The Raven's Childhood

"What one fears one destroys."

- Chief Dan George

“Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence– whether much that is glorious– whether all that is profound– does not spring from disease of thought– from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.”

                                                                                                                    

-Edgar Allan Poe

Essay over a psychanalisis session, performed when I was 10 years old. By that time, I used to be agressive, enraged, lonesome and thoughtful. In fact, nothing really changed, only my perspective about the world around me, according to my current age and experiences, including memories from the past (check out The Raven's Memories). My mother couldn't understand my tough behavior and the way I stood for my beliefs, even challenging her authority. As it uses to happen with everything people do not understand, she set me up with a Psychologist. I well remember about a single session (I only went on 4 or 5 anyway).

This was what happened:

P: For psychologist

B: For myself 

The psychologist gave me a sheet and pencils, because she was explained that I loved to draw. So I started drawing, and asked to not be bothered. There was silence.

P: Oh! What is this?

B: It's a lion.

P: Why a lion?

B: They were sacred in Egypt.
P: And why does it have 3 tails?

B: Because it's a symbol of power.
P: How so?

B: The 3 is like a balance, with 3 tails it gets stronger.

Then, I started to draw more tails.

P: Why are you giving it more tails?

B: Because 7 is more powerful. It's like eternal. 

P: Who told you that stuff?

B: I just know it.

And my last detail on the lion was a crown (which I knew was a golden crown).

Daniel in the Lion's Den by Peter Paul Rubens

Later on, my mother was told I had great imagination. 

But I always knew it was further than that. And many, many children suffers with the same derogate. They took the childhood "in a stride", they laugh at kids abilities to see beyond, they understimate every word and every artistic expression. By other side, they punish what they consider to be a bad behavior, without even trying to understand the real reasons behind.

It's easier to judge someone as mental ill and throw them to the professionals to take care. I am not putting in evidence the caring parents have upon their children. I believe their intentions are the best, however, there's no way to deny it misses information.

Many kids, specially the newborn of this Era, carry memories of past journeys, ancient knowledges, very high vibes, and it's simply hard to them to adapt to this chaos we are living. 

So comes the diagnosis of Hyperactivity, Asperger,  OCD, and other peculiar problems, which could easily be overcome by letting the kid release his/her most amazing gifts. Also keeping in touch with nature, with animals, trees, stones, and the most important: respecting their timing and vision of the things.

I wish caretakers do not lock their offspring into a cage. I wish someday, all the kids will be heared. So, mankind will understand the true nature of this new generation: Half Angel, Half human.

"It's not good health to adapt into a society which is deeply ill." - Krishnamurti

The Raven's Memories

Courage and tenderness in someone's eyes give you the strenght to move on. One step forward and it changes everything.

Distance only makes the journey more incredible, but I heard that hearts joined together for once, will share a bond for always. So, even when we see each other splited by lands and seas, we can trust our feelings of unity. Maybe this is the sand that moves the gear. Maybe it is the power that turns the wheel of fortune and allows us to gather the memories lost along the way. 

No one can explain the connection. The answer comes from ancient wisdom and beliefs that transcend our vil understanding.

Pagan legends talk about Raven's as messengers of existence.  They are there at birth, they are there at war, they are there at death; they are there to keep memories and be the reasonable guardians of thoughts. 

Odin, father of the Aesir, was constantly represented in companion of his crows Hugin and Munin (Thought and Memory, respectively). As the main God from Nordic mythology, Odin represented weighing and strength, and his words were taken by other gods as absolute. A poem illustrates the importance of Hugin and Munin to comprehension of psychological theory that circles the legends.

"Hugin and Munin fly each day over the spacious earth.

I fear for Hugin, that he come not back,

yet more anxious am I for Munin."

It is obviously an inner reflection about ourselves. Just as Odin, the ancients enjoyed to disguise their messages, so they would be well received as if they came from the gods themselves. And who can say they weren’t sacred anyway? Well, after all, Hugin and Munin represent the past and the present. Memories keep alive everything we were and everyone who crossed our paths, as thoughts heal our wounds and allow us to make a better history.   

But we constantly look after memories. We prefer to go for them, than keep going with our own ideas. Is this so bad? I don’t think so.

Morrigan, the celtic goddess of war and birth, was also represented as or in companion of ravens. Sometimes, she assumed a raven form to send messages to warriors or to sign a new birth. What this suppose to mean?

Raven brings life, and new life is born with ancient spirit. So, the raven carries the memories from another time, but also the possibility of building a whole new story through thoughts.  

Even so, one cannot exist without other. And again, memories will reunite old fellows in order to face ancient challenges by the new point of view created by our present thoughts. Our ability to think is what makes possible the reunion of souls, it’s their reason to be.

Uther Pendragon, in the masterpiece of literature “The Mists of Avalon” (Marion Zimmer Bradley, 1979), tells Igraine about his deep feelings, that can only be explained by rescuing old memories:

"I cannot regret it. They tell us in the temple that true joy is found only in freedom from the Wheel that is death and rebirth, that we must come to despise earthly joy and suffering, and long only for the peace of the presence of the eternal. Yet I love this life on Earth, Morgan*, and I love you with a love that is stronger than death, and if sin is the price of binding us together, life after life across the ages, then I will sin joyfully and without regret, so that it brings me back to you, my beloved!"

So, if death is only a start over, the ones who shared bonds in the beginning will be connected until the very end. And there’s no reason to fight against that beautiful reunion of spirits, even if it means changing our entire plans. Because when the time comes, we will see there’s no greater gift than feeling whole again and be the most important event in someone else's life.

*Morgan was Igraine’s name in another life.