Thought and Desire - the painting and the myth

Thought and Desire

9 x 12 x 1.5 Oil

©2015 Deb Kirkeeide

A Little Allegory

As you may have noticed, ravens are a favorite subject. To me they represent transformation and creation. They will forever be symbolic of when I fully realized my desire to be an artist. The thought was always there, but you need the desire to fully realize it.

An astute friend saw this painting on my easel in a recent studio picture and asked if it was a painting of me and my raven. At the time I hadn’t set out with that in mind, but now I think he’s right. Seems to be a personal representation of my self and the raven as my spirit animal. I love when that happens!

A Little Mythology

In Norse mythology there is the story of the two ravens, Hugin and Munin who are the shamanic helping spirits of the god Odin. The poem describes them from the perspective of Odin:

Hugin and Munin
Fly every day
Over all the world;
I worry for Hugin
That he might not return,
But I worry more for Munin.

Hugin and Munin are simultaneous projections or extensions of Odin’s own being.Their names are derived from hugr which is “thought”, and munr “desire”, both of which are distinct parts of the self in their own right.

If you’d like to read a little more than my excerpt of this story, here’s a link to the site
http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/others/hugin-and-munin/
The author Dan McCoy does a much better job of telling the tale.