Greek Alphabet

The main stars in Corvus

Notes and history:

Corvus the Raven or Crow. Although now traversed by the 20th degree of south declination, 2000 years ago it lay equally on each side of the celestial equator. Its earliest appearance in the skies, however, seems to date back to the Euphrates valley. There is a Euphratean myth, from far back beyond classical days, where it was one of the giant ravens bred by the dragon of chaos, Tiamat, or the Hydra, a watersnake, upon whose back it stands; making it one of the monster ravens of the brood of Tiamat that Hydra represented; the ancient Sumerians called this constellation the 'Great Storm Bird', or 'Bird of the Desert', to which Tiamat gave sustenance. [SLM p.179].

The Babylonians equated it with their bird-god Zu, who stole the "tablets of destiny" from Enhil. It was a noted constellation with the Greeks and Romans, and always more or less associated with the Cup and with the Hydra, on whose body it rests. Aratos (3rd century BCE) described it "pecking the folds of the Hydra". [SLM].

Known also as Avis Satyra, the Bird of the Satyrs, and Pomptina, from the victory of Valerius when aided by a raven on the Pontine Marsh. This bird and an ass appear together on a coin of Mindaon, which is interpreted as a reference to the almost simultaneous setting of the constellations Corvus and Cancer, for the ass always has been associated with the latter in the Ovot, or Asini, of its stars (the Assellus in Cancer). [SLM].

Manilius designating it as Phoebo Sacer Ales, and Ovid as Phoebeius Ales, mythology having made the bird sacred to Phoebus/Apollo, in connection with his prophetic functions, and because he assumed its shape during the conflict of the gods with the giants. [SLM].

One of the best known myth associated with Corvus is the story of Coronis, and of her unfaithfulness to Apollo, when the bird reported to his master this unwelcome news he was changed from his former silver hue to the present black (see that myth Below). This story gave rise to the stellar title Garrulus Proditor. Apollo and Coronis were the parents of Aesculapius, who became the Serpent-holder Ophiuchus. [SLM].

Another version of the legend appears in the Fasti-viz, that the bird, being sent with a cup for water, loitered at a fig-tree till the fruit became ripe, and then returned to the god with a water-snake in his claws and a lie in his mouth, alleging the snake to have been the cause of his delay. In punishment he was forever fixed in the sky with the Cup (Crater) and the Snake (Hydra); and, we may infer, doomed to everlasting thirst by the guardianship of the Hydra over the Cup and its contents. From all this came other poetical names for our Corvus - Avis Ficarius, the Fig Bird; and Emansor, one who stays beyond his time; and a belief, in early folk-lore, that this alone among birds did not carry water to its young. [SLM].

For the Celts, the raven was the sacred bird of Bran, the god whose prophesying head is said to be buried beneath the Tower of London, which is still guarded by ravens, upon whom the safety of the city is supposed to depend. Two ravens called Hugin and Mugin, or Mind and Memory, sit on the shoulders of the Norse god, Odin, and inform him of everything that happens in the world.

The Chinese knew it, as a portion of their great stellar division the Red Bird, while its individual stars were an Imperial Chariot ruling, or riding upon, the wind. [SLM].

It has been likened to Noah's Raven flying over the Deluge ("first he send a Raven"), or alighting on Hydra, as there was no dry land for a resting-place; or one of those that fed the prophet Elijah; Julius Schiller (1627), who reinterpreted the constellations in Christian terms combined its stars with those of Crater in his Ark of the Covenant. [SLM].

A Christian view of the constellation Corvus: The Witness of the Stars, E.W. Bullinger, 1893.

The Symbology of crows and ravens

Raven: Recent comparative studies of the customs and beliefs of a wide range of peoples would seem to show that the purely negative aspect of the symbolism of the raven is very late and an accretion almost entirely localized to Europe. In fact, here its appearance in dreams is considered of ill omen and allied to fear of misfortune. It is also the great black bird of the Romantics, hovering over battlefields to feast on the bodies of the slain. Such an image, it is worth repeating, is recent and highly localized, although it recurs in India, where the Maha~bha~rata compares ravens with messengers of death, and perhaps in Laos as well, where water soiled by ravens cannot be used in ritual aspersion. Despite this, nearly everywhere, in both East and West, the symbolism of the raven is founded upon its positive aspects. Thus in both China and Japan it is a symbol of filial gratitude, the Han considering the fact that it feeds its parents as auguring the reinstatement of the social order. In Japan, too, it is taken as the expression of family affection. In Japan it is regarded at the same time as a messenger of the gods. while the Chou regarded it as a bird of good omen, the herald of their victories and the mark of their virtues. The bird in question was, it is true, a red raven, bearing the color of the sun, for in China ravens were solar birds. The symbol of the ten ravens which flew from the mulberry-tree in the East to fetch light into the world, would s eem to have passed into Shintoism. However, Yi the Archer shot nine with his arrows, otherwise the universe would have caught fire. Han dynasty stone carvings show a three-legged raven in the centre of the Sun. It would seem to be the principle giving life to the Sun and perhaps stands for yang (odd-numbered). Like the tripod. the raven's three feet, which became the emblem of the Chinese emperors. corresponded to the solar symbolism of dawn, noon and dusk.

In the Book of Genesis the bird is a symbol of clear-sightedness, since it was sent out to see if the lowlands had emerged from the waters of the Flood. 'And it came to pass, at the end of forty days. that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth' (8: 6-7).

In Ancient Greece, too, the raven was a solar bird sacred to Apollo. Although Plutarch says that eagles determined the siting of the omphalos at Delphi, Strabo states that this task was performed by ravens. At least both birds have this in common, that they acted as messengers of the gods and performed prophetic roles. Ravens were also attributes of Mithras, and these were believed to be endowed with the power of casting evil spells.

Ravens are common features of Celtic legend, in which they play prophetic roles. The Pseudo-Plutarch who undoubtedly based himself upon Gaulish tradition, translated Lugdunum (the Celtic name for Lyons) as 'Ravens' Hill' rather than the accepted 'Lug's Hill', since a flight of ravens had shown the city's founders where to build.

In Ireland, the war-goddess took the name of 'Bobd' or carrion-crow and often appeared in this shape. The crow is the nocturnal aspect of the raven and in Ancient Greece was sacred to Athene while, as we have seen, the raven was Apollo's bird. In any case, ravens play a fundamental part in the Welsh tale, 'The Dream of Rhonabwy': when Arthur's men slaughtered Owein's ravens, the surviving birds reacted violently and in their turn hacked the soldiers to pieces. Ravens still occupy a respectable place in folklore. The birds were sacred to the Gauls and in German mythology were the companions of Wotan (Odin).

In Scandinavian mythology, two ravens perched on Odin's throne, Hugin (Mind) and Munnin (Memory), and a pair of wolves crouched beside the god. The two ravens stand for the creative and the two wolves for the destructive principle.

'Among the TIngit Indians (North-West Pacific), the central divine figure is the Crow, primeval hero and demiurge, who made the world (or, more precisely, set it in order, and spread civilization and culture through it), created and liberated the sun, and so on'. The Crow endowed it with the dynamic and regulatory element.

'In North America the Supreme being of the sky generally tends to be come amalgamated with the mythological personification of the thunder and the wind, represented as a large bird (the crow, etc.); he beats his wings and the wind rises, his tongue is the lightning' (ibid.).

In the Mandan Spring Festival, the 'First Man', herald of renewal who commemorated the 'retreat of the waters', had his naked body painted white, wore only a cape made from the pelts of four white wolves and had two tufts of ravens' feathers stuck in his hair.

The messenger of the Mayan god of thunder and the thunderbolt was a raven (Popol-Vuh).

From Black Africa comes evidence of the raven's role of guide and guardian spirit. The Likuba and Likuala in the Congo Basin regard the raven as 'a bird which warns men of the dangers threatening them'.

Ravens may also be regarded as symbols of solitude, or rather of the deliberate self-isolation of the individual who has determined to live upon a higher level. They may also be seen as emblems of hope with their constant cry, according to Suetonius, of Cras! Cras! ('Tomorrow! Tomorrow!').

Thus most beliefs surrounding the raven depict the bird as a solar hero and often as a Demiurge or messenger of the gods. The bird is in any case a guide, and even guides souls on their last journey since, as a conductor of souls, his keen sight pierces the darkness and he is not led astray. It would seem as if this positive aspect is linked to the beliefs of nomadic hunters and fisherfolk and that the raven only became negative when mankind settled and agricultural communities developed.

Alchemists have always associated the stage of putrefaction, when matter becomes black, with the raven. They call this stage 'the Raven's Head': it is leprous and must be bleached by 'bathing seven times in the waters of Jordan'. These are the imbibitions sublimations, cohobations or digestion of matter, all practiced under the lordship of fire alone. This is why the black bird is so often depicted on the pages of ancient treatises of Hermetic lore. [p.789 "The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols", 1969, Jean Chevalier and Alain Gheerbrant" translated by John Buchanan-Brown, Penguin books. ].

The myth:

Before this incident, ravens were once of a silvery hue, with snowy white feathers and they were able to speak in human tongue. They were the sacred birds of Apollo/Phoebus (Delphi, Sun-God and the god of light, music, poetry, healing, prophecy, eloquence, truth and manly beauty). But its chattering tongue brought about the ravens downfall. When Phoebus saw an extremely beautiful maiden named Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas, King of the Lapiths in Thessaly, he fell deeply in love with her. According to Ovid, she remained true to him, or at least while her faults passed unnoticed. But the bird of Phoebus detected her in wrongdoing, and, a pitiless informer, hurried to its master, determined to reveal her guilt.

The crow who was another garrulous bird, credited with prophetic ability, who stood near the Pythie of Delphes during her prediction; because the crow was gossipy, Athena/Minerva replaced it with the owl as her companion.

The crow pursued the raven on swiftly beating wings, anxious to learn the whole story. When it heard the object of the raven's flight, it said: "No good will come of your journey. Pay heed to my warning. Look at what I was and what I now am. If you inquire into the cause of this change, you will find it was my faithfulness that ruined me. Once upon a time, Pallas took Erichthronous (Auriga), a baby born without a mother, and shut him in a chest woven from Actaean osiers. This chest she entrusted to the three unmarried daughters of Cecrops, that king whose nature was part human and part snake, imposing the condition that they should not pry into her secret. I was hidden in the light foliage of the elm and watched to see what they would do. Two of them, Pandoros and Herse, honorably guarded the trust they were given; but the third, Aglauros, taunted her sisters with cowardice and undid the knots. Inside they saw the infant with a serpent stretched out beside him. I told the goddess what had happened and my reward for that service was that I was ousted from my place as Minerva's attendant and ranked lower than the bird of the night (the owl). The punishment I suffered may serve as a warning to other birds, not to court danger by telling tales. It was not as if I had ever asked for any mark of favor from her - she, of her own accord sought me out. Ask Pallas herself - angry though she is, her anger will not make her deny the truth".

But the Raven answered the crow in these words: "I hope your attempts to hold me back may recoil on your own head! I have no time for your futile predictions!" - and did not abandon the journey it had begun, but went and told its master Phoebus that it had seen Coronis lying with a young Thessalian.

When her lover heard this charge against Coronis, the wreath of laurel slipped from his head, his face changed, his color ebbed away, and the plectrum fell from his fingers. His heart was in a fever of swelling rage.

Phoebus strung a bow and Pierced Coronis with an arrow. As the arrow struck her breast, Coronis, who was pregnant, groaned; then she drew it out, scarlet blood welled over her fair white limbs. "O Phoebus" she cried "you could have let me bear your child. Now, in my one person, two will perish". That was all she said, before her spirit ebbed out with her blood. A deathly chill crept over her lifeless body. Too late, the lover repented of the cruel punishment he had exacted, and hated himself for listening to the tale, for allowing his anger to blaze in such a way. He hated the bird, whose officiousness had forced him to learn of Coronis' guilt. Fondling her lifeless body he employed his healing art, without avail, his aid came too late. As the funeral fires was being got ready, he snatched his son, Ophiuchus, from his mother's womb, saved him from the fhim to learn of Coronis' guilt. Fondling her lifeless body he employed his healing art, without avail, his aid came too late. As the funeral fires was being got ready, he snatched his son, Ophiuchus, from his mother's womb, saved him from the flames and carried him to the cave of Chiron, the centaur. (Metamorphoses book 11).

In a fit of furious anger, he punished the faithful crow, who was hoping for a reward for revealing the truth, by cursing him and turning his feathers black and took away his ability to speak for bringing in the bad news (all of the other crows met the same fate).

"Wanton blabber! See thy fate!
Messenger of mine no longer,
Go to Hades with thy prate!
Weary Pluto with thy tattle!
Hither, monster, come not back: And - to match thy disposition -
Henceforth be thy plumage black!"

This story gave rise to the stellar title Garrulus Proditor.
["The Metamorphoses of Ovid", translated by Mary M. Innes, 1955, Penguin].

The astrological influence of the constellation

According to Ptolemy, Corvus is like Mars and Saturn. It is said to give craftiness, greediness, ingenuity, patience, revengefulness, passion, selfishness, lying, aggressiveness and material instincts, and sometimes causes its natives to become agitators. (Robson).

Events in history

Agitating

Feb 9th 1950, in a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator Joseph McCarthy (Republican, Wisconsin) charged the State Department was riddled with Communists.ng, West Virginia, Senator Joseph McCarthy (Republican, Wisconsin) charged the State Department was riddled with Communists. - Neptune/Kraz, South Node/Gienah

Aggression

Russian blockade of Berlin began, June 24 1948 Neptune/Gienah Jan 16th 1991, the White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. - Uranus declination/Kraz
May 14th, 1948, the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv as British rule in Palestine came to an end. Israel uses revenge attacks to keep peace with its neighbors. - Neptune / Minkar
January 20th, 1981, Iran released 52 Americans it had held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan. Jupiter and Saturn/Gienah

Terrorist activity

April 29th, 1992, deadly rioting erupted in Los Angeles after a jury in Simi Valley acquitted four Los Angeles police officers of almost all state charges in the videotaped beating of Rodney King. - Uranus Declination /Minkar, North Node Declination / Kraz
April 3 1996, Theodore Kaczynski was arrested, accused of being the Unabomber. - SNode / Kraz
Mar 9th 1977, about a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington DC, killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. The siege ended two days later.- Pluto / Algorab
Feb 26th 1993 A bomb built by a group of Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of New York's World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than one-thousand others. - Jupiter / Algorab
January 30th, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist Neptune/Algorab

Explosions, bombs, missiles

February 15th, 1898, the US battleship "Maine" blew up in Havana Harbor, killing more than 260 crew members. The explosion, the cause of which has never been satisfactorily explained, brought the United States closer to war with Spain over the issue of Cuban independence. Jupiter/Gienah
April 26th 1968, the United States exploded beneath the Nevada desert a one-megaton nuclear device called "Boxcar." Neptune Decl/Gienah
Feb 6th 1959, the United States successfully test-fired for the first time a "Titan" intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Canaveral. Saturn Decl/Minkar
Jan 31st 1606, Guy Fawkes, convicted for his part in the "Gunpowder Plot" against the English Parliament and King James the First, was executed. Saturn Decl /Alchita
Feb 6th 1959, the United States successfully test-fired for the first time a "Titan" intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Canaveral. NNode/Kraz

Storms

Mar 13th 1993 A deadly blizzard paralyzed much of the Eastern Seaboard, leaving more than a hundred dead in its wake. - Jupiter/Alchita
April 9th 1947, a series of tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas claimed 169 lives. Neptune/Gienah
Mar 11th 1888, the famous "Blizzard of '88" struck the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths. Uranus/Kraz Radio