3/9/25
Quoth the Raven
This is number 102 in the blog series, “My Life in Erotica.” I encourage you to join my Patreon community to support my writing.
“AS A WRITER, what would you choose as your spirit animal?”
An interesting question, but I’m not sure you get a choice in the matter. I’ve always had the impression that a spirit animal chooses the person, and I have some evidence to that effect.
Let me start by saying, I don’t set much store in any religious belief system. However, I do believe there are things we do not fully comprehend and that we give too little credit to the intelligence and communication afforded by all living things. So, I tend to gently touch trees and thank the dryads who live there. Even if I don’t understand precisely what a dryad is, I believe the tree has some essence that is beyond what I know.
I might even say the same of some (all?) non-living things, like stones. I believe in stones.
I don’t fully comprehend the full nature and impact of a spirit animal, other than to say it seems to appear when we need love, strength, support, inspiration, or guidance. It is up to the animal to make the first move.
The Old English, or perhaps Welsh origin of my birth surname is Eoferheard. Broken down ‘eofer’ means wild boar and ‘heard’ relates to the heart, strength, bravery. BoarHeart. I could have adopted that as a pseudonym! Back in the early 80s, I was exploring a number of mythologies and was into men’s groups where we sat around drumming and telling stories.
You might recall a men’s awakening leader of that era by the name of Robert Bly. I was at a retreat with him back in the early 80s. At one point, my group worked on making masks. It was an involved process that included using plaster of Paris to mold our own faces and then when it was dry, building it up, painting it, and establishing a being.
I really had no idea what I was creating, but an image of a boar appeared beneath my fingers. I added tusks and painted it mostly gray. I referred to it as “Grandfather BoarHeart.”
In 2016, when I was traveling around the world, I came upon the bronze image of a boar, pictured above, in Munich. You’ll notice the snout and tusks are shiny gold where people touching it have worn off the patina. I touched it as well.
I carried that mask until it basically fell apart and then didn’t really think about a spirit animal again.
When I wrote the first volume of my Erotic Paranormal Romance Western Adventures, Redtail, I didn’t have a concept of continuing the story. But I’d never been to Laramie, Wyoming, where the story took place, so I took the opportunity to visit as I went through in 2014. I visited the Coe Library on the UWyo campus to see if I could find a place in it where I could see the cemetery, a scene I had written in the book. I ventured into the rare books room and looked out the window. A librarian asked if she could help me and I told her what I was looking for. She said that until a couple of years ago I could have seen the cemetery from that window but then they built the new business school building.
We talked and I told her about my writing. She asked the name of the book and I told her. She went to her computer and in a few seconds said, “Yes, we have a copy here in the library.” Then she asked a question that changed the course of my next few months. “Do you plan to write a sequel? If you do, please come back and I’ll help you research anything you need.”
The idea took root and I decided I’d write about the next generation of the Bell family. But I was missing a key ingredient. What animal would be the trigger to get my new main characters to time travel? I thought about calling it Graywolf or perhaps Wapiti (Cheyene for Elk). Enter ‘The Book Doctor,’ Sonja, who said, “Think of the title Redtail as more than a specific type of hawk or name of an animal, but rather as a description as well.” I started thinking of descriptors for different animals.
I went back to Laramie to research the sequel and as soon as I parked my trailer saw a raven sitting on the picnic table in my campsite. The name Blackfeather came immediately to mind. I would call the book Blackfeather and the raven would be the trigger animal for Kyle and Ramie’s time travel.
As soon as I had the name, I began seeing ravens everywhere. When I’d finished my research in Laramie—with a huge thank you to the librarians there, who provided plat maps of the town, biographies, and even a history assembled just five years after the town was formed—I headed south, trying to beat the early-November weather. Along Interstate 25, I continued to see ravens, usually standing beside the highway about every five miles or so, as if they were guarding my path. I saw them at my campsites and outside my window.
Ravens continue to be a presence in my life and I have accepted them as my spirit animal.
The Erotic Paranormal Romance Western Adventures, including Redtail, Blackfeather, and Yelloweye, are available as eBooks from Bookapy.
When a Raven has flown into your life, it signifies that magic is at play. Raven ignites the energies of magic allowing it to become one with our intentions and will. The Raven will show you how to walk into the dark corners of your inner conflicts buried deep within, opening the doors to the deepest power of healing to be within our grasp.
Raven is assuring you of the impending change. He brings with him the ability to bend time and space for the perfect moment at the right time. He signifies rebirth, renewal, reflection, creativity, and healing.
When the Raven enters into your life, human and animal spirits intermingle. It is in the blackness that the Raven symbolizes that everything mingles until it is brought forth into the light.
Do you need some inspiration in these trying times? Hmm. Did I mention that “I Believe in Stones?” Next week.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
