Whether it is winged deities like the Hindu apsaras; airborne Christian mystics; Islamic Sufis; or the Greek Goddess Athena with her Little Owl, there is a consistent association between birds and a sense of fierce and powerful womanhood and femininity across cultures and geographies. In what small ways can we reclaim our power, rebel like these bird heroines, and embody the energy and spirit of wild birds?
Read MoreThe Linnunraata: Our Kinship with Swans
The Linnunraata, a Finnish folktale, describes the Milky Way as the migratory path of white swans, also known as “Soul Carriers” who bring a human soul to the body at the moment of birth, and carry the soul away at the moment of death towards Lintukoto, the home of the birds. A beautiful story that folds us back into the feathered wings of a universe that mothers us.
Read MoreCrow Challenges Hobomock: A Nipmuc Folktale of Self Transformation
“Crow Challenges Hobomock” is an ancient Nipmuc folktale retold by Larry Spotted Crow Mann in his book Drumming and Dreaming (2016). I love this tale for its timeless wisdom: that real change has nothing to do with outward appearance, but happens from within.
Read MoreThe Animal Groom & The Great Horned Owl
In this Passamaquoddy folktale, a Great Horned Owl falls in love with a woman who is very afraid of him. However, over time she begins to open up to this wild soul mate. This folktale teaches us that if we develop a relationship with our Shadow rather than rejecting it, we can live more authentic lives.
Read MoreCrow & Crone: Twin Archetypes
Crows and Crones appear frequently together in myths and folktales around the world. In recent history they been negatively associated with evil and darkness, however, looking more closely at the roles they played in ancient folktales and myths, we discover that they are imbued with divinity, prophetic power and omniscience during times of great change.
Read MoreAthena the Goddess of Wisdom
The "Owl of Athena" or the "Owl of Minerva"—has often been used as a symbol of wisdom throughout the Western world. According to myth, Athena saved a princess and transformed her into an owl who would sit on Athena’s shoulder, and from then on, together, they could see the whole Truth. . . .suggesting that wisdom requires more than just one perspective, multiple orientations, two different vantage points, and a collaboration and deep relationship between human and more-than-human worlds.
Read MoreThe Morrigan: Holding the Tension of Opposites
The Morrígan is an Irish Celtic goddess of war and peace, destruction and fertility: a captivating symbol of contradiction, filled with magic and prophecy inviting us to similarly hold the tension of opposites. The folktale asks us: can we allow space for brokenness and beauty to sometimes intertwine?
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