The Skies and the Soul Trail

Soaring vultures. P.Jeganathan, Wikicommons.

Last week, I talked about the vulture and its role in guiding the deceased to the afterlife, and also perhaps guiding newborn spirits back again.

Birds worldwide are portrayed as spirit guides, by virtue of their gift of flight which gives access to the sky-realms where the spirit world is often located. Spirit-flight is a common shamanic gift. The Pole Star, around which all the skies and by reflection all of creation revolves, is often seen as the birth-point and destination of all spirits.

The Milky Way. Benh Lieu Song, Wikicommons.

The Milky Way is a thick band of stars across the night sky which we see as we look along the long and star-filled axis from the centre of our plate-shaped galaxy. It is often seen as a celestial river flowing across the sky and is known as a spirit road in many shamanic traditions, which is ascended by shamans seeking spiritual insights and by the deceased journeying to the afterlife. In Baltic and Estonian tradition, it is known as the Pathway of Birds and is linked to both spiritual and migratory journeys, and I’ve named it The Soul Trail in Broken Skies.

‘Milky Way’ derives from a Greek myth where the infant Hercules was unwittingly suckled by the Goddess Hera who splashed milk across the sky when the ruse was discovered. This probably stems from an older tradition: the Milky Way is also associated with milk in Egyptian and Hindu lore.

Cygnus. The long neck of the bird soars down the Milky Way.

At its northern peak is the constellation of Cygnus, the swan. The swan is a common spirit guide in northern cultures and the location of this asterism on the Milky Way may stem from this ancient belief. Researcher Andrew Collins has suggested that Cygnus was once a vulture, and I have taken this view in Broken Skies. The four major stars uncannily represent the body, curved wings and tail of a soaring vulture. Here is its celestial counterpart as it guides souls to the next life as it devours their bodies on earth. As above, as below.

The Vulture in the Irin’s cosmology.