The Monarch Raven

The Monarch Raven has inhabited Golden Gate Park, de Laveaga Grove and Monarch Bear Hill for at least 20 years. Maria Eints, storyteller of Golden Gate Park reports meeting the Raven when she first came to the park 20 years ago. We do not know how much longer he was there before she first saw him.

According to the raven books, "Wolf Bird" and "Birdbrain", ravens are long-lived and live up to 45 years. Ravens are monogamous and clan oriented. The Monarch Raven has been observed together with his mate and many of their progeny over this 20-year period. The Monarch Raven has developed a relationship with Maria Einst over this past 20 years and will eat out of her hand.

The Monarch Raven and his mate are the progenitors of the Golden Gate Park ravens. Normally they travel as a pair. But on special occasions, their children and grandchildren gather with them in the Monarch Bear Grove. Under these circumstances, the Monarch Raven controls and dominates all of the ravens. In his role as "King Raven", he decides the pecking order for eating of the Raven tribe. He eats first and tests the food to make sure it is safe. Then his mate eats, followed by the various descendents. Ravens not of his bloodline are chased by all of the Monarch Raven clan from the Grove.

According to Joan, our Golden Gate Park Gardener friend, ravens, blue jays and crows were being shot and killed by a hunter who was hired by Golden Gate Park up until 1989. Even Golden Gate Park did not yet understand about ecological systems and how they function and how predators such as ravens serve the natural balance. The park philosophy was still a 19th century one, in which nature was judged by human-centric beliefs. It was believed that the nasty ravens and crows must be killed because they killed and ate the babies and eggs of songbirds. The park was not yet aware of the important function that the ravens, crows, and blue jays have in cleaning up the park. According to the book, Wolf Bird, ravens formed a symbiotic relationship with wolves worldwide. There was a massive attempt to exterminate them along with their partners, the wolves.

The corvids (ravens, bluebirds and crows), it recently has been discovered, are among the most intelligent forms of life on the earth. Next to humans, ravens may well be the next most intelligent form of life on the Earth (Birdbrain). They have the intelligence of a 6-year old human child.

Concurrent with the extermination of the Grey Wolf in the USA the ravens for the last 100 years have been substituting a relationship with humans in the place of the departed wolves. This new relationship with humans has been developing in urban and suburban areas where the raven is no longer poisoned, hunted and killed. The raven, like most other highly intelligent creatures is omnivorous. It appears that there is a close association between high intelligence and being omnivorous. Humans, bears, and ravens are omnivores. Rodney Karr, who has care taken Monarch Bear Grove for the last 12 years, has developed a close personal relationship with the Monarch Raven and his wife and clan. Ravens are one of the few creatures on the planet that mate for life. They have sophisticated family/clan systems. And, the clan joins together for mutual gain. Ravens also have been observed making tools, engaging in play with each others and have a language of over 75 calls. The Monarch Raven has human person such as his friends Maria and Rodney. They follow Maria and Rodney around Golden Gate Park and speak with them. They meanwhile avoid strange humans and keep a safe distance. The raven is one of seven Celtic totem animals. The raven, in Celtic tradition, are both honored and feared because of their association with Morgan, the Goddess of war and death, and Bran, the underworld father God. The Celts are one of the few people of the earth whose God comes from the Earth rather than from the solar realm. Bran, the Welsh word for raven, is sacred to the Druids.

The raven is the psycho pomp for the British Celtic peoples. The Raven, like the god Mercury, is the being that guides those who die from the world of the living to the world of the dead. Ravens therefore are feared for their appearance, which foretells coming death. And, they are honored because of guiding those who die into the underworld and the world of the dead.

The Raven is perceived in many ancient traditions as existing simultaneously in the middle world of life and the underworld of death. It is particularly important, given the role of the raven as psycho pomp and guide to the underworld, that the ravens are present in the National AIDS Memorial Grove and the Monarch Bear Grove, where the ashes of thousands of those who have dies of AIDS have been scattered. It is our contention it is not accidental that this arrangement has occurred, that the ravens are present for the dead, to lead them in their journey from this world to the other.

In Celtic/British tradition, the raven's association with the good God Bran, the father God, also has established the raven as protector of the Celtic people. In Celtic tradition and mythology, the father God Bran had his head cut off. And it continued to live and speak for many years. Buried at Whitehill in London, which is where the tower of London is and had been a sacred Druid site, this totem animal has continued to live at Whitehill Tower of London for thousands of years.

Part of British mythology is that Britain will not fall to foreign invaders as long as the ravens are at Whitehill. During WWII, there was so much concern that the ravens could be killed at the tower of London, that Whitewhill ravens were taken to other places in Britain so that if the Tower ravens were to die, their brethren from other areas could be brought in.

The mythos of the Whitehill ravens is extremely important to the British people It demonstrates how very important the raven continues to be as a spiritual symbol and force. The raven, like the bear, appears around the world in the Northern Hemisphere as an important spiritual totem and symbol. Native American Traditions believe that the raven created man. This connects to the Celtic tradition that the raven is the totem animal and symbol of Bran, the father God. In Native American traditions it is believed that the raven will become the next steward of the Earth if mankind destroys itself. It is very powerful that the ravens inhabit Monarch Bear Hill and the National AIDS Memorial Grove. They bring a deep underworld spiritual connection to the grove.

The hawks, the raven's good enemy, symbols of the Solar God, also inhabit the National AIDS Memorial Grove and Monarch Bear Grove. They engage in warfare with the raven. Much of the warfare is a kind of game or play for both ravens and hawks. Seldom is there anyone hurt. Young male ravens test their prowess and perform for female ravens a dance of war with hawks. This appears to have a similar function for the hawks as well.

The Monarch Raven, his mate and their clan are very important characters in the National AIDS Memorial Grove and Monarch Bear Hill. In honor of the Monarch Raven, we have named one of our circles in Five Shaman Circles after him (The Sacred Circle of the Monarch Raven).