Omens

A bird in the house. Red and white flowers with no other flowers in the arrangement. A red blanket on a white bed.

These were the worst of omens when I was growing up.

Along with new shoes on the table, blood on the doorstep, salt spilled on the table.

But my family wasn't superstitious.

If a bird gets in the house, there's going to be a death.

Red and white, an accident. In the UK hospitals where my great Aunt used to be a nurse, if someone sent a red and white flower arrangement, it was a sign that someone on the ward would die.

New shoes on the table, bad news.

Blood on the doorstep, very bad news.

Salt spilled, the Devil's in the house.

Any of these sound familiar to anyone else? I've seen them in books about the Appalachians and heard them from New Englanders and Southerners. Westerners?

Animism can stand beside any other brand of religion, I think. Even Monotheists want to propitiate the local spirits.

Once upon a time it was hex signs and witch's bottles. Now it's affirmations and "The Secret."

I think its very important to think about these beliefs; it is through this unconscious Animism that I first came to an understanding of my own beliefs in the sentience of everything.

Not every bird is an omen, but when one starts to persistently insist on being in your house, that's something to think about.

Blood on the doorstep doesn't mean much when its accompanied by the body of the mouse your kitty dropped off for you. It's different when it's red drops against white snow and you don't have any animals to either cut their feet or bring you presents.

It's the weird thing that grabs our attention. 

I've wondered before what the purpose of omens are. They don't tend to be helpful in forearming people for hard times. They're so darn vague that, generally, one never has any idea what they're about.

But, like so much about the way we view the world, that's a rather human-centric idea, that the omens would be good for us.

What if omens were just a result of interacting with the world?

There's this idea that time as a linear thing only seems that way because of human perception. I won't go into that, because it starts to hurt my head to think about it too much. Suffice to say that, to quote Dr Who, "It's all wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey...stuff." The perception of time can, perhaps, be bent and and perceived in advance.

According to a Cornell researcher, our lymbic systems (where many of our emotions arise from and what can just shut down our higher cognitive functions in a pinch), can perceive events before they happen, especially those events that are emotionally charged.

So, perhaps our interaction with the natural world, combined with these perceptions, produce the omens, dreams or precognitive moments that happen so frequently to people. 

Most of the time, a raven is a raven and we don't see it or think about it. Every so often, when some powerful event is about to happen, we get that weird peek through time. Our mind must give it context, so one gets a deep chill from the raven that is cawing on the branch in the yard. 

In other words, we are merely noticing these meaningful symbols in reaction to these moments of perceptual breakthrough.

So, omens are not necessarily helpful. They just are.

As an Animist, I can accept that those being that I have forged alliances with, might be trying to communicate in their own alien (in the sense that they are non human intelligences) way. 

Some years ago, I had a week where I kept seeing foxes everywhere. Pictures of foxes ended up being sent to me by email. I say foxes in stores, on bumper stickers, all kinds of places. One day I looked outside to see a fox standing in the middle of the yard, looking at me. I was invited to a talk a psychic was giving and she, in the middle of the Q & A session looked at me and asked, "Did you know you have a fox totem?"

So I go and look up foxes--Here's what I find:

The fox encourages us to think outside of the box and use our intelligence in different, creative ways. The fox also brings us a message to try to approach our circumstances differently that we normally would. Be aware of some of our habits, and try a different angle of action.

The fox also a reminder that we must utilize all of our resources (seen and unseen) in order to accomplish our goals. Sometimes this means calling upon some unorthodox methods.

Furthermore, the fox is a sign to be mindful of our surroundings.

Phenomenally effective shapeshifters and incredibly adaptable, the fox beckons us to not make too many waves but rather, adapt to our surroundings, blend into it, and use our surroundings (and circumstances) to our advantage.

A week later, I found myself in the situation where all of these things were true. So, for whatever reason, Fox had taken an interest in me because I needed her (the fox I saw was a vixen with kits). Why? I couldn't tell you, but Fox is one of the spirits that chose me I guess.

As far as omens in general go, it doesn't do to get too hung up on them, unless they are clear enough that they supply you with a way to change your future. Most of the time, a raven is just a raven.