> [!cite] > Coon Wheelwright, Betty. ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’. *Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche*, vol. 7, no. 1 (2013), pp. 4–18. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26596516. > [!abstract] > The author describes the behavior of a nesting pair of ravens and their young, which frequented her home for a number of years. She suggests that the ravens’ high intelligence and unusual capacity to relate to humans in a variety of contexts over thousands of years shaped the raven archetype. Ravens’ current behaviors and interactions with humans are reminiscent of the behaviors that early humans and ravens must have experienced. The raven-wolf and raven-hunter pairing can still be observed, and the archetypal resonance of the raven is activated when a human and raven have an ongoing relationship. --- ‘There is something ancient and distinguished about a raven: the mischievous trickster, the acrobat and skilful master of flight, the knowing eye. Ravens are individuals.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 5)]] ^3cc419 ‘A human who is fortunate enough to come into relationship with a raven soon realizes that the raven is much more than a bird. Arguably the most intelligent bird on the planet, the raven looks back at humans with its brown eyes and reminds us of where we began.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 5)]] ^f2367f ‘As Berndt Heinrich writes, “\[…] the raven is not just a bird, it is a being masquerading as a crow, as it has been to almost all humans who have had extended contact with it” (1989, 300).’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 5)]] ^e03827 ‘Ravens are often confused with crows, their corvid cousin, because both birds are black and similar in appearance.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 5)]] ^644181 ‘The characteristic *quork* of a mature raven is a throaty, low-pitched sound, whereas the crow’s *caw* is higher in pitch and generally faster in tempo.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 5)]] ^1c1630 ‘Ravens mate for life, and that life could be as long as fifty years.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 6)]] ^8dc914 ‘Mating, however, is reserved for the few who are able to obtain a territory and become a nesting, resident pair.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 6)]] ‘Ravens and humans have partnered since the earliest times. As Heinrich states, “There is something unique about ravens that permits or encourages an uncanny closeness to develop with humans” (1999, 31). Those who have gained a raven’s trust experience the raven as a partner or child, not as a pet.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 9)]] ^a98a47 ‘Scottish hunters associate a raven croaking with a successful hunt.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 9)]] ^6a28d2 ‘It is likely that the first large carnivore with which the raven partnered was the wolf, not the human hunter. Ravens and wolves are very comfortable in the presence of one another. This comfortable interspecies interaction develops even when wolves have been raised in captivity and have not had prior experience with ravens.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 9)]] ^f4b56e ‘The comfort that ravens and wolves exhibit with one another appears not to exist in any of the partnerships the raven has with other large carnivores. The presence of wolves may protect the raven from challenges from other birds and predators.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 10)]] ^bf9c19 ‘\[…] the cave of Tajo Segura in Cadiz Province, Spain, has Neolithic paintings of ravens or crows (Ratcliffe 1997, 12).’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 10)]] ^2b8b8c ‘Raven bones have been found in Roman settlements in Great Britain where the birds were apparently kept as pets.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 11)]] ^e1bac1 ‘In “The Personal and the Collective Unconscious,” C. G. Jung speculates on the origins of resonant symbols like the raven: “The greatest and best thoughts of man shape themselves upon these primordial images as upon a blueprint. I have often been asked where the archetypes or primordial images come from. It seems to me that their origin can only be explained by assuming them to be deposits of the constantly repeated experiences of humanity.” (1953, CW 7, {109)’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 11)]] ‘In ancient Ireland, people believed that calls of ravens predicted future events (Armstrong 1959, 73).’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 15)]] ^0afe68 ‘In deeper connection with the earth, we find a kind of wholeness. We find our place in the scheme of things. We are both larger and smaller than we had imagined. We have our role to play, but it’s a bit part, not the starring role.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 16)]] ^ee057a ‘Human hunter-gatherers, who survived in part on meat they scavenged from dead animal carcasses, may also have used the raven to help find meat. In return, these early humans, like other large carnivores, would have been able to tear open the carcass so the ravens could also feed.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 9–10)]] ^b06800 ‘The association of the raven with death was reinforced by the raven’s feeding on human corpses. Battlefields strewn with corpses that could not be easily removed for burial attracted ravens and other animals that fed on carrion. The image of a raven pecking out the eyes of a dead warrior or feeding on the warrior’s flesh would have made a deep impression on a human observer. It is likely that ravens also fed on unburied corpses during the Bubonic plague in fourteenth century Europe, as they may have after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Such behavior would have changed human’s perception of the raven from a valued companion for a hunter or warrior to an unwholesome scavenger.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 14)]] ^ddf142 ‘The raven may have originally been attracted to human hunters as it was to other large carnivores—wolves, coyotes, bears—because the raven’s beak, which it uses with great ingenuity, has a curved tip at the end of the upper mandible that makes it impossible for the raven to pierce even the skin of a gray squirrel (Boarman and Heinrich 1999). The raven needs a carnivore with teeth, claws, or tools strong enough to open large mammals and provide the raven with meat. In return, it appears that the raven, whose aerial viewpoint allows it to see large mammals that would not be easy for the land-bound to spot, may have learned to signal animal and human hunters where to find their prey.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 9)]] ^845e22 ‘The size of raven territories varies according to the abundance of food. Heinrich argues that unmated ravens flock together in order to compete for food with nesting pairs, who vigorously defend their territory (1989). Large, swirling flocks of ravens and groups of roosting ravens are comprised of those who do not have a territory and cannot nest.’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 7)]] ^6440b5 ‘Konrad Lorenz, an astute observer of animal behavior, states the matter clearly: You think I humanize the animal? Perhaps you do not know that what we are wont to call “human weakness” is, in reality, nearly always a pre-human factor and one which we have in common with the higher animals? Believe me, I am not mistakenly assigning human properties to animals: on the contrary, I am showing you what an enormous animal inheritance remains in man, to this day. (1952, 152)’ [[Coon Wheelwright, ‘A Storytelling of Ravens’, 2013|(Coon Wheelwright 2013, 8)]] ^416589