So what's it all about then? Why am I giving up my hard-earned and generally overstretched cash in order to have a website on which I keep hardly anything, but share with several other apparently bonkers, and possibly dangerous, others? What's the Raven thing all about? Why is it that my hubbie draws these insane cartoons which all have this barmy black bird with an attitude problem sneaking into almost every frame?
Just who or what the hell is Nascakiyetl anyway?
Raven is the feathered fiend. He is the bane of my existence and the love of my life. He sends me visions, gives me things to do, intermediates between me and the universe. He tells me jokes (usually bad ones) and stories (which are generally liberally sprinkled with over-exagerration and downright fibs), sings to me at night sometimes, makes disparaging comments about people as I walk past them in the street, tells me things about strangers that I don't really want to know. He makes it very difficult for me to keep a straight face in open ritual. He gives me advice, often for free, that is sometimes wrong but usually makes me feel better, at least for a short time. He complains about my behaviour - a lot. He calls me "child" and is at times affectionate, at times almost cruel. He can be desperately human and overwhelmingly alien, sometimes simultaneously. He can sit on my shoulder and I won't know unless someone starts squinting at me. He can sit on my shoulder and it feels as though the weight will make my arm fall off.
He will wait until I'm definitely watching then start rummaging through people's handbags or fiddling with shoelaces at social occasions.
He likes the fact that I have an artificial eye. He doesn't think my didgeridoo playing is very good (it isn't). He's learning to use email. He is the greatest shapeshifter of them all, and won't let you forget it. He will sometimes turn up as something completely different then lean over and whisper conspiratorially "It's me. I'm in disguise". He knows something about everything, but won't tell you what it is. He stole fire from the Gods and gave it to People, but only did it because it was shiny. He stole the sun and the moon and the stars, but then didn't really know what to do with them so dropped them in the sky and then managed to make everyone think he was a hero for having brought back the light. He will openly describe other Families as pretentious. He claims responsibility for things he hasn't done, and denies responsibility for things he has. He is arrogance personified, extremely possessive, and as devious as they come.
Grandfather Raven is something different again. Overwhelmingly powerful, bitingly sardonic, an incorrigble old bugger with a line in patronising sarcasm that will set your teeth on edge. He can have you trembling on your knees in a public place, or laughing with disbelief at a ridiculous pirate's outfit complete with silly hat. He has very large hands that can be extraordinarily gentle.
He isn't very good at things on a human timescale. He loves humanity but doesn't like very many people. His idea of being helpful is often not the same as your own. He can be completely incomprehensible and oblivious to your feelings even when trying to operate at your level. He thinks most of the things that we do are pointless, and that's what makes them funny. He is often amused by people, and will laugh at the strangest things. He lets people think that he created the world, even though it isn't true. He is both cruel and kind, awe-inspiring and approachable, terrifying and huggable.
He likes to sit down and have a drink and a smoke with Uncle Coyote.
Ravens are paradoxical creatures. They can be many things at once, and yet, if you look closely, they never really change. The greatest shapeshifter of them all is just that because he is everything at once. He is different things to different people, but always the same to those who know him well. Raven children are easy to spot. Misfits of extreme adaptability, often respected and admired even though people aren't actually sure why. They have many acquaintances, but few real friends. It is difficult to be friends with someone who uses what's going on inside your head to form the basis of interacting with you. Raven children are good at explaining things. They can find the perfect metaphor to fit your worldview, usually because they were watching how you dealt with previous bits of the conversation. Raven children are highly intelligent and observant, and assume that their friends are too. They get impatient with those who are not.
Raven puts rants in your pants.
Raven children are not shy. They can have such a sure grip of themselves that they are intimidating, and yet the simple question of "who are you?" may well be met with a blank stare. Raven children often think of themselves as a "what" rather than a "who". They are bold in their statements and not afraid to say exactly what they think. They usually have a large capacity for lateral thinking and problem-solving, but also approach the whole world sideways on and sometimes upside down if the day seems to suit it. They can be devious and cunning in the extreme, and extremely cruel to those they have dismissed as irrelevant, although they may not realise it. They are opinionated and vocal, and choosy with their friends, but extremely protective of, and affectionate and loyal to those whom they love.
They have a weakness for novelty and often collect small things that are inherently useless but which are attractive in some way. They don't always dress in black. Some of them can be quite garish. They can be extremely possessive and quite jealous, but will share everything with those they love. Occasionally their behaviour is eccentric in the extreme, and many of them dally on the verge of madness. A fair number dive straight on in and come up yelling "the water's fine!" even when there are alligators. The alligators are usually too scared to do anything.
Raven children are good at finding things that have been lost, and losing things that have been found.
There is a certain attitude, not quite of superiority, but certainly of self-assurance, that comes across very clearly. It can be quite startling to see how similar Raven children are to one another, particularly as there are not that many of them about. There is a cadence to the writing, a use of language, an eye for the details of grammar that is quite apparent even when grammar is being ignored.
Often they like dogs but think they are stupid, and like cats but think they are unnecessarily supercilious. Often they say so to the animals concerned.
Raven children may well be found talking to anything, from babies to trees, as if they are being understood. Frequently they are. A child of Raven will not think it particularly odd to hold a conversation with a rock.
Nascakiyetl is the Family of Raven. The name comes from an old Tlingit creation myth in which Raven lived at the head of the River Nass with a woman, and had a son. Just as a family called Baker might once have been responsible for providing a village with bread, and a family called Miller might once have been responsible for providing the flour with which to make that bread, the name Nascakiyetl in the myth meant "Raven who lives at the head of the River Nass" but is used by the Nascakiyetl Group and their friends to refer to the Raven Family, for that is the myth in which Raven has a family. He did get married once, much later on, to a Goose, but it didn't last. The word breaks down into "yetl", which is the Tlingit word for raven - hence the younger Raven is called by this, or the alternative spelling, "Yelth" - and "Nascaki" which means, roughly, "of the River Nass".
It was only relatively recently that Raven made plain his claim on me, although since then he has been quite clear that he has been involved from the start. My dallyings with other Families were only meant to pave the way for him so that he wouldn't have quite so much work to do. When he did make an appearance he did so in a way that was impossible to ignore, and things progressed (if that is the right word) fairly rapidly from there.
I share this site with some strange people, but one of the things that I have learned from my time with Raven is that the world is an infinitely strange place, where infinitely strange things happen, and one of the best ways to go through it is to treat each day as a new one, with new shiny things to find, and new shiny people to meet. The fewer preconceptions one has each morning the better.
Neils Bohr once said "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, does not go away".
Raven didn't go away. He never will. He will be telling me rude jokes, making disparaging comments, and fiddling about with people's handbags until I am old and even more deluded and people are mistaking my strange ramblings for dementia. He is part of my reality, and that of a fair few other people, and while I don't expect anyone else to go along with this (although feel free to do so if you want to), I do expect to be allowed my little foibles, one of which is a tendency to talk to apparently non-existent entities in public and another of which is this website. Without suffering persecution for them.
For your interest and viewing pleasure, I have inserted a few links at the bottom here. All of them are sites that are, or claim to be, produced by children of Raven, those with Raven as a totem, or those who know about Raven. See if you can spot which ones fit the Family description, which ones have actually bothered to talk to him, and which ones are regurgitating other people's ideas.
And finally you can work your way round this:
There are no prizes for getting the right answers unless you are the first person to send me a list of the ones you think are Raven Family and which ones you think at least know him, and I happen to agree with your choices. If you meet these criteria, then you can choose a prize and I will send it to you, as long as its monetary value is less than about a quid. I'm a cheapskate. I'm also broke.
