Bird Brains

"I pray to the birds.  I pray to the birds because I believe they will carry the messages of my heart upward.  I pray to them because I believe in their existence, the way their songs begin and end each day - the invocations and benedictions of Earth.  I pray to the birds 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." 
                                                - Terry Tempest Williams


Did you know:


Coins in Greece had engraved owls to keep a watchful eye on commerce.

The sun is borne aloft by eagles every morning.

In Norse mythology the god Odin has Raven companions. He sends them out every morning to travel and gather news of the world.  They returned to his shoulder at dusk.


In Native American myths, the sky spirit, who created the world, has a grandson, the thunderbird. The water spirit tried to rid the world of people by flooding all the land. Then the people traveled to the highest hill and prayed.  

Thunderbird came to fight the water spirit sending a great bolt of lightning that split open the earth and drained the water spirit saving humankind.

Crows and their raven cousins have held a spot in mythology as symbols of occult knowledge and power.  Associated with the otherworld, war and death,  these corvids have accompanied figures such as Apollo and the Celtic Goddess Morrigan.

Listen for birdsong.

Follow flying friends in your yard.

Notice bird brains today.