must be placed in the other armpit and be kept there for three days and nights. And then it is placed in the lowermost hairs and kept there two days and nights - and one day and night in the hairs of the head. And then you must let it go in strong wind and say: "Come and be my guide when I need it!" And then that person finds anything. - But if the raven reaches death [before you have got it plucked and have thrown the feathers into the stream], then the feather flies away, and then you will not get it.</B></div> <div> <B>From </B><B>Lappish Texts</B><B> by Johan Turi and Per Turi (Copenhagen 1920) </B></div> <div> <B>**************************</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="13c64710.gif" border=0 width="100" height="113" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Legend</B></div> <div> <B>There are nights when the moon shines so brightly</B></div> <div> <B>and everything is ever so quiet.</B></div> <div> <B>Then Odin rides through the forest.</B></div> <div> <B>These are the raven nights. </B></div> <div> <B>When all the ravens are white and can speak, </B></div> <div> <B>and everyone can understand them</B></div> <div> <B>From Sweden</B></div> <div> <B>**************************</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The ravens at the Tower of London is surrounded by old superstition.</B></div> <div> <B>If the ravens would leave the Tower the crown will fall and the British</B></div> <div> <B>empire with it. To prevent this catastrophy the raven´s wings are clipped.</B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>The Raven in myths</B></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="547" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 16 ><NOBR><div> Ravens appear in myths all over the world. Often they are advisers or tricksters.</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="547" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 65 WIDTH="543"><div> <B>Norse mythology:</B></div> <div> In Norse mythology the ravens Hugin and Munin are scouts for the most high god Odin. They fly all over the world and ask questions to both the living and the dead and return with news for Odin. </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="547" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 99 WIDTH="543"><bR> <div> <IMG SRC="13e64500.gif" border=0 width="100" height="80" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="547" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 722 WIDTH="543"><bR> <div> <B>Wodan's best-known beasts are the raven and the wolf, best known in Northern literature as those who feed on "Yggr's barley" - the bodies of the battle-slain. His two ravens, Huginn ('Thoughtful' or 'Bold') and Muninn ('Mindful' or 'Desirous'), fly forth every day to bring him news of all the worlds. The ravens' names are often incorrectly translated as 'Thought' and 'Memory', but they are in fact adjectival formations. Our forebears thought that to see ravens flying before one was a sign of Wodan's great favour, especially before a battle or after a holy rite. When Hákon jarl of Hlaðir, who had been forcibly baptized, had escaped and won his way back home, 'he made a great blessing. Then there came flying two ravens and croaked loudly. Then the jarl thought he knew that Óðinn had accepted the blessing and the jarl should have victory in battle' (Heimskringla I, Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar ch. 27). The raven is also tied to Wodan through its relationship to the gallows, so that: "There is...no certain way of determining whether the raven first became associated with Óðinn as gallows-bird or battle-bird; the Germanic sacrificial practice of hanging prisoners after a battle might indeed make a distinction between the two sources of the raven's diet meaningless" (Grundy, "The Raven in the Cult of Óðinn" - unpublished dissertation chapter).             </B><B>From </B><A HREF="http://w3.one.net/~dls/kspirits/ot/OT.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://w3.one.net/~dls/kspirits/ot/OT.ht"><U><B>Our Troth</B></U></A><B> </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>From the Edda:</B></div> <div> <B>Two ravens sit on his shoulders and speak in his ears all the tidings they see or hear. They are named Hugin and Munin. He sends them out at dawn to fly over all the world and at breakfast they come back, and thereby he comes to understand many tidings. Therefore men call him the Raven-god, as it says here: </B></div> <div> <B>The whole earth over,</B></div> <div> <B>every day,</B></div> <div> <B>hover Hugin and Munin;</B></div> <div> <B>I dread lest Hugin</B></div> <div> <B>droop in his flight,</B></div> <div> <B>yet I fear me </B></div> <div> <B>still more for Munin. </B></div> <div> <B>Huginn og Muninn</B></div> <div> <B>fljúga hverjan dag</B></div> <div> <B>Jörmungrund yfir;</B></div> <div> <B>óumk eg um Hugin</B></div> <div> <B>að hann aftur né komi,</B></div> <div> <B>þó sjáumk meir um Munin.</B></div> <div> <B>Grimnismál</B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>From a bronze plate, found in Vendel, Uppland,</B></div> <div> <B>Sweden 7th century. Odin and Hugin and Munin. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="140c81a0.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="282" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Mythology told by the people of the West Coast of North America:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Koryak People Kamchatka Peninsula</B></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="547" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 497 WIDTH="543"><div> <B>Quikinna'qu (The Great Raven)</B></div> <div> <B>A creator Spirit who brought the world into being. He is at one and the same time a Deity and the First Human and original Shaman. </B></div> <div> <B>In the beginning of times, in The Great Raven's time, transformation of animals and dead things to people was a common phenomenon. At this time mankind could also transform himself. When one put on a fell or the exterior shape of an object, that one became the actual animal or the object. The Great Raven and Eme'mqut were transformed to ravens after they had put on raven shapes. Kilu', The Great Raven's niece, put on herself a bear fell and became a bear. Eme'mqut laid a dog skin on his sister, and immediately she became a dog. </B></div> <div> <B>Once a long time ago, the Korjak legends tell, The Great Raven had caught a whale and could not manage to get the whale back to the sea where it belonged. He was incapable of lifting the straw bag with food up to the whale. The Great Raven asked Existence for help and the divinity then said to him: "Go to a plain at the sea. There you will find white stalks with spotted hats. They are wa'paq-spirits. Eat a little of them, it will help". The Great Raven went to the sea. Then The Highest Being spat on earth and out of the spit came the fly agaric. The Great Raven found the mushroom, ate it and at once he felt easy at mind. He began to dance. The fly agaric said to him: "Why is it that you who are so strong cannot lift the bag?" "That is correct", said The Great Raven, "I am a strong man. I'll go and lift the bag." He went, lifted the bag at once and sent the whale home .Then the fly agaric showed him how the whale swam at sea and returned to its friends. Then The Great Raven said: "Let The fly agaric stay on the earth and let my children get to see what it wants to show them." </B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="14219200.gif" border=0 width="537" height="32" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="11" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 14 WIDTH="7"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="7" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>