Hello and welcome to Creative / Seminary,
Our first topic is crows. A whole murder of them.
Before we begin, gather your initial feelings towards crows. Good, bad, neutral? Briefly scan your brain for a baseline of crow-knowledge. You might jot down a few initial thoughts on crows in your notebook or computer document before we start. It can be fun to look back and see what you learned or how your feelings changed toward a topic once more information was gathered.
Image from Ellie Burgin on Pexels
Let’s get started:
Did you know that crows mate for life? In some places where bird real estate is tight, crow adolescents even live with their parents for several years. There’s a documented instance where a male crow left to shack up with his crow-wife, but the mating didn’t go well, so the “divorced” crow returned to live in the safety of his parents’ nest.
There’s some evidence that crows can make art! This is debated, but I like to believe it’s true. Regardless, they certainly do find beautiful treasures to bring as gifts to those who befriend them—there are many stories of crow gifts left for kindly humans.
Many ornithologists confirm that crows experience emotions like playfulness, anger, and pain. They know this by scanning their brain activity and “comparing” it to human responses to similar emotions.
Aesop wrote several fables about crows—both crows behaving vainly and crows behaving wisely. This site is interactive too. I’ll be honest, I’m always weirded out by Aesop’s clear, decisive morals (maybe it’s because I’m a rebel, baby), but perhaps you aren’t as touchy as I am. Have a go at them and get back to me.
Writer’s note: In All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr introduces a character, a young boy named Frederick, who is interested in all-things ornithology. Doerr uses an Audubon book as a repeated prop / theme in Frederick’s sections. Characters with individual and particular interests help to create facets and depth in minor characters that don’t always have a lot of “page time.”
And finally, here’s a fascinating piece from Colossal about recent artwork using ornithology to consider race issues in the US by artist Kerry James Marshall. Take some time to read and examine the artwork before moving on.
Writing assignment due by next week:
1. Spend fifteen minutes or more freewriting about crows, perhaps your memories or experiences with them, or how you interpret the above information about crow behavior—how “advanced” it is—and how humans sometimes tend to “animalize” animals as being far less intelligent or interesting than humans. Or maybe you don’t buy into the crow-worship happening around here. Or, you might go down your own crow “rabbit hole” and see what else you learn that interests you about these fascinating corvids. Write it all down, think about it a little and see where it takes you. Allow yourself to write about the topic without judging your thoughts or writing quality.
Image from Ellie Burgin on Pexels
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I stumbled upon this subject, The Morrígan, after watching a set of three crows out my open window one day while working at my desk.
I’m a naturally superstitious person, so I went ahead and asked Google what sighting three crows meant (to avoid getting struck by lightning or some other disaster). There were a variety of terrifying answers (death, destruction) and others more innocuous (three crows apparently means “health”). But Googling three crows also brought up information about a queen from Irish mythology—The Morrígan.
The Morrígan is the goddess of death (more like death foretold or the prophesy of death) and, in that aspect, she reminds me of The Fates. She’s like The Fates in another way, too, because she is often described as a trinity / threesome / triad made up of three distinct entities, but she’s also a singular entity. This gets complicated (though Christians have a similar, if less physically tangible, concept of the Trinity). Sometimes The Morrígan is three distinct sisters in one form, and other times she is one crow or Badb (sometimes The Morrígan is even described as a raven—the birds are not synonymous—but often interchanged), one sovereignty goddess, and one The Morrígan (death & war goddess).
Some stories refer to her Celtic, some conflate her with Morgana / Morgan le Fay and others note the difference, as Morgana was Celtic / Druid and connected to the legend of King Arthur. Most are careful to denote a clear distinction between the legends and differences that separate Irish and Celtic mythologies. Much of her mythology highlights her “hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-woman-scorned” nature in a story that shows how she was slighted by a demigod, Cú Chulainn, who was then (obviously) fated to a horrible death in one of her prophesies.
The Morrígan is a cool myth—no other way to put it. As a matter of fact, the Marvel Universe even offered her a gig. When I first read started reading about her, I wished I had known these stories earlier in life. There’s something powerful and intriguing about her mythos. And now when I see crows, I think of her (instead of feeling randomly suspicious).
Creative assignment options:
Attempt to just go with these assignments and not become embarrassed or overthink too much. You could also space out and save portions of this writing or reading work for later in the week, too, if you want to get to all of it but need space and time in between:
1. Choose a goddess, god or myth you’ve always wanted to know more about. Perhaps your family hales from a place with its own mythology that you’ve been meaning to explore, or perhaps you’ve been curious about the stories of Odysseus or Vishnu or Jörð. Spend some time researching and writing. What are you interested in learning more about? Is there a book or site you might want to spend time with in the coming week(s)? As you read, note the interesting facts you learn in your journal.
2. Therionthropy: Skaði, my favorite Norse goddess, shapeshifts into a wolf, and The Morrígan into a crow (and sometimes a banshee). Imagine yourself as a mythological being who can transform into an animal (just go with it, let yourself be creative)—what animal would it be? Why? What skills would this animal afford you? The Morrígan becomes a crow, and with greater perspective, can keep an eye on the battles below her. Obviously, werewolf tales abound, spanning centuries. Fables, myths, and legends are great jumping off points for your own stories, so feel free to fictionalize this from the get-go if you don’t want to focus on yourself. Margaret Atwood often refers to religious texts, fairy tales and fables as inspiration for her novels.
3. Imagine you befriend a crow that brings you gifts—but the catch is, they are the dark and bizarre gifts—like the bones of your lost grandparents, memories you’ve long repressed or … what? What is something you might “want” but can’t (naturally or realistically) have (or conversely, don’t really want) that a mystical crow might bring you? How would you respond (emotionally and physically) to these gifts? This could be done in either journal form, flash fiction (a short-short story, 500 words or less) or a poem.
Further resources to tinker with:
Music:
Mewithoutyou’s Crow song
Even Glenn Danzig sent a shout out to The Morrígan in this instrumental song
Art:
Picasso’s “Woman with a Crow”
Van Gogh’s “Wheatfield with Crows”
Listen to this Pied Crow call a few times. How does it make you feel? Does it make you feel suddenly superstitious about crows again? Or is that just me?
Spend some time with your own research on the topic, with the assignments, and with the art and music inspired by crows. Please feel free to share your work, questions or any further crow-y resources in the comments. And if I’m ever wrong about anything, I won’t be surprised! I’m not an expert on these topics, just an interested human. So please feel free to argue, correct or amplify any ideas from today. And if you haven’t yet, see if you can find time to refer back to “Before We Begin Part 1” and “Part 2.” We’ll revisit the questions from those posts in the future.
I would appreciate your help spreading the word about Creative / Seminary to anyone you think will enjoy this work. I plan to devote a lot of time to this project, but with so many other priorities in life—I require reader support! Thanks for stopping by this week.
See you next Sunday,
Misha
I'm interested in learning more about Tristan and Isolde and the mythology of romantic love. I'm intrigued by the arrival of modern thought, and the origin of marriage based on love. I have been reading The Masks of God by Joseph Campbell and I've arrived at that part of mythological history in the last of the four, Creative Mythology.