~ EUTM ~ Forum for Witchcraft & Wiccan Spirituality

[SilverBlaze]

Greetings.

During the past few months, there have been a surprising number of crows that I routinely see. They sit in my tree and strut up and down the road in front of our house, they are on lightpoles outside of shops I visit, and when I go to work, they roost in the tree across from the doors. I can't say it's the same crows, but there's suddenly alot. I was mentioning to my mother the other day after shooing several out of the driveway so I could pull in, and she says she's not seen a crow in almost 15 years. I was a bit dumbfounded, and started mentioning all of them that I see, and she started looking at me like I was crazy. I've mentioned to girls I work with, and they don't seem to notice the Crows either.

Then yesterday I left the store, and this big crow was sitting on top of the truck, watching me very closely. I asked him to move (yes, I ask animals to do things), and he did this awful rasping, croaking kind of laugh, and then flew away.

Any insights on this? I'm not exactly sure what the Crow means (if it's any relation, the Raven is my Native American zodiac animal, and I'm 1/8th Native American.), or what the message might be here? I hesitate to rely too strongly on what I learn online, but what I -have- found says that Crows are messengers and tricksters.

[AutumnMaidens]

Birds were seen as the messengers of the gods, because they can fly through the veil crossing from one world into the next. Crows are sacred to the Norse god Odin.
Because they have been sitting on and around your car maybe they are trying to tell you something about it. I'm not saying they're a foreboding of a carcrash but it would be wise to have your car checked out.

Bless

[Fallen Moon]

I know this topic is over a month old now but I figured I would reply since I saw it and thought might be able to help a little.

If you're interested in learning more as far as what Crow may mean for you there's a good book by Ted Andrews called "Animal-Speak", and I've found it very helpful. One of the things Mr. Andrews recommends is to look into both Raven and Crow because they are similar in some ways and share characteristics. I would say a good idea (if the crows are still hanging around) would be to meditate on Crow to find out if it's indeed just a message being sent, or if perhaps Crow is there to guide you. Every path has it's tricksters, but the thing to remember is that essence of Trickster, no matter the form, is to teach. There is a lesson to be learned and much to be gained in the chaos that can come with having a trickster show up in your life. I have had Coyote show up several times and he has heralded some kind of big change (usually a move) every time, and there's always something major to be gained and/or learned from it. Not to say that he's been the only one to play a part in any of these changes, and I've had my butt saved several times by these upheavals. And in this instance, Crow may not be a trickster; it does depend on which lore you're going by.

Usually a messenger will make it's presence known and show up a lot until you've received the message. For some people it takes a while, but others catch on pretty quickly. Internet sources are a good place to start, but take everything (even in books) with a grain of salt and try to figure out what Crow means to you. Everyone else can tell you that it means this or that, but what it all comes down to in the end is what feels right to you, and that goes for all beliefs.

Hope I'm not too late and that this helped. It can be applied to others that may show up in your life as well. Blessings

[SilverBlaze]

Fallen Moon: I am -so- sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this. The holidays are crazy anyway, and when your work cuts your team from 5 people to 4, it becomes crazy-insane. *sighs* Anyway.

Yup, the crows are still around, and still persistent. Interestingly, they don't interfere with the birds at my feeders, and Lucivar, our cat, has taken to playing with them. It's amusing to watch.

Personally, I've never liked the stories of Crows being tricksters. They just don't sit right with me, and I used to make up my own stories about them when I was little (I did it with just about -any- story I didn't like XD), about how they were gods and such. I've always admired crows, how intelligent and keen they are, but symbolically, I've just written them off as messengers. I guess it's time to look a little deeper, huh? I don't feel any sort of threat or warning from them, just a strong sense of patience, which I can't quite figure out if it's a message of 'be patient', or them -being- patient while I figure this all out.

If you don't mind me asking, can I inquire how 'early' the Coyote has appeared in advance of the changes? I'm merely curious; the crows showed up in early August, my grandmother passed away late September, and Mom keeps fretting that they're sticking around for my grandfather, despite me repeating constantly that I really, REALLY don't think that's the case. They don't feel like they have anything to do with her passing, even as abrupt as it was.

I've got "Animal Speak" in my bookcase somewhere, I can't believe I forgot it. I'll dig it out and read! ^_^ Looks like it's time to start trying to figure out how to connect with them. *sighs* I always have trouble connecting to non-big-predator guides. :/

[Fallen Moon]

Honestly I've never really thought of them as tricksters, more jokers at times, in the sense that they like to cause a little chaos to help people see the world differently and to get them out of whatever rut or box they're in. The patience your sensing is probably Crow waiting for you to piece it together so he/she can get more involved. Our guides can send us messages and hints and try to help us all they want, but in the end we still have to accept them and their help for it to really work. I would definitely look deeper, and certainly try to meditate on it if you can. I can't say if they're there for your grandfather or not, though I rather doubt it. If it feels like they're there for your benefit, then they probably are. Your mother may just be a bit superstitious, since according the mythology they were messengers of Death and escorted the souls of the dead to the other side (among many other tales).

I think Coyote showed up about a month before, maybe less. It's hard for me to remember since it was mostly in my dreams and it was a while ago now. Coyote doesn't show up often for me, usually it's in dreams though once I did see a coyote cross the road in front of my dad and I when we were in the midst of preparing to move to a different state. Usually though there doesn't seem to be much time between the appearance and the event, which I suppose would be part of the idea behind it. Turmoil in your life, everything being turned upside down and changing in a big way, is not something that you really have time to plan for, it just happens and usually you don't know what it's going to be either. You can try and prepare all you want but it's usually going to be something you don't expect, which is the point of the change, to force you out of your comfort zone.

Pull that book back out and read it lol! Not everyone has an easy time connecting to spirits they're not familiar with or that are animals they don't really care for. Just putting out the notion that you're open to communication will help facilitate it. You may find that Crow will start appearing in your dreams to talk with you, which is when the mind is most open. And that will certainly help too. Sometimes that sort of contact will help you to connect on a conscious level later on.

[ItsMichael]

From what I know... according to the Native Americans Crows are a good sign. I have them with me where ever I go. They show up. The ones at my Home I greet them every morning. So it is a good thing. Welcome them. But I know of some other Witch's that are of the Dark Side that would use the blood of a crow to do harm to somone. But that blood will be on them. Do not let it be you.