Bird Magic: Wisdom of the Ancient Goddess for Pagans & Wiccans - Sandra Kynes 2016

Birds in Spiritual Practices and Symbolism
The Practices

In addition to representing or lending their power to a plethora of gods and goddesses, birds were integral to certain practices, such as shamanism and divination, especially as guides and messengers. Their ability to fly linked them with supernatural forces that humans wanted to harness and master. In addition, birds continued to serve as powerful symbols.

Shamanism

Throughout the world, birds figured largely in shamanism as a symbol of magical flight. They also served as guides and guardians to help navigate between the worlds. In some traditions, shamans were believed to shape-shift into birds. Widely used as clothing and tools, feathers provided the shaman with the transformative power needed to enter the spirit world. Even a single feather was believed to hold significant power. As a substitute, coats with feather-like fringes were occasionally worn.

In addition to feathers, wings and beaks were incorporated into ritual garb in the belief that these items could transmit the bird’s power to a human. Eating a bird was regarded as another way in which the power of a bird could be acquired. Bones also held magical power. In many cultures it was believed that bones contained some of the animal’s (in this case a bird’s) life-force energy. It was also believed that from the bones, the spirit of the creature could be rejuvenated. Bones were carved and worn as amulets, incorporated into ritual clothing, or used as prophecy devices. In addition, bird bones were often carved and fashioned into flutes, which have been found at a number of ancient sites.

In Irish lore, the druid Mag Ruith was referred to as a bird-man, dressing in bird costume like a shaman. Druids and priestesses were said to have worn robes of feathers for magical power and for aid in contacting other realms. In addition to being goose-footed, Norse goddess Freya possessed a feathered cloak that enabled the wearer to fly.

Bird garb and tools provided one way to summon the power of a bird. Dancing or imitating a bird’s movements was also used to summon and merge with its energy. Imitating a bird was a method for drawing out and assuming particular qualities. In addition, bird postures were used for sympathetic magic. According to Celtic myth, a crane posture was used for general spellwork as well as for a form of retributive magic known as crane wounding.

Augury and Bird Divination

While many animals were linked with divination practices, birds were very closely associated with it. Augury encompassed several methods including observing birds in flight, listening for their songs or other noises, and the study of entrails. The word augury comes from either the Old French augurie or the Latin augurium, both meaning “the interpretation of omens.” According to Don Stap, professor, author, and a leading expert on birdsong, the word augury was also interpreted as meaning “bird talk.” ¹²

Watching birds for prophecy was practiced by the Hittites who lived in the Anatolian region of present-day Turkey from approximately 1700 to 1200 BCE.¹³ Clay tablets written by Hittite officials mention their observation of eagles and falcons. Closely linked with birds, the Sumerian goddess Nanse was associated with divination and dream interpretation.

The Etruscans of northern Italy became famous practitioners of augury. Their augurs were regarded as intermediaries who received divine messages through birds. Most often, Etruscan augurs observed crows, ravens, eagles, owls, and woodpeckers. In Rome, an augur was an official who interpreted general nature signs, which included the behavior of birds. Omens gleaned from birds were called “Etruscan teachings.” ¹⁴ According to myth, the location for the city of Rome was determined by observing the flight of birds.

Ravens and doves were highly regarded for their oracular powers. According to one Greek myth, a black dove that flew from Thebes in Egypt landed in one of the oak trees at Dodona. It was said to have the power of human speech, and the prophetesses at Dodona came to be called peleiades, “doves.” ¹⁵ This important oracle site was later dedicated to Zeus. The Greeks also built towers from which they could observe and listen to birds because the animals were believed to bring messages directly from the gods.

Bird divination continued through the centuries, especially for predicting the weather. The direction of a birdcall, its location, or certain behaviors in flight held specific meanings. In southern Germany, the breastbone of a goose eaten for the feast of St. Martin’s day (November 11) was used to tell the weather of the approaching winter. More familiar is the breaking of the Thanksgiving turkey wishbone, which is a holdover from bird divination practices.

Symbolism

Although we may not be aware of them, symbols are an integral part of daily life in the form of road signs, laundering instructions, and other types of notation. While these symbols communicate information, they do not hold significant meaning. However, in art, myth, and religion, symbols convey nonverbal clues that reach into our psyches. These symbols work because without explanation they hold the essence of a concept. Throughout time, people have used a wide range of symbols to explain the world and connect with deity as well as to express abstract ideas.

The earliest use of symbols dates to the Paleolithic. These were found in Lascaux Cave in France, Altamira Cave in Spain, and numerous other sites. Because symbols evolve over time or lose their significance, the ones that are most powerful are often the oldest. Since most symbols are multilayered, operating on the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual levels, they awaken a response from our inner worlds.

It has been argued that the symbols portrayed by Gimbutas were nothing more than “designs” because it was believed that people of the Paleolithic and Neolithic were not capable of abstract thought. However, Alexander Marshack, American scholar and Paleolithic anthropologist, noted that “as far back as 30,000 BCE the ice-age hunter of western Europe was using a system of notation that was already evolved, complex, and sophisticated.” ¹⁶

Symbols from the ancient Goddess-worshipping cultures of Old Europe were rarely used on their own. Multiple symbols graced pottery, figurines, and a plethora of other objects. Many symbols relating to the different aspects of the Goddess overlap, showing that life, death, and spirit were interwoven parts of the whole.

The power of the Goddess could be felt in a bird or a plant as well as in her symbols. Some of the symbols that we will explore were used for many thousands of years. We will see how we can use these symbols and birds to draw the Goddess into our rituals, magic, and everyday lives. When we incorporate these symbols into our practices, they become sacred to us and connect us with those amazing people from so very long ago.

The Epiphany of the Bird Goddess

Often used as a secular word, epiphany means “sudden inspiration.” When used in a religious sense, it is usually associated with Christianity, meaning “the presence of God or the Holy Spirit,” which is most often represented as a dove. However, the word epiphany actually has Pagan origins drawn from the Greek word epiphaneia, meaning “appearance” or “manifestation.” ¹⁷ In the Greco-Roman world it signified a deity visiting devotees in a sacred place as well as revealing him/herself in order to aid humans.

According to Jungian analyst Anne Baring, the bird was “the supreme image of epiphany” in a number of ancient cultures.¹⁸ Wings raised out to the sides became the gesture of epiphany and signified the manifestation of deity. Over time as depictions of the Bird Goddess evolved to more woman than bird, raised arms replaced wings in the gesture. The Minoans of Crete and Mycenaeans of Greece often depicted the Goddess with arms raised in epiphany.

In this gesture, the arms are out to the sides at about shoulder height, elbows bent, and hands raised with palms facing forward. It was used to indicate the presence of the Goddess. The epiphany gesture has roots in the Paleolithic and extends through the Neolithic into historical times. It is seen in a terra-cotta figurine from 5200 BCE Romania, in the depiction of a Sumerian goddess from 1800 BCE, and in portrayals of the Greek goddess Hera in 700 BCE.¹⁹

The ancient Egyptians perceived a person’s soul as a bird called the ba. However, another component of the soul was called the ka. This represented a person’s greater soul that merged with the ba after death. The hieroglyph for the ka was the gesture of raised arms. Associated with the Bird Goddess, the graceful Nile goddess figurine exhibits the gesture of epiphany with raised arms/wings.

Although the Mycenaeans depicted the Great Goddess in the epiphany gesture, an eighth-century Greek figurine from Olympia shows a male believed to be Zeus using the gesture.²⁰ This gesture also appears throughout the ancient sculptures of India. And speaking of India, anyone who does yoga will recognize the epiphany gesture as the arm position for the posture called the Goddess.

Over the millennia, the epiphany gesture came to represent expressive prayer and was adopted into Christian art and practice. In addition, a variation on this gesture is used by some modern Pagans as the Goddess-invoking posture in ritual.

Today’s World

We have seen how birds have been integral to spiritual belief and expression since very ancient times. This leaves us with the question of how they fit into our twenty-first-century lives. Exploring how birds have touched humans spiritually gives us a perspective on the pervasive power that these creatures possess.

Once you begin to connect with birds on a spiritual level, you may begin to feel an energy shift when working with certain ones. Is this the presence of the Goddess? Only your intuition and heart-of-hearts can answer that. Whether or not you experience this, birds can open a whole new world for you in nature and within yourself. The following chapters will help you discover what happens when you listen as the Bird Goddess speaks.

12. Don Stap, Birdsong (New York: Scribner, 2005), 139.

13. Jackson J. Spielvogel, Western Civilization, Sixth Edition (Independence, KY: Cengage Learning, 2005), 28.

14. Daniel C. Snell, Religions of the Ancient Near East (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 144.

15. Marguerite Rigoglioso, The Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 139.

16. Alexander Marshack, The Roots of Civilization: The Cognitive Beginnings of Man’s First Art, Symbol and Notation (Wakefield, RI: Moyer Bell, 1991), 57.

17. A. G. Martimort, I. H. Dalmais, and P. Jounel, eds., The Liturgy and Time: The Church at Prayer: An Introduction to the Liturgy Vol. IV (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1986), 80.

18. Baring and Cashford, The Myth of the Goddess, 124.

19. Gimbutas, The Living Goddess, 45.

20. A. M. Snodgrass, Dark Age of Greece (Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 2000), 418.