Bird Magic: Wisdom of the Ancient Goddess for Pagans & Wiccans - Sandra Kynes 2016
Summary
The Profiles
As we have seen, the Neolithic people of Old Europe had a rich Goddess-worshipping culture that celebrated and honored the cyclical turning of the wheel of life. The earliest deity was the Bird Goddess, whose veneration lasted almost twenty thousand years. In her aspects as life-giver and sustainer, death-wielder and regeneratrix, and transformer and energy of spirit, she encompasses the greatest mysteries of our world. Throughout all her forms, she is Mother. She gives us life, takes us back at death, and through her spirit our spirits are kept and then rekindled to start a new cycle.
As we explored each aspect of the Goddess, we learned how to incorporate her symbols into our twenty-first-century lives to enrich our spiritual paths. Beyond the suggestions in this book, you may find other ways and places where her symbols will have meaning for you. As we use these symbols, they become sacred again. Reaching back through time we can touch the lives of those who have gone before us so very long ago and keep the ember of their spirits alive. As we do this, we take our places along the strands in the great web of life.
Through the Goddess we have learned how her birds can keep us in touch with the natural world and its seasonal markers. We can enjoy these amazing creatures that live everywhere. Getting to know our local birds helps us stay in tune with the rhythm of the natural world. Birds can enhance our celebrations of sabbats and esbats and help us understand deities who came after the Bird Goddess.
Because everyone’s experience is different, you may find it important to develop your own ways to connect with the energy of particular birds. Your guide bird may even assist you in this. Birds have a great deal to teach and share. Working with them helps awaken our intuition and aids in tapping into the subtle energies around us. Information comes softly like the whispering flutter of wings as the Bird Goddess speaks.