On Being Eaten By Crow (1)

"There is an old medicine story about Crow. Crow was once so facinated by his shadow that he poked and scratched and pecked at it ... until it became alive. Then his Shadow ate him. Now Crow is Dead Crow."

-- David Carson


Interesting words indeed; they almost border on the subtext of a Saturday matinee horrorshow. Shadows come to life? Crow flying among us as Dead Crow, somehow Reanimated and Undead, possessed by something that his not him -- but not wholly other? Why would anyone choose a path that reeks of vampirism and death?

Yet the gifts gained by Crow because of his accidental sacrifice were immense: an understanding of Natural Law -- Sacred Law -- and the understanding that Natural Law transcends all of our petty Human attempts at Law. The ability to look beyond culture, beyond right and wrong, to see what is really True. And what's more, the sacred and rare ability to shape shift -- to bend reality to take on the form of another, or to project into another's body. Powerful magic. Deep magic.

No wonder, though, that Crow is so maligned in our culture. Crow is no friend of the Church or the Government, those local authorities who insist upon the imposition of their rules and records. Crow sees beyond their bullshit without a second glance, knowing that while thier power is vast, it is merely Human Power, and a coercive & deceptive power at that. While there is wealth and power to be obtained by causing millions of minds to resonate to the same endlessly echoed "truths", such magic can never create *Real Truth*.

Just ask King George II and his Magic Propaganda Machine, which is sounding rather squeaky these days. While he could call immense Power to his side, it was still Human Power, and all of his Pronouncements and PR and Propaganda could not change the fundamentals of Sacred Law. Look now, as Georgie endlessly squeaks his magic spells over and over again in a vain attempt to create Real Magic, but to no avail. Crow will laugh long and hard as the monster that King George summoned crushes him between its iron teeth, even as he weeps for the countless innocents that will be crushed along with him. For Crow knows that the carnage will be vast. Unfortunately, Sacred Law demands it: Nature abhors a vacuum. The Saudis, Iranians and Turks are feeling the irresistable pull of the void at their borders, and the Carrion Crows are circling overhead.

Crow -- Spirit of Anarchy. Punk Crow. Revolutionary Crow. Che Crow. Bakunin Crow. Voltaire Crow. Bottle-throwing, bird-flipping Crow. Whenever Human Power masses in folly & blindness, there will be Crow, up in the branches of a dead oak, laughing and cawing at them all.

No worries -- he's only a crazy bird up in the trees, and nobody will bother to listen to his meaningless caws over the grand music and patriotic speeches of their wise leaders.

Not yet, at least. Maybe once 2012 comes, we'll all be in on the joke. Until then, Crow laughs alone.