Ornithomancy

Ornithomancy AKA Augury [related: Swans/Cygnets, Crows, Magpie, Thrush]
The study and shamanic reading of bird behaviors and flock patterns. Throughout Greek and Roman mythology, birds travel freely between the world of the living and the dead, making them ideal arbiters of the Threshold. As the only dinosaurs still in existence, birds have the distinction of surviving numerous mass extinctions and many species have, over time, developed extremely sophisticated modes of communication and culture, i.e., they are the only animals other than humans to create art [see: bowerbirds ]. Although the conglomerate catalog of recognized ornithological omens is prohibitively vast, common representations include the following:

white birds

the non-conceptual land beyond space and time, fundamentally unrealizable sexual desire, sex (more generally)

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thrush

the speaking of unequivocal truth, the spirit of

hades on earth
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magpie

fruitless intelligence in the form of compulsive hoarding,

jon-and-kate and Lifetime Network afternoon programming blocks
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bowerbirds

masturbation, overtly navel-gazey art making, see

bowerbirds .
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cygnet (swan)

spirituality, beauty, and (somewhat cloying) innocence. The sound of a cygnet "shout" call aka "warning call" without visually apparent source marks the imminent arrival of death either literally or symbolically.

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error flamingoes

passive observation as in Greek chorus. Also, the vapidity of physical beauty. Also,

thomas-kinkade .
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crows (black as night)

change, changelings, the poison of mechanically generated electricity, the impending onset of various forms of

imago , both literal and metaphoric.
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bird inside

instant death

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birds landing on humans

the weight of fundamentally unsolvable mysteries and intoxicating nostalgia (often sexual in nature) on the psyche

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birds speaking (whether audible or in apparition)

[redacted]

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millions of black birds blocking out the entire sky

varying forms of demonic activity intent on the separation of sentient life from the true nature of reality AKA the

dharma , ex. the pursuit of sentient ai , skinemax , etc.

Ref# [redacted] : Birds of Orient