As Samhain draws near, the veil begins to slowly open between the worlds, allowing the souls of the dead to enter our realm. As with all the other Pagan festivals, it is the symbolism of Samhain that tends to be of greater importance for us in the modern age, for it helps us to properly understand this mysterious time of the year. One bird in particular tends to carry the theme of Samhain, of death and the Otherworld, better than others - the raven.

In many cultures, particularly in the West, the raven is associated with mortality, bereavement and war, due to its black plumage. In the Celtic legends, the raven is said to represent the battle aspect of the Morrighan, Badhbh (with her name actually means "raven of battle"). The Morrighan herself is also said to appear as a raven prior to, or during, battles.

The raven is even mentioned in the Bible as being the only animal on Noah's Ark that violated the law forbidding lovemaking on the sacred vessel. Despite this, it was the raven that Noah first sent off to look for land. However, as the story goes, when the raven never returned to Noah, because it decided to stop and feed on the bodies of the victims of the great flood, the dove was then sent and came back with the olive branch.

This negative association surrounding the raven was brought to America when it was settled by the Europeans. Possibly as a hang-over from the Wytch prosecutions, the raven was associated with bringing failure to crops, death to livestock, and depletion of game. And when ravens were seen feeding on corpses of farm animals, this belief was strengthened.

In China, however, the symbolic character of the raven is more benevolent. It is the three-legged symbol of the Chou dynasty suggesting the rising, zenith and sinking of the Sun. On a more esoteric level, this solar relationship may relate to raven's blackness being perceived as offering protection from the Sun's heat. But while this solar connection is fairly wide spread, the raven is still more commonly seen as a metaphor of darkness.

Some cultures, depict the raven as being the Creator of the Earth and man, thus making it highly respected and sacred. The Inuit people believe the raven came from the primeval darkness and stayed to teach the first humans how to survive. To the Koyukon of Alaska, the raven is not only the creator of the Earth and man, but also of the Moon, the stars and the Sun. Oral history relates that the raven first made people from rocks, but when they proved to be too strong, the raven destroyed these people and recreated them with sand instead.

The Koyukon also described the raven as a trickster. They say that the raven put mosquitoes on the Earth to plague the people because, at the time, their way of life had no difficulties. They also say that water once flowed in two directions at the same time, but again the raven believed that it made life too easy for people, so he made the water flow only downstream. Because of these beliefs, the Koyukon consider the raven to be sacred, and it is a strong taboo to kill a raven.

The caw of the raven has also led to them being identified as "talking birds" - the messengers of the Otherworld, who were endowed with the gift of prophecy. It is said that the Norse God, Odin, kept two ravens, Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory). At dawn, the ravens were sent out to explore the Earth, and returned at night to whisper the secrets they had discovered into Odin's ear. The Vikings also considered the raven to be a bird of war due to its raucous cawing and feeding on the bodies of the slain.

As the time approaches for the raven to take flight and join the souls of the dead, remember that even though this bird is thought to be the harbinger of death, it is also perceived as the bringer of life and omen messenger to the living. Just as while Samhain is the Celtic festival of the dead, it also marks the continuing cycle where from death, all life is reborn.

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