Facts about Ravens




The Voice of the Raven

I am the Voice of the Raven Upon Wind.
My harsh cries echo long upon the Earth and Air:
Nothing is Forever, Not Life,
not Love,
not Death,
nor Loss.
Only change is eternal,
and only destruction
can the seed of creation form.

My wings bear me between
Darkness and Light,
Land and Sky,
the Garden and
the Wildwood.

I perch upon the Threshold
of the Worlds,
both flesh and spirit,
gifting the Brave Seeker
with Visions and Magick of the Otherworld.

To face me
is to face your greatest terror,
the Shadow of yourself,
the unknown and dangerous.
In chancing destruction,
your fear loses it's power to destroy.
For only in acceptance
of Mortality will you learn the ...
Secrets of Immortality as I,
the Raven,
possess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
author unknown


The following is from th Llwellyn 1998 Almanac. This is meant for educational purposes and no copyright is intentionaly violated.




Ravens belong to the family of birds called corvidae. These black birds can't sing worth a lick, though their raucous language is quite communicative and extensive. Live food doesn't interest ravens; they prefer dead things, like roadkill and other birds' eggs. In fact ravens hold funerals for their dead. One bird will guard the body and rattle a death song, letting the other ravens know what has occured. They will form circle around the corpse, and dance round and round, croaking softly from deep within their throats. For this reason, the ancient Celts and other tribal people associated the raven with death Goddesses. Considering the habits of this bird, it is easy to derive other attributes as well.



These are just a few mythical facts about ravens. I have a raven as a familiar both on the Earth and Astral planes. When I venture out by myself into the woods I can hear my raven caw when someone is approaching or she will land on a nearby tree when she wants me to find something or see something of importance and beauty. Sometime when I eat outside, a raven will come land by me and I will share my meal with it as a token of my gratefulness for it's help.

On the astral plane and during meditation, I know when it is time to come back when my friend caws at me. Or if I feel afraid when traveling or meditating, she lands on my shoulder and touches her beak to my ear or neck.

Ravens and their smaller cousins, crows, are among the smartest birds. Not only can they untie knots, they can also unzip zippers and unfasten velcro. Ravens have a highly sophisticated language with hundreds of distinct sounds. They are highly social birds, who mate for life and play complex games with each other.

Ravens are the largest perching birds. They can have up to a four- foot (1.2 meter) wingspan, and they are powerful fliers with tremendous endurance. They live all around the northern hemisphere, from tropical jungles to the snowy wastes of the high Arctic. Their high intelligence and endurance give them the ability to adapt to many conditions and eat a wide variety of foods.

For years ravens were thought of as pests in the United States. They were seen as thieves of eggs and small barnyard animals, and shot on sight. Their numbers declined steadily until recently, but now they are recovering across the western and northern states, learning to coexist with the humans who were once their main enemy.

Well, this is a short thing about one of my familiars and friends. I hope you enjoyed.

Do you think crows and ravens are the same thing? Read my Crows and Ravens Page to find out the difference!