As some of you who read ribbonfarm regularly have probably already realized, this set of prompts has to do with the goat-crow-rat triangle mythos I'm trying to construct.
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Huh, all three are “ugly, smart survivor” archetypes; but rats are contemptible, crows are scary, and goats are ornery/difficult.
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That's an interesting reaction to the ensemble, I'm going to make that a separate prompt
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I just reread your two inaugural posts from back then (I had some older notes on this as well), & again had the sense that there was a good bit of value in the triangle, but the point was reinforced that you get yourself into trouble with the G/C/R stuff. A bridge too far?
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While the (mountain) Goat concept makes some sense as to the scaling of cliffs/etc., they are also Trickster/"Special Child" w/ these abilities, i.e. it's specifically not striving.
But as is being pted out that's true for other "feral special children" too, such as Ratatouille
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As Sarah says, "smart survivor" is definitely part of the Core Archetype. The crow is probably the least apt, as it is usually associated with "The Sphinx"/darkness/otherworldliness, and less with any sort of tribal/etc. "Public"
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Thanks for the notes, good to get your reads in these. I don’t necessarily want to harmonize with the existing archetypal perceptions but just be aware of them as context. I think all 3 can be reprogrammed unlike sharper ones like snake, crab, or lion.
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I think the modern practical perception of crows has shifted the most from the classic archetype. It’s now as much clever, tool-using urban bird as it is an omen of death or a witch familiar.
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while that makers some sense, & I get the allusions that come up for you, it feels like you'd be working against the grain more than you need to? Note e.g. "The Crow" movie with the dark/ominous Brandon Lee death on set that several folks mentioned on your tread
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"Public"/ (Larger) Social Space vertex has many features/rules that I'm not sure crows drive home for you… Among them, that no crow ever "is someone", even in crow land? Ironically the popular usage has "rat race" for some of what goes under the social mark/striving you describe
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That’s a feature, not a bug! These couplings and overlaps among the 3 are what make them good archetypal motifs for time. I’m using them to refactor chronos/kairos/aion in a fun way. Shake things up a bit. While each owns a vertex, they are also secondaries at other vertices.


