Black Cockatoo – Spirit
Keywords:
Spirit. Rain Magic. Travel. Joy. Crying with Joy. Emotional Freedom. Spiritual Freedom. Finding Spiritual Truths. Your Inner Fire. Creativity. The Muse. Inner Beauty. Inner and Outer Wealth. Preserving What You Care For. Drumming.
General Description:
The black cockatoos are immediately distinguishable by their characteristic black plumage. They often have very vivid white, red and yellow patches on their body. They are large parrots, with strong beaks. Some are endangered or threatened, and their futures hang in the balance.
Black cockatoos nest in tree hollows, and line their nests with eucalyptus leaves. The decline of nest hollows due to habitat destruction (particularly of old-growth forests) has meant that black cockatoos are already finding it difficult to recover old population sizes. Some Indigenous Aboriginal cultures suggest that the beautiful calls of some of these cockatoos indicates rain.
Lessons and Challenges:
The black cockatoo represents the power of spirit come into your life. It could be a strengthening of your own spirit and soul, or a celebration of any spirits or gods that you happen to believe in. Black cockatoo energy tends to be celebratory and can bring about empowerment, happiness and contentment.
Black cockatoos are large, heavy birds (the largest black birds in Australia) that cast larger shadows, their cries tend to herald significant changes in Indigenous stories, including the bringing or coming of necessary rain. Black cockatoo flies into your life to suggest that right now there is a potential for great joy and change. You may experience peaks in your emotions, and black cockatoo can even indicate crying with joy, or experiencing transformative happiness and contentment.
It would be remiss of me not to look at black cockatoo’s significance when it comes to rain magic. Black cockatoo could indicate that there may be literal rains occurring in your life, or that it may be time to get in touch with water gods, spirits and entities through rain magic and ritual. When was the last time you stood in the rain, or walked through it, taking the time to enjoy its enriching presence in your life? If you feel you are experiencing a spiritual drought right now, consider using the imagery of rain nourishing your body and soul to help revive and recharge yourself.
The presence of black cockatoo in a reading can indicate short-distance and long-distance travel.
Black cockatoo is a liberating energy, suggesting a time of emotional and spiritual freedom. You may feel more able to use different rituals, spells or thought-processes, or more able to express yourself emotionally; not just when it comes to happiness, but also when it comes to grief, anger or even fear. Black cockatoo indicates that there will be a level of purity with such expressions, and that we can aid this by consciously not judging ourselves for expression of emotion or of spirit.
Themes of creativity abound. It is time to create! Create new ways of thinking within yourself, new ways of nourishing your body and spirit (including adopting new visualisations, or new ways of eating, thinking and being). Additionally, black cockatoo indicates artistic creation and ability, whether through drawing, painting, music, dancing, writing or other pursuits.
If you used to do some form of art or theatre as a hobby, consider picking it up again, or incorporating it into your healing journey. At this time, your creative Muse is strong and willing to aid and assist you. Externalise your expressions of self onto canvas, into song, or through dance and drumming and you may be surprised at just how much your spirit grows at this time.
Black cockatoo helps us to find spiritual truths, particularly those that help nourish our inner fire, motivation and ability to use our energy to reach our goals. Black cockatoo doesn’t teach through pain and suffering, but through comfort, happiness and contentment. It can be hard, sometimes, to let go enough of our pain and our imprisoned emotions to access growth through positive emotions, but black cockatoo is an enabling energy. By taking the time and giving yourself permission to express difficult emotion, you create room in your life for emotions that actually feel good. These will stoke your inner fires and remind you how to feel a burning passion for life again.
There is a potential for inner and outer wealth when black cockatoo comes into your life. It may be a time to work on securing raises, reminding yourself of how much you’ve saved or achieved monetarily, or looking at how rich and fortunate you are spiritually or emotionally. Take the time to appreciate the wealth you do have, even if you feel you may have none. Through valuing the wealth you already do have, you will find more opportunities and inroads to expanding that wholistically.
It is important to preserve what you care for. Materially, this involves looking after your home and the objects within that home. Keep your home clean enough that damage through dust isn’t an issue, don’t constantly invite guests over who will break your possessions or not care for them, and cultivate a sense of appreciation for the objects and possessions that you have earnt through hard work. Spiritually and emotionally, it is important to preserve the achievements you have worked for by not putting them down, ignoring them or forgetting about them. Take the time to write down what you have achieved spiritually, and what you have learnt emotionally over the years. What emotions have you learnt to express more positively, and how? What sort of growth or maturity do you think you’ve gained? Preserve that knowledge; write it down, meditate upon it, remember the positives that you have achieved.
Some black cockatoos actually use drumming in order to court their partners. They take time to select an appropriate beating instrument, and then will seek out a sufficient hollow log or branch to amplify their sounds. Celebrate black cockatoo energy, and life in general through drumming. It may involve creating a makeshift drum and just experimenting and having fun with the different sounds you can make. Or you can even take the time to invest in and listen to drumming based soundtracks. Drumming has been used for thousands of years to celebrate and also to contact the spirit worlds. See how you can incorporate it into your life to express yourself and your connection to the world around you.
Black cockatoo tells us that everyone has beauty on the inside, everyone. Even people in prison, even those who have committed unspeakable acts. Black cockatoo reminds us that no matter how ugly we feel, or how corrupt, there is a space of beauty inside every soul that is incorrupt and pure. Through the presence of this great bird, we can learn how to access it, to transform our opinions of ourselves and the world in general.
The Shadow Aspects:
Those who fear or dislike black cockatoo may have severe problems finding freedom or joy. You might fear what freedom can give you, and you may even fear joy. The reasons for this might be varied – freedom brings with it the need to take responsibility for our own lives and actions; joy doesn’t last forever, and we may fear what happens when it goes away. Whatever the reasons, it is important to confront your reluctance to find true freedom in your life. This freedom is found through taking responsibility for your actions and using this responsibility to empower your future decisions and thoughts; freedom is not to be found in giving responsibility away.
Black cockatoo suggests that you may not be caring for friends, family and material objects around you enough. You have to preserve what you care for, in order for it to remain nourishing. You can preserve the things and people you care for by giving them your time, your patience, and your energy. When you give away your material and spiritual wealth, you receive in kind.
Communion:
Like all animal helpers, this animal will only appear when right and appropriate, and cannot be forced to visit you, commune with you, or share messages with you. Black cockatoo is a powerful guide, and usually a messenger on behalf of other gods and spirits. If you have black cockatoo as a long-term guide or even as a guide, you have an extraordinarily strong locus of power to pull from. Black cockatoo’s ability to teach through emotional expression, creativity and joy also makes it one of the more cheerful teachers to work with. Black cockatoo is a communicative guide, accessible as an inspirational Muse, and also strong-minded and willed. S/he also commands a great deal of respect, and is one of a few animal guides that has no qualms abandoning you if you don’t give enough respect and humility.
However, black cockatoo can be a difficult guide to approach in journeying, let alone visualisation. This is a bird that comes at its own convenience, and not yours, and even those who have black cockatoo as a long-term guide find that there are sometimes whole seasons or years where it is absent. It can be honoured through drumming, particularly those that involve sticks or branches, as well as any creative expression. Offerings of artwork, song, chanting, drumming, dance and writing are appreciated.