Woodpecker

Hi Fleur,

You mentioning the woodpecker signifying new beginnings, reminds us of the day my daughter moved into her new house.

The day she moved was the first time she had seen a woodpecker, let alone one just outside the house she was moving from, on the grass under an ancient yew tree. So we assume it is my daughter's totem animal and her guide.

It was touch and go right up until the last minute as to whether they were able to buy the house, because of the 'credit crunch' and a first time mortgage! So we feel it was very, very significant and important sighting.

What do you reckon, would like any more info if you have any, particularly as we are trying to move house and we started before her!!:rolleyes:

Hi Fleur,

First of all thanks for this post it is so interesting! I have had a woodpecker in my garden for the last few months and whenever I hear him pecking I find the sound somehow soothing :). And indeed I have been going through loads and loads of changes in my life recently.

Secondly I like you using in your signature the words: Mitakuye Oyasin! I do, too :dft010:!!!!
It is one of my favourite sayings. So simple but with a lot of depth!

Zimba

Hiya Oakapple 🙂

As I am sure you already know, we can find all sorts of messages coming from each creature depending on where our focus is at the time. Each one can "tell" us so many different things.....:)

My little "article" here was gained partly through observing him (I have had a regular garden visitor for a few weeks), partly reading up in my little library of animal medicine ways, and partly intuitive as I Tapped away like a little Woodpecker at my keyboard;). (sorry couldnt help it :D)

As you asked for a little further information some snippets I also read about tonight but not necessarily relevent to my life at the moment but I will list them for you and their source....will get a posting together shortly.

Hi Fleur,

First of all thanks for this post it is so interesting! Secondly I like you using in your signature the words: Mitakuye Oyasin! I do, too :dft010:!!!!
It is one of my favourite sayings. So simple but with a lot of depth!

Zimba

Glad you found it interesting Zimba......and it seemed an appropriate end to my post.

Mitakuye Oyasin.......We Are All Related 🙂

The expression knock on wood comes to mind when I think of woodpeckers - or touch wood - wherever that originally came from.

Woodpecker was constantly in my garden earlier in the year - a lovely green one. It would swoop down on my lawn and with its long beak scoop out some insects from an anthill. When I went out into the garden the indentation of the beak was still there imbedded in the muddy heap. It came back day after day for its feast of ants.

I still watch them from my window, now I recognise its call and flight pattern. It's always welcome.

Luv Binah
x

The Lakota observed that the Woodpecker became more agitated and gives a shrill call before an electrical storm therefore many believed it to be the Thunderbird.

It can herald huge storms or changes clearing through life...such as uprooting or moving house, It can herald a time of unlimited energy, or a time to rest, listen and follow your own rythm.

The red headed type can suggest increased brain activity, and as it bores into the wood, analytical and rational ponderings, mastery of the mind over the emotional body.

Ever seen one holding onto a bird feeder?...I have...claws on with a vice like grip, its tail curled round underneath for support.

I also see the round bore holes, and the circles on the spotted wings........drumming circles/cycles.

The expression knock on wood comes to mind when I think of woodpeckers - or touch wood - wherever that originally came from.
Luv Binah
x

Hi Binah...

In ancient times, when most of our beautiful land was covered in lush vegetation,It was thought that Dryads and Hamadryads lived within certain trees and it was deemed unlucky to cut down any tree that these wood nymphs resided within.........the ony way to redeem oneself was to give payment.A small coin, or some sort of offering was generally used as payment.

Of course, we are not quite as supersticious as we used to be....are we ?

Thanks for that Oakey

I always ask the plant for permission before I cut down anything or take a branch - I feel very protective of trees and get quite upset when they are chopped down.

Binah
x

Thanks for that Oakey

I always ask the plant for permission before I cut down anything or take a branch - I feel very protective of trees and get quite upset when they are chopped down.

Binah
x

I do exactly the same Binah...I feel that the respect you show the spirit of the tree is reflected in the healing or protection that it gives back...and I always try to use...' live'.. wood.

Here's a bit more on the woodpecker -

a prophetic bird with magic powers - guardian of kings and trees. A woodpecker watched over Romulus and Remus while the wolf suckled them
An auger. If you hear the yaffle of the woodpecker in England it augers rain - (Well we've had a fair bit of yaffling going on around here recently).

Binah
x

I thought this Lakota Story of the First Flute I put together some time ago, might be of interest to the conversation concerning the woodpecker. This story has been told and re-told by many people over many generations, with some variations, but the main idea remains the same.

Once many generations ago, the people had drums, gourd rattles, and bull-rorers, but no flutes. At that long-ago time, a young man went out to hunt. Meat was scarce, and the people in his camp were hungry. He found the tracks of an elk and followed them for a long time. The elk, wise and swift, is the one who owns the love charm. If a man posesses Elk Medicine, the girl he likes can't help but fall in love with him. This young man I'm talking about had no Elk Medicine.

After many hours he finally sighted his game. He was skilled with bow and arrows, and had a fine new bow and quiver full of arrows. Yet the elk always managed to stay just out of range, leading him on and on. The young man was so intent on following his prey that he hardly noticed where he went.

When night came, he found himself deep inside a thick forest. The tracks had dissapeared and so had the elk, and there was no moon. He realized that he was lost and that it was too dark to find his way out. Luckily, he came upon a stream with cool, clear water. And he had been careful enough to bring a hide bag of wasna, dried meat pounded with berries and kidney fat. Strong food that will keep a man going for a few days. After he had drunk and eaten, he rolled himself into his fur robe, propped his back against a tree, and tried to rest. But he couldn't sleep, the forest was full of strange noises: the cries of night animals, the hooting owls, and the groaning of trees in the wind. It was as if he heared these sound for the first time.

Suddenly there was an entirely new sound, of a kind that neither he nor anyone else had ever heared before. It was mournfull and ghost like. It made him afraid, so that he drew his robe tightly about himself and reached for his bow to make sure that it was properly strung. On the other hand the sound was like a song, sad but beautiful, full of love, hope, and yearning. Then before he knew it, he was asleep. He dreamed that the bird called wagnuka, the redheaded woodpecker, appeared singing the strangly beautiful song and telling him, "Follow me and I will teach you."

When the hunter woke, the sun was already high. On a branch of the tree against which he was leaning, he saw a redheaded woodpecker. The bird flew away to another tree, and another, but never very far, looking back all the time at the young man as if to say, "Come on!" Then once more he heard that wonderful song, and his heart yearned to find the singer. Flying toward the sound, leading the hunter, the bird flitted through the leaves, while it's bright red top made it easy to follow. At last it perched on a ceder tree and began hammering on a branch, making a noise like the fast beating of a small drum. Suddenly there was a gust of wind, and again the hunter heared the beautiful sound right above him.

Then he discovered that the song came from the dead branch that the woodpecker was tapping his beak on. He realized also that it was the wind that made the sound as it whistled through the holes the bird had drilled.

"Kola, friend," said the hunter, "let me take this branch home. You can make yourself another."

He took the branch, a hollow piece of wood filled with woodpecker holes that was about the length of his forearm. He walked back to the village bringing no meat, but happy all the same.

In his tipi the young man tried to make the branch sing for him. He blew on it, he waved it around, but no sound came. It made him sad, he wanted so much to hear that wonderful new sound. He purified himself in the sweat lodge and climbed to the top of a high hill. There, resting with his back agains a large rock, he fasted, going without food or water for four days and nights, crying for a vision which would tell him how to make the branch sing. In the middle of the fourth night, wagnuka the woodpecker appeared saying, "Watch me," turning himself into a man, showing the hunter how to make the branch sing, saying again and again, "Watch this, now." And in his dream the young man watched and observed very carefully.

When he woke, he found a ceder tree. He broke off a branch and, working many hours, hollowed it out with a bowstring drill, just as he had seen the woodpecker do in his dream. He whittled the branch into the shape of the birds with a long neck and an open beak. He painted the top of the bird's head with washasha, the sacred red color. He prayed. He smoked off branch with incense of burning sage. He fingered the holes as he had seen the man-bird do in his vision, meanwhile blowing softly into the mouthpiece. All at once there was the song, ghost like and beautiful beyond words drifting all the way to the village, where the people were astounded and joyful to hear it. With the help of the wind and the woodpecker, the young man had brought them the first flute.