Psychopomp Wall Hanging

[hermeticdog]

My fucking iPhone camera really doesn't do it justice.

I took a rook wing (legally taken in the UK), and attached a deerskin leather loop for hanging, then added hemp cord dangles with domestic dog bone and magatama. In mythology, the rook (along with the crow and raven) is considered a psychopomp, as is the dog. The magatama is seen as the representation of the soul.

For sale on my Etsy page here

Comments

[primaldog.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm really glad you like it enough, and that it hits the right spot, to give it a home with you *g* Thanks a whole lot! I'll have this carefully packaged up and shipped off to you this weekend. Awesome.

Heh, this helps give me an ego-boost with my art, too. Thanks again *g*

[vrisanfra.livejournal.com]

*g* Yay, I'm glad! I love it when it just so happens that something goes "I BELONG TO YOUUUUU" (Or, rather, "YOU ARE MIIIIIEN") enough for me to instantly glomp (happened with "my" spear, as well), and that it happens to do just as much for the artist. Srsly, love the whole synchronicity thing. I've been on the artists end. *grin*

Thanks so much for posting it up on LJ, btw. I would never have seen it if you hadn't, and it's...really, really a great thing for some of the stuff going on in my spiritual life right now. I can't exactly explain why, because I really don't know, but...it's just one of those puzzle pieces, you know?

I'm really looking forward to opening the box! Thank you so much, too. *moar grin*

*edit* Also, as another note, because apparantly I'm very wordy today, I really am amazed by all the people I know who can use animal parts like this, and do it properly. My arts are in the textiles, and I can do the same thing with those-but with things like these, I fall short of "good enough". I can never get it quite right for the purpose, or the specific piece, and with things like this-I have a personal standard of if I can't get it right for the piece and the purpose, I don't make it. It's stricter when I'm using pieces like this, which are most likely awakened (animist, hi *waves, heh*). So...yeah. More rambling and stuff, and being wordy. And such. */endedit*

-Rachel

[primaldog.livejournal.com]

This makes me really happy to know...lets me know I am doing my job both as an artist and as a shamanist. As well as helping fulfil my Father's work (long story, more on this later).

I'll make sure this is all packed up for you, and goes out with my next mailing this weekend when I get to the post office, so it is in your hands as soon as possible. I'm going to find a box or some stiff cardboard to secure it in so the feathers don't get bent.

I think it goes with exposure, too. It took me some years and, to me, a lot of balls before I decided to start creating artwork from awakened bits--and by that I mean, I only really started this year. I hold myself to some very high standards too, and if I find something that needs reworking, reviving or remaking, and I don't have the skill for that level of restoration, I pass it to someone skilled who does. Being a fellow animist myself, I understand these things all too well.

Which brings me nicely into this next related topic. Care and feeding. Since it is a preserved wing, keep it dry and away from moisture. As for spiritual sort of things, incense, and offerings of grain. In Germany the name for a rook is something akin to "grain bird" or "cereal bird"...I'll have to get the word from my fiancee again. But that's one of the reasons why they are considered a pest in parts of the European continent--they rather have a taste for grain, let alone carrion. Rooks are strongly associated with death--they are believed to forecast death, and act as psychopomp. Very similar roles to their cousins, and in some cases are largely interchangeable, as in Semitic lore.

I hope this helps, and I'm glad to be able to unite you with a meaningful piece like this, and that I could create something like that for you.

[white9-fox.livejournal.com]

Name's Gawron, or Gawrony. I should know, as it's my family name XD

[vrisanfra.livejournal.com]

As well as helping fulfil my Father's work (long story, more on this later).

Wow, I feel like that so much. And not only with my Mother, with....uh, all of Them. Or, those of Them that I belong to. Heh. And then go "Hmm, maybe I should keep this to one on one convo...dammit I don't have person x's screenname or phone number grr!". ;-)

I hold myself to some very high standards too, and if I find something that needs reworking, reviving or remaking, and I don't have the skill for that level of restoration, I pass it to someone skilled who does.

Wow, we're a lot alike in how we do this kind of stuff. o.o Whee, synchronization? My standards, when I'm doing spiritual pieces, is near-exactly the same. I'm lucky with my specific arts, though, I can practice. Sketch out a design for a silkpainting or for beadwork ten dozen times before actually doing the WORK work, restringing a necklace if it isn't JUST PERFECT, doing practice pieces to get the techniques perfect, etc etc etc. I have no idea if you end up with that luck or not.

Which brings me nicely into this next related topic. Care and feeding.

Thank you SO MUCH for telling me all this. Because, yeah. I would have forgotten to ask about the latter, the feeding, and I might have forgotten to ask about the prior for a while (which would have made for unhappy rook).

-Rachel