Observations placeholder
Cirlot on flocks of birds
Identifier
007113
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
According to Cirlot, a single bird is regarded as a positive sign whereas a flock is a negative sign.
Putting my logical masculine black hat on, I cannot see why. Seeing multiple Higher spirits should be no more negative than seeing one Higher spirit. Whatever is symbolised by the bird is key and then the numbers may only serve to emphasise the point – which may be positive or negative.
But putting my emotional feminine white hat on all I hear is aaah but what about Hitchcock's the Birds.
A description of the experience
A Dictionary of Symbols – J. E. Cirlot
.........as Diel has pointed out, birds, and particularly flocks of birds – for a multiplicity is ever a sign of the negative – may take on evil implications.... thus birds in the Hercules legend, rising up from the Lake Stymphalus, which stands for the stagnation of the soul and the paralysis of the spirit, denote manifold wicked desires ..........