Darkness Inspiration--Dark Bird--or Not

The Raven is the ultimate Dark Bird--familiar of witches and wizards, harbinger of death and destruction, eater of the dead. The raven is a dark omen and the sight of one perched near our home always brings a shudder.
Here is my dark and beautiful raven.
The raven itself is from Google, as is the map, the egg is from the Feathered Nest, and the text piece is from a set by Angela Powers. THe background texture layers are from Skeketal Mess at Shadowlands, and from Encounter_Laura and Joes Sistah at T4L


There is, however, another side to the Black Bird...

Native Americans of the Northwest considered Raven a mythic champion who stole the sun from a box where it had been concealed. Having done this he released it into the sky for the benefit of mankind. Other stories make the raven responsible for releasing the stars and the moon from bags and/or boxes where they had been kept hidden. Peter Goodchild, in Raven Tales (1991) has collected stories from the Pacific Northwest that celebrate the raven’s use of trickery and intelligence to transform the environment into something man can use. It is Raven who is responsible for releasing the sun, establishing a rhythm to the seasons and providing shamans with their visionary and healing powers.

Raven-Bringer of Light

Was created using Photoshop brush sets: Crow brushes by Emma Alvarex, Tribal set 1 by Stephanie at Obsidian Dawn, Easy Elements Swirls for the cut-outs on the ravens wings,Halloween vectors (the moon), and Sun brush pack (the sun).
Background textures from Shadowlands, Tanya at T4L and Jessica Sprague; map from Vintage Moth and other images from Google