falcon

[helenic]

A sketch of a gyrfalcon drawn and burnt as a ritual offering to Freyja, who is not one of 'my' gods, but who nonetheless answered a prayer the other day on behalf of a friend who does honour her. It seemed polite to say thankyou. Apparently the traditional offering is to inscribe the V of a bird in flight onto a stone and fling it into the sea, but if I'm making an offering of a bird, then paper and fire and air seem somehow more appropriate. In any case, I don't live near the sea.

Comments

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

The only experience I have of gyrfalcons is the soliloquies of Roy in the play "Neville's Island" (a play I was supposed to be in, but escaped).

You have captured the almost arrogant beauty of which he speaks perfectly. the wind is enriched by it, in the flight of bird and ash.

I cannot offer anything original by way of reply (my brain isn't working), but only a line of Leonard Cohen's which I just heard, and has always struck me as especially beautiful:
"Your hair upon the pillow, like a sleepy golden storm"

[libellum.livejournal.com]

I'm reading a lot of Mercedes Lackey at the moment, which has some beautiful hawks in. I don't have much experience with birds, really; I'm sorry to say that the above was done from photo references. I'm glad you like it, though. I think sketches as ritual offerings might become an ongoing thing for me - I was never quite convinced that the gods really appreciated incense.

There's something particularly glorious about a bird flown in flame, though, isn't there? Frejya is the Lady of the Burning Sunset - among other things.

[the-elyan.livejournal.com]

Absolutely - quite apart from the Phoenix imagery, there's the notion of the Firebird (eg Stravinsky), and a whole slew of stuff around the freedom of flame (including lightning).

Much though they're a huge practical hassle, it would probably be nice to live somewhere with an open fire, too.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Out of the blue, sorry, but do you remember a while ago, summerish, you passed on a warning about a man in London who said he was a photographer but was distinctly creepy and did things photographers Must Not Do when models went round to his flat? Because:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6074780.stm
the person who gave you the warning might want to give the police a call and give them the address...