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Crows

Elizabeth's comment to my previous post makes me feel like I should write a little more about what that crow meant to me. I want to write my thoughts about it before I read Leon's book, just to put out my own thoughts on the matter before involving another's thoughts.

I knew that crow would follow me within the first few seconds after I heard and saw it. I knew that it wouldn't follow me past the freeway underpass. And I knew that it was important for me to listen to it, even though I didn't understand why, or what it was trying to communicate.

In Norse myth, Odin the All-Father is accompanied by two crows who travel the world, reporting back to him. They are one source of his fabled knowledge and wisdom. When I stood in the alley/pedestrian walkway between Oak Grove Ave. and Claremont, listening to the loud crow, I wasn't at all surprised when the second crow landed on the tree across from the first. It was almost as if the first noisy and insistent crow should naturally be accompanied by a silent, observant partner. I even wondered if my subconscious would be able to decode the crow's speech, if I would understand it better in my dreams.

Crows seem to exist in and outside of our reality for me. Kind of like cats. Their utter blackness absorbs light, except for their sparkling eyes, and they project a kind of awareness or understanding. Maybe I'm the one who is doing the projecting, I don't really know. But especially in the often intense California light, they seem like voids, tears in what we understand as real, self-contained vacuums, singularities. Like cats, they are within and without at the same time.

I don't have a conclusion for this post, except to say that it is almost two in the morning, and I am writing on the computer instead of asleep in my bed. I think I am afraid that when I wake up tomorrow I will not be who I am right now. On the other hand, maybe that is exactly what I need...

Tune in next time, for "The Dream That Changed Andy's Life"! Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Andy - I'm going to email you a copy of a writing exercise that Julie gave me - called "waking dream" - it's a tool that one can use to decipher the meaning of an experience...It might be fun to do..I love reading about your crow experience--Mom
11:09 AM
Anonymous said…
Also, May 5, yesterday, was the 20th anniversary of your Grandfather Karlson's death..he would have loved to learn some of what you are learning in seminary. But the thea/ology of Spiderman, not so much. Love you, Mom
11:11 AM
Rev. Anne said…
If I know when you are sleeping, and I know when you're awake, and I know when you've been bad or good, does that make me Santa Claus?
12:40 AM
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