Thursday, July 23, 2009



I had this doll body made about 3 months ago but never knew what to do with it except for adding a picture of Poe perhaps ..but it just did not seem fitting. So after searching the internet for folklore and poems here is what I came acrross.
Crow or Magpie Augery is the a type of divination or fortune telling practice that involved the counting of crows .How many crows you saw at any given time foretold of events to happen. There is a rhyme I found out about, that I am not quite sure of the origins of, but there seems to be many versions of it . One version that I particulary liked and the one I chose for my latest eBay listing of a crow doll I call "Counting Crows", is this one below. The dark reference to sorrow and death is what drew me to it, thou other versions can be seen at the following link 7th crow.com. I found it quite fitting for what I was looking to capture.

One for sadness, two for mirth,
Three for marriage, four for birth,
Five for laughing, six for crying,
Seven for sickness, eight for dying,
Nine for silver, ten for gold,
Eleven a secret that will never be told.
I wonder what the secret never to be told would be if ever I see eleven? But just seeing so many at one time in itself is a beautiful and yet ominous sight... for it is a "murder " of crows after all .

2 comments:

Lillys Victorian Attic said...

Great piece, Nina! I now notice how many crows I see!

Iva Wilcox said...

So interesting! I never knew that and I bet the band is named just for that reason. Thank you for the inspiration! I love your dolls and this one is no different. Wonderful job and great story behind it!
~ Iva