feathered oracles

in the morning as i ride to school on my bicycle i open myself for the first couple of kilometres to the views, the sounds, the smells, the tastes in the air and the details of the opening beginning morning. it sets a tone for me, this opening. i make myself available to that part of the world. part of this is to let go of my attachment to my family. i find it difficult to say goodbye to them. the other part is to prepare myself to say hello to my students.

one of the little details of some mornings involves crows. there are very often crows on my ride and they vary in number from one to six and sometimes seven or more. i have thought each time, “oh, i wish i could remember that poem that tells the significance of the number of crows you see”.

they aren’t especially attractive birds and the noise they make has an awful feeling about it. that’s something i can’t explain. why one bird should sound different than another is a given, but why some should carry an emotional weight where others don’t is a mystery to me.

and you see, what’s funny about that - or not as your perspective deems fit - is that (as i mentioned earlier), i have had this idea in my mind that the number of crows determines your fate that day. so i dug around on the net and here’s what i came up with.

first of all i discovered that what i’m thinking about actually has a name: “Or*nith"o*man`cy, n. [Gr. ; , , a bird + divination: cf. F. ornithomancie.]
Divination by means of birds, their flight, etc.”

and i found out this about crows;

• “In areas where crows are indigenous, go out and voice a question. A crow's cry coming from the southeast means an enemy is coming; from the south, a visit from a friend is coming; from the southwest, you will unexpectedly receive wealth.
• Crow feathers are good luck charms for traveling.
• Thousands of divination methods are based on crows' flights and numbers in the East.”

i also came across the poem(s) that i was thinking about but which i had forgotten. here are three versions of the poem:

One for sorrow, two for mirth,
Three for a wedding, four for a birth,
Five for silver, six for gold,
Seven for a secret not to be told.
Eight for heaven, nine for hell,
And ten for the devil's own sel'.


One for sorrow,
two for mirth,
three for a wedding,
four for birth,
five for rich,
six for poor,
Seven for a witch,
I can tell you no more.

and this one:

One for sorrow,
two for joy,
three for a girl,
four for a boy,
five for silver,
six for gold,
seven for a secret, never to be told...

so those aren’t so bad but i also found this site which i will share with you here. it gives the most comprehensive and detailed - fanatically detailed - accounting of crow behaviour and crow calls and their meaning that i have been able to find.

http://www.jcrows.com/crolang.html

i’ll leave you to make your own judgements!