Dark Decorations: Figurines for Lovers of Ravens

I was musing on this point as I went about my household chores earlier on. It had struck me quite peculiar that I'd ended up with no less than three raven figurines in my possession, all from different aspects of my life.

It wasn't planned, yet it happened. Testimony enough to the ubiquity of ravens in folklore and legend, literature and art, religion and mythology, history and the natural world.

There will be many more too, but I'm only contemplating where the raven has touched my life. It passed the time, while I did the washing up.

Fans of Edgar Allan Poe would like a raven figurine. I am one and I would. So too would those avid readers of every other cawing crow in fiction. I got Quoth. But these birds turn up in stories so often. There's another in Sandman that would interest me too.

Bookworms are potential recipients for a raven ornament gift.

I once watched a Heathen purchase a pair of matching raven statues to place inside his garden. They were unquestionably named Huginn and Muninn. I didn't have to ask him to know that, in his mind, those ravens referenced the messengers of the AllFather.

I have a Celtic equivalent right here. Other religions have their own ravens, though they all mean much the same thing - memory, truth, the telling of news, and the flip side of life. Nothing so morbid to reflect upon, in that divine context.

Religious people might appreciate the appropriate raven figurine as a present.

Goths too, and anyone with a taste for the darkness. Birdwatchers, and those with a love of the light, all the better to watch nature's vast aviary filling the skies.

Can you think of any more?  My mind is still racing through them, but I'd better get on with what you came here to see - a collection of raven decorations for your home and garden, covering just a few of this iconic bird's myriad aspects.

This life-sized statue of a raven is mooted as belonging in your kitchen. But you can place it anywhere. Who would dare stop you?

Toscano had in mind the shape-shifting raven of legend, when they sculpted it from resin. They pictured the divine messenger passing between mortals and the gods, cawing prophecy for all with the guts to hear.

There's plenty of detail on the Raven Perch Plaque, making it a life-like bird to hang in your home. Now where are you going to put it?

Toscano seem to have a thing about kitchens. They're trying to recommend that you place this matched pair of raven statues there too.

Perhaps they're trying to hint that their raven paired ornaments belong in the heart of your home. At the hearth of Norse mythology, if you will, because who couldn't view them without thinking of Odin's ravens watching the world, then swooping down to tell him its secrets?

And where else would Huginn and Muginn find Odin, but at Frigga's hearth-fire? Or kitchen to you and me.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just putting too much of a Pagan interpretation on the Mystic Night Ravens. But then again, 'mystic' is a bit of a give away...

Made in Peru, these tiny figurines are sold as talismans, or raven charms. They each come with a card explaining their significance in the Shamanic terms.

But I'll give you the preview now. Spirit ravens are all about moving from one place to the next. Not necessarily in geographical terms, but in your own self. They help access the divine. They bring messages that cross realities. They can initiate healing by assisting you at a deep soul level.

Therefore opt for the mini spirit raven statues, if you're looking to transform yourself into someone newly enlightened with self-knowledge. Only suitable for those who dare to face their own truths.

Just when you thought that every raven ornament was going to hint at dark mythology and mysterious secrets, we get one marketed solely for bird-watchers.

Ornithologists get to revel in the fine detail of the piece, from the crafted feathers down to the lichen on the bench-like bough. It's a very life-like raven decoration for all its smaller size, with a blue-black tinge to the down that's not entirely apparent in the picture.

It looks to me like yet another one by Design Toscano, but it's not listed as such. I'm probably wrong. I'd ask the raven to divulge its origin, but it's not one of the mystical kind. It's for bird-watchers, not witches.

However, after a moment of contemplation, you do wonder what other ravens are in said collection. Then you find them, and muse pointedly on the state of modern ornithology.

It's all gone a bit Edgar Allan Poe. These ravens, perched as they are - not on pleasant natural branches, but on human skulls - look set to quoth 'nevermore' at a moment's notice.

Either that, or they'll turn out to be Morrighan in disguise. The clues are there.

Nevertheless, they are the other pieces in this collection of raven ornaments. Therefore we must assume that they are also for bird-watchers. Let's just note the fact, and silently vow never to creep up on an ornithologist unannounced.

Who said that raven sculptures had to be black?  Or even that they must have some mystical meaning behind their crafting?

Tim Wolfe is famous for his wildlife artistry and he was commissioned by the NFL Baltimore Ravens to make this for sports fans.  Needless to say, it's limited edition. Each piece bears its own number upon the base.

It's naturally exquisite in every detail, unless you happen to not support the Baltimore Ravens. In which case, you must surely recognize art when you see it, even as you cringe at the appropriation of such talent.