posted October 25, 2007 07:28 PM         

I am driving through a suburban neighborhood. Fairly dense in population as 6 large apartment complexes are right around the corner. As I drive down the street up ahead I see a house. The SFH roof is Covered with these...

Now, I am NOT a rubber necker in any way shape or form, but this sight demanded a quick U-B to look again. Chilling sight. I think they were Turkey vulture's [looking on-line] w/ a wing span of 6 feet. Beautiful in flight the "net" tells me.

posted October 25, 2007 07:41 PM         

*Shock!!!

Absolutly strange...

You say Vultures???

I may have called animal control to report such an odd incident???
Here where I live, animal control is part of the local police department.

posted October 25, 2007 09:13 PM         

I agree with what Fayte said and YFIS suggested. Either call the cops or animal control and report this. As Fayte said, there may be a person who died in that house. Or if the house is abandoned a homeless person might have taken up residency in the house and died there. Anything coud have happened.

My brother in law was single, died at the age of about 43 of a brain anorism at home and his body was not found for over a month when the family began to wonder why they hadn't heard from him in so long. He was single and had girlfriends and sometimes would not be heard from for some time but never that long. No one had a key and the doors were locked so they had to get the police to enter the house. A cop broke in through a window and found John dead on the floor between the living room and dining room already decomposing.

posted October 25, 2007 09:27 PM         

I know a vulture. I looked on-line to determine - if possible- which type. Around here, Maryland that is- they are common. They usually are in groups of 6, if in a field. Road kill? Usually 2 of them. If it is a deer [larger kill] maybe 6.

The INTERNET map I saw showed that the entire US has populations. Here is another page if your interested.

I think they were just having a bit of a rest. That's how I know the wing span,and markings as many of them were doing 'the stretch'... there is a reservoir and park about 4 mi away, huge awsome sight.

posted October 26, 2007 01:22 AM         

From my collection:

posted October 26, 2007 09:50 AM         

After this research I now know that those large solitary birds riding thermals so gloriously are not the hawks or perhaps Eagles I once thought they were.

posted October 26, 2007 12:03 PM         

I guess we just get a little nervous when Vultures do it in the burbs.

Whenever I see something not the norm like you did, Node I look up the animal totem meaning for it.

I saw a Perigrine Falcon perched in my tree last Dec. while we were putting up outdoor decorations for Christmas. Not something that is common here at all. Turned out to have very spiritual significance.

This past summer my daughter and I saw a young panther across the street. That is not common at all in Michigan. Panthers have very powerful and highly spiritual meaning in animal totem. Turned out it was in the news that the panther was spotted in the neighboring city as well so we knew we were not imagining it.

posted October 26, 2007 12:21 PM         

The Vulture

The vulture is a member of the raptor family. They feed exclusively on carrion and perform a very useful function by disposing of potential sources of disease. The Pueblo Indians saw the vulture as a sign of purification and the Greeks considered it to be a symbol of transformation. As old decayed flesh was removed new life emerged. These amazing birds are vital for the health and well being of mankind and all other life forms.

The Andean Condor is the largest of the vultures with a wingspan of up to 12 feet. In North America, the Turkey Vulture is the most common. The California Condor however is now on the verge of extinction. It once had a range from British Columbia to Florida but has now been reduced to about 60 individuals. Some native tribes believe that this reduction is the cause behind the increased number of diseases and viruses of unknown origins now affecting mother earth.

Vultures are adaptable and have a keen sense of smell which they use to locate food. Because the vulture has weak feet and short talons they cannot tear or grasp their prey as other birds do and must rely on the remains of anothers kill for their food source. Their trust in the creative force to provide for them is unshakable. This trust is one of the main teachings they offer those that hold this medicine.

Although the vulture is a somewhat homely bird in appearance they are magnificent in flight gliding through the heavens with a grace unsurpassed by most other birds. They ride the thermals and wind borne currents with little effort soaring for hours without flapping their wings. They know how to use what is available to them to the fullest extent and teach us how to be resourceful and innovative with what we have.

When this medicine is fully developed those with this totem can accomplish great things in life. Resourceful and patient they have the ability to stay focused on their goal despite influences that try to distract them. They have the ability to initiate the pure force of spirit into every thought they have and every action they perform.

Many people don't like vultures because of an impression that, since they feed off carrion, they must be unclean birds. The truth is that vultures are actually quite clean, and they perform the valuable service of eliminating the remains of decaying animals. This is one of the gifts the vulture holds for us, the cleaning up of messes. Many times we create physical and psychic messes that we don't want to deal with. The vulture can guide us to the efficient and joyful resolution of such problems. If vulture has flown into your life you are being asked to remedy a messy situation and turn it into something positive.

posted October 26, 2007 12:27 PM         

The vulture is a very powerful totem. Its cycle of power is year-round. If you have a Vulture as a spirit guide or totem, it can show you how to use energy powerfully and efficiently. It glides effortlessly on the winds, soaring to extraordinary heights while using little or no energy. The Vulture skillfully employs already existing air currents against the pull of gravity, symbolizing the distribution of energy so that gravity (or cares) do not weigh it (you) down. In the process the vulture does not use its own energy, but the energies of the Earth instead, the energies of the Earth --- or the Natural Order of Things --- being ONE of the mainstay sources in The Power of the Shaman. A very valuable lesson.

The scientific name for the Turkey Vulture is CATHARTES AURA which means GOLDEN PURIFIER because as it goes about it's lifetime business it purifies the landscape and environment in it's own natural way, ensuring the continued health and life of other living things. The Vulture is a promise that all hardship was temporary and necessary for a higher purpose. Once a Vulture enters your life as a totem or guide, it will remain with you for life.

Vultures live and work together, both in cooperation and friendliness. They communicate with friends and neighbors when they find something to eat. They let the others know where the food is. And when there is a big feast they communicate with neighboring flocks in distant roosts. Also, Turkey Vultures that range within California Condor habitat areas, when they find food they will go to the Condors and lead them to it. One roost was observed when they had a dead cow in their neighborhood. They somehow contacted a roost of 100 vultures about 30 miles away to come join them. Several days later, before they finished their feast, two more cows died. Within a day the vultures had contacted another roost to join them. At night all the birds visited together in the same or neighboring trees. There were now three different roosts living together. When the cows had been cleaned up the several visiting roosts went home. (source)

In Greek mythology, the Vulture is the descendant of the Griffin. It was a very Buddhist-like, Zen-like symbol of the non-dual oneness of heaven and earth, spirit and matter, good and evil, guardian and avenger. The Vulture is the avenger of nature spirits. Ancient Assyrians believed the Vulture was, like Nagarjuna's middle way, Sunyata, the encompassing overall non-separated union between the day and night. Ironically, regardless of the less than good image the vulture is typically granted by most, think about it:

Unlike the needs of nearly all other living creatures, vultures do not kill.

Their prey either dies or something else kills it.

Herodorus Ponticus relates that great men of legend were always very joyful when a vulture appeared upon any action. For it is a creature the least hurtful of any, pernicious neither to corn, fruit-tree, nor cattle; it preys only upon carrion, and never kills or hurts any living thing; and as for birds, it touches not them, though they are dead, as being of its own species, whereas eagles, owls, and hawks mangle and kill their own fellow-creatures. That very same overall innate nature imbeded in the actions and life of the vulture, never killing or hurting a living thing or its own fellow creatures, is reflected for the most part, in and by the the actions and life of the person that truly has the vulture as a totem animal.

The noted Athenian writer Aeschylus (c. 525 BC-456 BC) says,- - "What bird is clean that preys on fellow bird? - Besides, all other birds are, so to say, never out of our eyes; they let themselves be seen of us continually; but a vulture is a very rare sight, and you can seldom meet with a man that has seen their young; their rarity and infrequency has raised a strange opinion in some, that they come to us from some other world; as soothsayers ascribe a divine origination to all things not produced either of nature or of themselves."

Be as it may, the Assyrians, Greeks and other early civilization city-states were actually late comers to the use or representation of vultures in ritual, religious, or shamanistic rites.

In the 1950's the husband/wife archaelogist/anthropologist team of Ralph and Rose Solecki began excavating a cave site 250 miles north of Baghdad along a tributary of the Tigris River called the Greater Zab that rises out of the Turkey-Kurdistan border area. The cave had been used for burials by an ancient tribal people called the Zawi Chami around 8870 BCE (plus or minus 300 years, according to carbon-dating) --over 10,000 years ago-- which is well over 4,000 years before the beginnings of any of the various cultures mentioned above. In their dig the Soleckis found a number of wing bones of large predatory birds, which turned out to be Gyptaeus barbatus (the bearded vulture) and Gyps fulvus (the griffon vulture).

In 1977 the journal Sumer published an article by Rose Solecki entitled Predatory Bird Rituals at Zawi Chemi Shanidar where she described the findings, going on to suggest that the wings had almost certainly been utilized as part of some kind of ritualistic costume, worn either for personal decoration or for ceremonial purposes. She connected the finds with the Vulture Shamanism of the proto-neolithic Çatal Hüyük community in Central Anatolia which, by the way, was 2000 years later in time, and several hundred miles away in distance. Recognizing the importance of their discovery, however, Rose Solecki concluded the article by saying:

"The Zawi Chemi people must have endowed these great raptorial birds with special powers, and the faunal remains we have described for the site must represent special ritual paraphernalia. Certainly, the remains represent a concerted effort by a goodly number of people just to hunt down and capture such a large number of birds. Either the wings were saved to pluck out the feathers or they were used as part of a costume for a ritual. One of the murals from a Catal Hayuk shrine ... depicts just such a ritual scene; ie, a human figure dressed in a vulture skin" (see)

Can Göknil in Creation Myths From Central Asia To Anatolia: Images From The Creation Myths Of The Turks writes:

"Shamanism is a system of belief common to the Turks of Central Asia. Both men and women could be Shaman priests and among old Turkish groups they were called Kam. Kams dressed in elaborate garments to display their supernatural powers. Accompanied by the beating of drums in their rituals, they believed they could fly with the aid of their own guardian animal. During such flights they reached various levels of Heaven or the Underworld. Upon returning to this world, they used the information they had learned during their journey for the benefit of their followers".

Each place and location has its own power and potency. By raising our consciousness about the geo-cosmic specificities of gravity, light, magnetism, solstices, equinoxes, lunar cycles, indigenous plants, animals, climate, and so forth in any given area, we can come to value the variety of diverse cultures and regions whose multiple knowledges all serve to enhance life everywhere on our planet. Most of these geo-cosmic teachings can only be acquired in the particular region in which they occur. If we are to awaken our own Shamanic abilities, perhaps lost in the mist of time, then we must attune ourselves to precisely those same forces as they manifest themselves in our own bio-regions. In some cases this may require us to learn about our region from the indigenous tribes in our area; in other cases we must set about discovering the power of the places in which we live on our own. We need not run away to other "exotic' cultures, but begin exploring our own backyards.

posted October 26, 2007 12:33 PM         

If a human was ugly, would you say that human was scarey, or bad, or creepy? That wouldn't be very nice.

posted October 26, 2007 12:40 PM         

quote:

---

It doesn't matter if an animal is ugly or not. That doesn't make it any less important as a species or a member of earth's creatures. Just because something is ugly doesn't mean it is scarey. That's just your perception.
If a human was ugly, would you say that human was scarey, or bad, or creepy? That wouldn't be very nice.

We need to respect all animals, no matter what they look like. All animals have intelligence and importance.

---

I totally agree with this but I would still call the cops just in case, they are obviously there to take care of a job.

posted October 26, 2007 12:45 PM         

The significance of these physical and spiritual road sign’s were not lost on me. It is profound imagery supporting a direction. What is that direction? The relinquishing of out-worn, tightly held, values that no longer represent who I am now. [Taurus] To embrasure of the unknown, with confidence. Surrender. [Scorpio] w/out too much more personal rambling laughs, I will turn this like a pancake, till it taste’s good enough to eat, signifying acceptance.

posted October 26, 2007 01:02 PM         

oy Mirandee- Natal G-Square! And that means I have 4 T-squares- problems? challenges? A few years ago I realized after reading The power of attraction that energy begets energy. Neat spiral my fellow we could write 4 pages on that one you and I. 2,000 words or less???!?

posted October 26, 2007 03:17 PM         

LOL Also very true what you said, Node. I can relate to this vulture totem. Although honestly, I have never really seen one of them in Michigan. Maybe it is just that I have mistaken them for crows alongside the road.

In the Medicine Wheel earthly astrology I was born under the Frogs Return Moon. These are people born between April 20 - May 20. I am a member of the turtle clan and am a Beaver person. Solane Star taught me this and I really like being a Beaver person. It's fits my nature too.

This full moon in Taurus has had an effect on me too. Outside of the fact that any full moon bloats me up really bad ( don't know what the deal is with that ), a full moon in Taurus is worse in that respect and always gives me insomnia. I must have awakened about 10 times in the middle of the night last night. It has had an effect on me in ways other than a full moon in Taurus normally does.

Not sure if we can do that it in 2000 words or less, Node. Not me anyway.

posted October 26, 2007 03:20 PM         

These animal sighting posts are great. They always tend to help us learn something.

posted October 26, 2007 03:32 PM         

Oh, I wasn't disputing calling the cops or not. I was just trying to stick up for the species that people shouldn't be scared, or think they are negative, by what they look like.

posted October 26, 2007 07:19 PM         

To digress slightly from the topic -- Your collective of vultures would be a “committee”, just like in a “murder” of crows

Animal groups:
http://www.hintsandthings.co.uk/kennel/collectives.htm
http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Kids/Animals/Groups/

You’ll dig this one: a congregation of snails is called an “escargatoire”
I can just see it now, a whole pack of the little things deliriously socializing in a puddle of snail-slime