Odin with Hugin and Munin, from www.pixeltart.blogspot.com/
A Celtic representation of the raven from http://www.wildravens.net/ 
Image from www.fragmentsfromfloyd.com/
Sat in the yard last night just as night was falling, watching with quiet delight all of the bird life making its way home for the evening. Mynah birds were scared out of the flowering gum by magpies; magpies took flight when the ravens arrived. But the tiniest of tiny birds hopped merrily on from branch to branch, unconcerned by the power plays fluttering around her.
Ravens always catch my eye. I believe they are ravens in this part of the world and not crows but I'm not sure. I have seen a couple of them in gorgeous swooping flight these last few dusks and I just have to stop and stare as they glide overhead, wings extended. Ravens and crows have bad reputations for their tendency to feed on carrion. In mythology, they are contradictory figures, associated with death and battle in Celtic mythology but also with life and creation. They are tricksters but also wise - such as Odin's ravens Hugin and Munin. Light and dark, life and death, both sides of the one coin. Just the sort of totem animal for the Dark Wood.
Looking up into the sky last night, how I wanted to be a raven! Wheeling and swooping, the air fluttering through my wings as I moved freely on, the world my oyster. It made me think of Wendy Rule's song "The Wolf Sky":
We lay within the bird
That lay beneath the Wolf Sky
We lay within its wing and
We felt the bird within us...
