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]

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