Apollo’s Raven …

Amazing what we will see if we just start looking and asking questions. One thing leads to another, connections are made, knowledge and understanding expand. Maybe the world makes a little more sense, or maybe we just learn to appreciate common motifs interpreted through different perspectives. As I was looking at images of the Greek god Apollo, I noticed this one with a black bird in it and immediately thought of Rainbow Crow who became blackened by soot bringing fire from the Creator to his animal pals slowly freezing to death on earth (see last post). I figured the bird must have some meaning, so I Googled it.

 

Apollo, the sun god–and god of music and reason–had many lovers. One was Coronis, who was pregnant with his child. In one of his many absences, he became fearful that she would take another lover, so he enlisted the help of a white raven to spy on her. The news wasn’t good, and in his anger Apollo turned the white raven black. He also killed Coronis but saved the child and named him Asclepius, then trained him in the healing arts. Asclepius, we may know, grew up to become the “father of modern medicine.”

 

It might be easy to feel sorry for the raven (an example of “shooting” the messenger), but after all it’s a symbol of change, a symbol of the passage from innocence to knowledge–and like Rainbow Crow, the raven is rewarded by becoming sacred to Apollo. In the background, I hear dragonfly whispering to me, warning that I might get burned for curiosity but also reassuring me that the rewards might be great. Maybe it will give birth to a great healing.

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Rainbow Crow …

The story of Rainbow Crow first came to me through Billy Crowbeak (Woodpecker Creations) who made the beautiful flute shown here. It originates from the Lenni Lenape tribe and is retold by S.E. Schlosser. You may want to read it here (Rainbow Crow) before continuing.

 

When I first read the story, I thought immediately of the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus, whose name means “forethought.” He was the Titan who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to primitive man, who in turn used it to prosper and grow. Whereas Prometheus resorted to trickery and deceit, Rainbow Crow exchanged his beautiful song for fire, willingly bestowed by Creator. The other animals (no mention is made of humans) are saved from certain death under a freezing blanket of snow. Both Prometheus and Rainbow Crow sacrifice themselves for the benefit of others, both are “punished” or in some way humbled, and both find release or compensation from their trials.

 

Whatever the true origin of fire—whether from the gods, Creator, or some accident of nature—we might understand it in both literal and metaphorical terms. On the literal level, fire allowed us to warm ourselves and cook our food (helping to kill germs and preserve meat). On a metaphorical level, fire is often associated with thought, with an idea. Today, we think of a light bulb switching on in our heads. We might wonder … before primitive man had the capacity to ideate—to picture the concept of a god or the uses to which fire might be put—what sparked the first imagination, and what price did that person have to pay for introducing potentially terrifying new ideas into the community?

 

Rainbow Crow loses his bright colors, blackened by the soot of a flaming branch, and his beautiful song is reduced by smoke to a harsh, guttural “caw.” Creator, however, ensures that he will be protected and honored for his sacrifice. In my own continuing story, dragonfly instructs me to play the flute just as Rainbow Crow sings, and to wait patiently and humbly for unexpected gifts bestowed by Creation.

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