Magpie Medicine

 

 

Today is a Sagittarius Moon and it is a day all about the Magpie.  They are not seen everywhere, but they can be found in many countries and areas of countries.  WE have them here.  Two years ago, in late spring, a gang of them began searching our trees near our house and close to our house, for baby birds of any kind.  I saw them fly off with some and it has haunted me ever since.  They are not my favorite.

There is a traditional nursery rhyme about the magpie:

One for sorrow, Two for joy,
Three for a girl, Four for a boy,
Five for Silver, Six for Gold
Seven for a secret never to be told
Or
One for sorrow, Two for mirth,
Three for a wedding, Four for a birth.
Five for rich, Six for poor,
Seven for a witch — I can tell you no more.

There is an Australian Aborigine story about them that speaks to a time when we all crawled on the ground.  It was perpetually dark.  Magpie, who was a hopper, happened to see a glimmer at the edge of the world.  He got together with all the crawlers and suggested that he knew some magic where they could have light.  He bullied them a little to get them all to work together to gather long sticks to prop up the sky.  Several times the sky was so heavy it broke the sticks, but Magpie figured out who thick and how tall the sticks needed to be in order to hold.  They heaved and they ho’d until they pushed up the sky and it, on its own, decided to pop the rest of the way up…and there was the first dawning and sunrise.  Now, the Magpie was so full of himself he sings constantly wherever he is to announce to the world how very smart he is.  He boasts and reminds all things of his role in creation.  But, some of us have forgotten and he just sounds a nuisance now.

In China, the magpie is a symbol of good luck, but if you kill one, it is very bad luck.  In Korea it was/is believed that magpies deliver good news and impending good company.  In Mongolia he is thought to control the weather.  In Germany, where the traditional nursery rhyme comes from, numbers of magpies hold different omens.  In France, they honor the magpie by tying heath and laurel high in the tallest trees because it is thought that the magpie warns of wolves approaching the village.  Scandinavians believed the black and white color of the magpie represent keeping energies in balance but that they were sorcerers gathering in the forests to plan unholy things.    In Italy they are symbols of thieves.  You see, the Magpie loves shiny things, even mirrors, and will grab them and take them to their nests or homing grounds. 

In Greece, magpie are associated with being intoxicated (slurred speech).  In Britain it was/is customary to tip one’s hat in greeting to ensure good luck for the day.  But, if they fly or croak around one’s house, it bodes ill fortune.  If they fly out of their nest, it means death is near and hard times ahead.  As well, it is good luck if the magpie lands on your roof, it means your house will never fall down.  To Native American’s, he is associated with helping human beings hunt. 

Spring and Autumn are their special seasons.  They are the balance of the equinoxes with their white and black plumages. 

One thing to watch for today is that you do not listen to, or share, gossip.  Make sure you are not bothering anyone and do not be a busybody.  Magpies are like that. 

To me, as in Native American societies, Magpie’s are a Messenger Bird from Creator.

©Carol Desjarlais 3.13.23