Tag Archives: peacocks

White Peacock Encounter & Mythology

Nationality: American
Age: 52
Occupation: Director of Student Engagement for the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Text: “So, I was in Scotland for my fortieth… Forty-fifth birthday. Fortieth birthday. Forty-fifth birthday. Yes, I’m sorry, I was in Scotland for my 45th birthday, and I was on my way to find Iona Abbey, because Iona is the birthplace of Scottish Christianity and is kind of a pilgrimage site. But to get to Iona Abbey, you have to go across several little tiny islands to catch a ferry over to Iona abbey. So um.. and these little tiny islands have like a one lane road.

“So, my honey bun and I were driving on the last… across the last little island to catch the ferry. When we came around a bend in the road, out in the middle of nowhere, no like, country, and there was this beautiful white peacock with its feathers fully displayed, standing in the middle of the road, just looking at us. So I freaked out. I’m like, ‘oh my god you see that white peacock?!’ So the white peacock is just standing in the middle of the road looking at us, and we’re looking at the white peacock. And it didn’t move, and it just had its beautiful feathers displayed. And I knew that that white peacock was there for me, I just didn’t know what it meant. But I knew it was there for me. It did not move until we started to creep the car forward, and when we finally started to creep the car forward a little bit, it moseyed — you know, in Oklahoma terminology — it just moseyed off the road. Um… but it was gorgeous, and I’d never seen a white peacock in the wild, and I certainly had never come around a bend and had one waiting for me. But I felt like that peacock had been waiting for me. So I was mesmerized, and if we hadn’t been in a hurry to catch the ferry — because we were catching the last ferry over, and we were of course running late — I would have gotten out and, you know, tried to interact with this peacock. So it always haunted me that I never interacted with this white peacock, because I knew it was there for me.

“So fast-forward to when I’m 50, and I’m reading a book by Meggan Watterson, who’s a Harvard-trained divinity scholar, and it’s called The Sutras of Unspeakable Joy, and I think it was sutra number 14… I think it was 14. She has a line in it that says, ‘I am nothing more than the albino peacock of my own incandescent soul.’ Well, the moment I read that line… You know those moments in life where your whole body goes aflame, you’re like, “Wah!! What does this mean?” It took me down lots of rabbit holes where I was trying to understand the symbology around white peacocks in particular, not just peacocks but white peacocks. Well, there’s a lot of different things. One is that if you see one, it portends that you are on the right path, and because I was sort of on my pilgrimage at that age, I was like ‘yes, this is — I’m on the right path.’ I was sort of starting my path towards my spiritual sovereignty, so for me it was about spiritual sovereignty, and just knowing that I’m on the right path. But there’s a whole mythology around white peacocks that’s connected to Kuan Yin. And I’m gonna totally butcher this, but I want you to look it up. If I could go back to my journaling, I have it written down. But Kuan yin at some point, a goddess, was incarnate. By choice, because she wanted to be here to help the humans. And for some reason she had to go back to wherever that is. And she, like…. um… See, I’m not gonna say this very well, but the mythology is that the eyes on the peacock? She’s the one who created the eyes on the peacock. And the eyes on the peacock are supposed to be looking out for humanity while she is not here. While she is, you know, on the side of the gods and goddesses — the eyes of the white peacock are supposed to do that work for her.

“I just thought that was really cool because part of my growing up years, you know, I did my doctoral research about abusive Christianity, and I framed that through a panoptic gaze, and a punitive gaze, and it was so lovely to have a different framing of a gaze… And these eyes on the peacock feathers were a loving gaze, and a watchful gaze, but in protective way, and not like a “Let me see what all you’re doing wrong,” you know that kind of a gaze. So that’s partially why it was so striking to me. But look up the mythology around white peacocks, its pretty cool. And so now white peacocks are one of my… Totem animals, spirit animals? I don’t know what you would call it, but yes, there’s the story.”

Context: Informant RS is a highly educated individual from the Oklahoma with multiple PhDs. A key part of her life was recognizing and healing from the abusiveness of the religious tradition that raised her. After graduating college, she spent many years exploring different spiritual traditions that valued divine femininity, intuition, animism, and environmentalism. RS currently identifies as Pagan and feels a spiritual connection to Scotland, especially upon learning that she has ancestral connections there. She is also a Carl Jung enthusiast and values his theories of archetypes and synchronicity. Kuan Yin is the Buddhist goddess of compassion.

Analysis: RS’s experience with and reaction to the white peacock is reminiscent of various (and often overlapping) traditions including witchcraft, Wicca, Native American spirituality and Paganism that ascribe magical or spiritual powers to non-human beings. Thus, she interpreted the peacock sighting as a sign of guidance, protection, and compassion during a formative point in her spiritual journey. Her knowledge of Kuan Yin’s mythology in Chinese culture reflects her education and spiritual exploration, and she was able to translate her experience in terms of spiritual and religious folklore she had studied.

the longest riddle in the world

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: llinois
Performance Date: January 9, 2012
Primary Language: English

I was told by the informant of this riddle that it was the longest riddle in world (and therefore the most difficult to guess the answer to).  The informant learned it from her father and she enjoys repeating it because it’s amusing to have people challenge the idea that it’s the “world’s longest riddle”.

So Frank (a very famous celebrity) was out to dinner with his friend Bob (not famous) and they were outside this very famous restaurant waiting to put their name in when the hostess spots Frank and motions for he and Bob to come up to the front. Within minutes, the two are seated and a waiter comes by to take their drink orders. Frank orders a coke and Bob a Black and Tan. The waiter returns a little later with their drinks and then takes their food orders: Frank orders the house special of the night, roasted peacock; and Bob orders a deluxe burger. In another twenty minutes, the food arrives. After taking one bite of his roasted peacock, Frank runs outside and shoots himself. Why?

The answer?

Four weeks prior to this evening out, Frank, Bob, Frank’s brother, and lots of Franks fans were on a small cruise ship together. The ship sank in the midst of a storm and the only survivors to make it to a nearby island were Frank, Bob, Frank’s brother, and Frank’s number one fan. As the hours flew by, everyone’s hunger grew, and as a gesture towards his idol, Frank’s number one fan said he’d take Bob and Frank’s brother with him to go find food for them all. The three boys are gone for hours and hours when finally just Frank’s number one fan and Bob emerge from the trees. They say the bad news is that they lost Frank’s brother ans spent forever looking for him, but the good thing is that they found food, and they presented Frank with peacock which they hunted and killed.

Frank so enjoyed the peacock that he decided to order it four weeks later at this great restaurant, but at the restaurant it tasted so different from what he had had before that it made him realize it wasn’t peacock that he had eaten on the island, but rather it was his brother.

 

This informant said that most people react to this riddle with “that’s not a riddle, it’s an impossible-to-guess story!” But hey, it’s all relative, right?

Superstitions – luck

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Oregon
Performance Date: 11 April 2011
Primary Language: English

Morgan’s family is very superstitious and she shared with me some of the superstitions she grew up with (more here).

In her family, black cats are considered good luck. She said, “We always keep a black cat in our house. Whenever we don’t have one, (for whatever reason), Dad’s job or something will tank. Usually it’s financial luck.”

This would seem contrary to the tradition in American (and must of Western) society that sees black cats as bad omens. Historically, they were associated with witchcraft and black magic, and although contemporary American society does not see this kind of paranoia (and there is less of a stigma associated with witchcraft in general thanks to a renewed interest in practices like Wicca and homeopathic medicine), the negative connotations about black cats persist. Animal shelters report lower adoption rates for black cats and some will even cease adoptions of them around Halloween for fear that the cats might be abused.

For as much negativity as there seems to be surrounding black cats in Wester folklore, there seems to be an equal amount of positive folklore that supports Morgan’s family’s tradition. In several European cultures, black cats are considered very good luck, and even- as Morgan said- symbols of prosperity. In England and Scotland, the superstition is that a black can can bring good fortune and that a woman living with a black cat will have many suitors, and sailors believed it was lucky to keep a cat on board (if nothing else, having the cat around to catch mice certainly improved their fortune). Additionally, the ancient Egyptian revered black cats, whom they believed to have a connection to the goddess Bastet. It was recognized that cats helped protect the food stores from rats and to kill or injure a cat was considered criminal.

There is even a historical anecdote that says King Charles I of England owned a black cat that he believed brought him good fortune. When the cat died, he mourned the loss of his good luck and was soon after arrested for treason and eventually executed.

The King Charles story and other feline folklore can be found here: http://www.petside.com/article/black-cat-myths.

Morgan also said that peacock feathers are considered very bad luck. “My father’s ex-wife once brought home a vase full of peacock feathers, and the pipes burst throughout the entire apartment.”

This is a fairly common Western belief, although its origin is indeterminate. There is speculation that the distinctive markings on the peacock’s feathers represent a kind of “evil eye.” In my research, I also found it suggested that this superstition was created to discourage the hunting and eating of peacocks. I think the answer lies somewhere in between, and while the peacock feathers are not an “evil-eye” per se, the killing of a peacock might bring bad fortune on those associated with it, even someone who just purchased its feathers. This is just my own interpretation, borrowing a little of the spirit of Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”

Information and a little history of peacock myths can be found here: http://www.khandro.net/animal_bird_peacock.htm.