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Author Topic: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?  (Read 16873 times)

faefawn

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Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« on: August 16, 2011, 10:25:02 am »
Hi everyone,
For the past month or so I've been finding a lot of feathers round and about. Usually I wouldn't think anything of it but this seems to be a lot more than usual and sometimes I will find 3 or 4 all on the same road, usually from a few different birds.

I've noticed that I tend to find them when I've had dealings with money or business, I've recently had to try and sort out benefits and things like that and I've had a lot of trouble with the people involved. I had to learn to start standing up for myself a lot more because of that and once I made that decision and started being more forthright and defending myself I suddenly noticed the feathers starting to appear. They appear especially after dealings with money or business where I've come out victorious or where I've gotten something I was owed and I really get the feeling that there is somebody leaving them as a sign for me, kind of like a 'well done' or to tell me I did the right thing.

I was wondering if any of you know of any God or Goddess who might communicate in that way? I've definitely had feelings of someone being there, but I'm not quite sure who it is. It doesn't especially matter, I'm happy for them to reveal themselves in their own time, but I'm curious if anybody else has experienced this kind of thing before.

faefawn

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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2011, 10:28:04 am »
Quote from: faefawn;13232
--

 
I wanted to add that they don't look like they've come from a wounded animal or anything, they're never in big clumps and never have blood on them. They just look like feathers that are naturally lost.

veggiewolf

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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2011, 02:12:16 pm »
Quote from: faefawn;13232
...


With the idea of going for the mundane explanation first, it is possible that the feathers you're finding are the result of moulting.  

I've noticed that many of the birds that are coming to our birdbath are in moult right now - and we've got at least 8 species that are regulars and another 3 or 4 that visit occasionally.
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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2011, 06:49:04 pm »
Quote from: faefawn;13232
Hi everyone,
For the past month or so I've been finding a lot of feathers round and about. .


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maat
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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2011, 09:49:45 pm »
Quote from: Garm;13349
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maat

 
If there are ostriches shedding feathers in quantity over in the UK I am very impressed!
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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2011, 11:17:18 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;13375
If there are ostriches shedding feathers in quantity over in the UK I am very impressed!


Sometimes a deity has just got to make due with the material at hand

I'm more familiar with the Thelemic derivative of Maat rather than the Egyptian and they don't make as much of a distinction about the feather

It's up to the OP to decide if there is a connection, Maat is just what springs to mind for me
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spoOk

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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2011, 04:15:44 am »
Quote from: Garm;13395
Sometimes a deity has just got to make due with the material at hand

I'm more familiar with the Thelemic derivative of Maat rather than the Egyptian and they don't make as much of a distinction about the feather

It's up to the OP to decide if there is a connection, Maat is just what springs to mind for me


tis the season when the baby birds are being weened to learn to feed themselves and getting their flight feathers,I've been collecting crow feathers for a Halloween costume and finding lots everywhere.
I make my distinction with feathers with meaning to be finding one stuck up right in the grass shortly after some pertinent thought crossed my mind,and it seems like a red flag reply...of sorts.
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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2011, 11:44:05 am »
Quote from: Garm;13395
Sometimes a deity has just got to make due with the material at hand. ..


For me personaly I'd have to disagree with that.  It's been my experience that when a diety wants to get your attention via feathers it's always feathers from birds they are connected to directly or from birds in the same family group.

Then as another poster noted they aren't just laying about but are in such a way that it stands out like a red flag.

But I admit from an animist perspective feathers that attract ones attention but hold no specific meaning to you just might be a guide / totem type message from the winged ones.

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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2011, 03:09:41 pm »
Quote from: faefawn;13232
Hi everyone,
For the past month or so I've been finding a lot of feathers round and about.


I've noticed that I tend to find them when I've had dealings with money or business,




Frigga has a cloak of feathers and is associated with money and business.
The pace of progress in artificial intelligence (I’m not referring to narrow AI) is incredibly fast. [...] The risk of something seriously dangerous happening is in the five year timeframe. 10 years at most.--Elon Musk

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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2011, 03:34:20 pm »
Quote from: veggiewolf;13272
With the idea of going for the mundane explanation first, it is possible that the feathers you're finding are the result of moulting.  

I've noticed that many of the birds that are coming to our birdbath are in moult right now - and we've got at least 8 species that are regulars and another 3 or 4 that visit occasionally.

 
Not to completely sidetrack this thread, but I was wondering if there's any reason why naturally occurring phenomenon can't also be spiritually significant signs/omens/experiences?

I realize that looking for mundane explanations is a good way to avoid going overboard on the "woo" and staying grounded in reality - but I wonder if there aren't also occasions when a regularly occurring natural phenomenon suddenly jumps out at us or takes on increased significance in our spiritual lives.... Can't this be a way in which the gods communicate with us? Not by changing the world in odd or unpredictable ways, but more subtly by bringing something to our attention or changing our focus in a new way?

--Ali

P.S. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about deities related to birds, so sorry I can't be more helpful about the actual topic of this thread! And if my question is too much of a tangent, I could always just make a totally different thread - just let me know.

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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #10 on: August 17, 2011, 03:39:34 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;13557
Not to completely sidetrack this thread, but I was wondering if there's any reason why naturally occurring phenomenon can't also be spiritually significant signs/omens/experiences?

 
There isn't.

At the same time, though, such omens tend to be the sorts of things that do not require explanation.  If the appearance of the dead mouse suddenly provides one with an insight about the nature of mortality that is critical to a grieving process right now, say, one doesn't need to come ask people "What do dead mice mean?"

Lots of feathers at moulting time means moulting time.  One could take it as a commentary on the rite of passage that comes when the adolescent bird takes on adult plumage, say; that would be a decent spiritual insight from the event.  But if one has to ask about that, that's almost certainly not what's happening on the ground, feather-covered or otherwise.  The birds will moult whether or not it is profound to us wacky monkeys.
as the water grinds the stone
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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #11 on: August 17, 2011, 03:51:07 pm »
Quote from: AlisonLeighLilly;13557
Not to completely sidetrack this thread, but I was wondering if there's any reason why naturally occurring phenomenon can't also be spiritually significant signs/omens/experiences?

I realize that looking for mundane explanations is a good way to avoid going overboard on the "woo" and staying grounded in reality - but I wonder if there aren't also occasions when a regularly occurring natural phenomenon suddenly jumps out at us or takes on increased significance in our spiritual lives.... Can't this be a way in which the gods communicate with us? Not by changing the world in odd or unpredictable ways, but more subtly by bringing something to our attention or changing our focus in a new way?

--Ali

P.S. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about deities related to birds, so sorry I can't be more helpful about the actual topic of this thread! And if my question is too much of a tangent, I could always just make a totally different thread - just let me know.



I just said something about this in a similar thread (quoted here to avoid restating it all):

Quote
I'm of the philosophy that the gods and wights (or however you view these things) are of the mundane world. It's the animals' natural behaviors that mimic the essence of the deity, not out-of-ordinary behavior. I don't know what else their supposed to do to be spiritually significant, unless they become Narnia characters and offer you tea on behalf of Aslan.

For example, Odins related to ravens. Odin collects the dead, and ravens eat and remove the dead. It would be perfectly acceptable, IMO, to say that you saw Odin if you came across a raven eating a dead bunny on the road. That's what Odin's essence is and he's a being "of the world". He's associated to the birds mundane and natural behavior, he's not associated to ravens only when they stop behaving as ravens, you know? That makes no sense.

I'm not familiar with Hecate, but if she's associated with the two dogs and you saw two dogs when giving an offering, I wouldn't discount it as just mundane behavior. The dogs don't have to be intellectually aware of the connection, they don't have to spiritually aware of their significance, they just have to be two dogs going about their natural business. What makes it a 'cool encounter' is that you were in the frame of mind to see those natural- and thus 'divine'- dynamics at play and make the connection.

Spiritual doesn't have to equal supernatural, and miracles don't need to be performed to prove divinity. The gods are the intangible that moves the world in it's mundane and normal behavior. They don't need to separate from the world, or from the natural order, to interact with us when they already interact with us through maintaining the mundane everyday.

Essentially, they ARE the mundane.


Anyway, that's how I see it, don't know if it fits into your world perspective.
The pace of progress in artificial intelligence (I’m not referring to narrow AI) is incredibly fast. [...] The risk of something seriously dangerous happening is in the five year timeframe. 10 years at most.--Elon Musk

I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence," [Bill] Gates wrote. "First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern. I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don\'t understand why some people are not concerned."

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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #12 on: August 17, 2011, 04:09:57 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;13559
There isn't.

At the same time, though, such omens tend to be the sorts of things that do not require explanation.  If the appearance of the dead mouse suddenly provides one with an insight about the nature of mortality that is critical to a grieving process right now, say, one doesn't need to come ask people "What do dead mice mean?"

Lots of feathers at moulting time means moulting time.  One could take it as a commentary on the rite of passage that comes when the adolescent bird takes on adult plumage, say; that would be a decent spiritual insight from the event.  But if one has to ask about that, that's almost certainly not what's happening on the ground, feather-covered or otherwise.  The birds will moult whether or not it is profound to us wacky monkeys.

 
I see what you're saying, and I think you're definitely right about personal significance being something that jumps out at you immediately.

I guess my only objection to that is that I do think there are also social or community experiences of meaning, and someone new to Paganism who wants to know "what do [dead mice/feathers/etc.] mean?" might be asking if there's some insight that the community can provide that they don't know about. In other words, they might be saying something like, "Suddenly, this aspect of the world seems moving to me or important to me in a way that it didn't before. What does this community that I'm a part of have to say about why it might be meaningful?" The experience of something being meaningful doesn't always accompany a certainty about what that meaning is, especially when there's an aesthetic or emotional aspect to it. That's when conversation with others who have also found meaning or significance in an event or experience is really helpful.

For instance, your explanation of the naturally occurring phenomenon of birds molting gives a lot more insight and context to the personal experience than just saying, "it's molting, it happens." Talking about deities associated with birds and the lore or myths associated with them could give similar context to the experience - a social or community context that isn't immediately available to someone on a personal level unless they have the education and background to draw on. (In the same way, you might see a painting and be struck by its beauty, but if you want to know why you're struck by its beauty and how you can make practical use of that experience, say by painting something of your own, you might want to do some research into art theory and art history, or ask others who make art what they think of this technique or that composition, as a way to supplement your personal, immediate reaction.)

I guess my only point is that, if someone is intrigued enough by something that they want to ask about it on the forum, it's probably safe to assume that it's going to have some meaning for them, even if they're not sure what that meaning is. Otherwise, they wouldn't be asking about it.

--Ali

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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #13 on: August 17, 2011, 04:15:32 pm »
Quote from: Juniperberry;13560
I just said something about this in a similar thread (quoted here to avoid restating it all):

Quote
I just said something about this in a similar thread (quoted here to avoid restating it all):

I'm of the philosophy that the gods and wights (or however you view these things) are of the mundane world. It's the animals' natural behaviors that mimic the essence of the deity, not out-of-ordinary behavior. I don't know what else their supposed to do to be spiritually significant, unless they become Narnia characters and offer you tea on behalf of Aslan.

For example, Odins related to ravens. Odin collects the dead, and ravens eat and remove the dead. It would be perfectly acceptable, IMO, to say that you saw Odin if you came across a raven eating a dead bunny on the road. That's what Odin's essence is and he's a being "of the world". He's associated to the birds mundane and natural behavior, he's not associated to ravens only when they stop behaving as ravens, you know? That makes no sense.

I'm not familiar with Hecate, but if she's associated with the two dogs and you saw two dogs when giving an offering, I wouldn't discount it as just mundane behavior. The dogs don't have to be intellectually aware of the connection, they don't have to spiritually aware of their significance, they just have to be two dogs going about their natural business. What makes it a 'cool encounter' is that you were in the frame of mind to see those natural- and thus 'divine'- dynamics at play and make the connection.

Spiritual doesn't have to equal supernatural, and miracles don't need to be performed to prove divinity. The gods are the intangible that moves the world in it's mundane and normal behavior. They don't need to separate from the world, or from the natural order, to interact with us when they already interact with us through maintaining the mundane everyday.

Essentially, they ARE the mundane.


Anyway, that's how I see it, don't know if it fits into your world perspective.

 
That makes a lot of sense to me.

What's especially interesting is that we do take that approach - that ordinary is divine - when it comes to some things. Celestial bodies, for instance. The changing phases of the moon is an expression of, for instance, a moon goddess with changing faces. When we notice the phases of the moon, that is itself an experience of that goddess. It doesn't matter that it goes on all the time, it's our attention that makes the difference. If the moon suddenly stopped having phases, we'd probably be more likely to see the change as an aberration or breakdown in the laws of physics! Likewise with deities related to the sun and the seasons.

--Ali

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Re: Gods and Goddesses associated with feathers?
« Reply #14 on: August 17, 2011, 04:52:59 pm »
Quote from: Darkhawk;13559
There isn't.

At the same time, though, such omens tend to be the sorts of things that do not require explanation.  If the appearance of the dead mouse suddenly provides one with an insight about the nature of mortality that is critical to a grieving process right now, say, one doesn't need to come ask people "What do dead mice mean?"

Lots of feathers at moulting time means moulting time.  One could take it as a commentary on the rite of passage that comes when the adolescent bird takes on adult plumage, say; that would be a decent spiritual insight from the event.  But if one has to ask about that, that's almost certainly not what's happening on the ground, feather-covered or otherwise.  The birds will moult whether or not it is profound to us wacky monkeys.

 
Darkhawk, you and Veggiewolf took the words right out of my mouth. Also note that it's not just adolescent birds that molt; adults do too, although the resultant change in appearance (if any) may or may not be as dramatic.

This is definitely the season for it: after nesting but before migration. (The annual southward migration for most songbirds is just getting under way here in NY, for example.)

As for the feather-finding's esoteric significance, I'm with Darkhawk.
The first song sets the wheel in motion / The second is a song of love / The third song tells of Her devotion / The fourth cries joy from the sky above
The fifth song binds our fate to silence / and bids us live each moment well / The sixth unleashes rage and violence / The seventh song has truth to tell
The last song echoes through the ages / to ask its question all night long / And close the circle on these pages / These, the metamythos songs

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