Alexandrian/Gardnerian:
To reveal this would be to break my oath of secrecy. I can say, though,
that it *really* is an ancient rite, dating far back in time, back even
before 1951, and I have learned it from an unbroken lineage. As Gerald
said, it takes a chicken to make an egg.
Asatru:
First, we don't believe in a "One Chicken" or a "Hen and Rooster." We
believe in many chickens. Although this belief is contradicted by some
early medieval Icelandic sources, the preponderance of evidence suggests
that these sources were heavily influenced by Christianity and its
insistence on a single Chicken. Scholars agree that pre-Christian sources
(see footnote for references) give a more accurate portrayal of Norse
cosmology, in which each Chicken is an independent entity with its own
powers. Second, as Loki Lokisson has proved in his highly influential
study "The Chicken's Troth" (see footnote for references), "the road" was
an image often used to represent the relationship between the three
levels, or worlds, which together comprised the whole of the barnyard,
thus the chicken simply crossed from one level to another, a shamanic
journey which is described in detail in the Voluspá. Hail to the
Chickens!
British Traditional:
The word "chicken" comes from a very specific Old English word
"gechekken"), and it only properly applies to certain fowl of East Anglia
or those descended there from. As for the rest, I suppose they are doing
something remotely similar to crossing the road, but you must remember
that traditional roads are not to be confused with the modern
roads....
Celtic:
In County Feedbeygohn on Midsummer's day, there is still practiced
St.Henny's Dance, which is a survival of the old pagan Chicken Crossing
fertility rite. Today, modern pagans are reviving the practice, dedicated
to the Hen and the Green Rooster.
Ceremonial:
"Crossing the road" is a phrase that summarizes many magical structures
erected and timed by the chicken to produce the energy necessary for the
intention of the travel across the road. For example, the astrological
correspondences had to be correct, the moon had to be waxing (if the
chicken intended to come to the other side of the road) or waning (if the
chicken intended to flee to the other side of the road), and the chicken
had to prepareherself through fasting and proper incantations. Note:
certain forms of invocation (summoning an egg *inside* your chicken self)
can produce abnormal or even dangerous eggs and should only be conducted
inside a properly erected barnyard. ...
Chaos:
Thinking in terms of "roads" and "crossings" is simply looking at the
formal, typically perceived structure of chicken crossing space-time.
We,instead, focus on the possibility of chicken crossing itself; what
appears to be a random act is thus actually the norm ---- it is the
**road** which is the freak of chance. Indeed, quantum mechanics now
demonstrates what we knew all along: two roads can simultaneously exist in
the same place at the same time. Thus, by attuning ourselves to the
dynamic energy (called "crossing"), we can manifest the road. Of course,
to the unknowledgeable, this appears as a chicken crossing the road.
Dianic:
The chykyn ("chicken" is a term of patriarchal oppression) sought to
reclaim
for herself the right to be on the other side of the road, after it had
been denied to her for centuries. By asserting her independence in this
manner, she reawakened the power of the Hen within herself.
Discordian:
cock-a-doodle-doo !
Druid:
To get to the sacred grove, of course! Keep in mind that 99% of everything
written about chickens-crossing-the-road is pure hogwash, based on biased
sources. Yes, there were a few unfortunate chicken sacrifices in the past,
but that is over now...
Eclectic:
Because it seemed right to her at the time. She used some Egyptian style
corn and a Celtic sounding word for the road and incorporated some Native
American elements into her Corn-name,
Chicken-Who-Dances-and-Runs-with-the-Wolves.
Faery:
In twilight times and under sparkling stars, those properly trained can
still see the chickens crossing the roads. Reconnecting with these
"fey-fowl" as they cross is crucial to restoring the balance between the
energies of modern development and living with the earth.
Family Traditional:
Growing up, we didn't think much about "crossing the road." A chicken was
a chicken. It crossed the road because that was what worked to get her to
the other side. We focused on what worked, and we worked more with the
elders of the barnyard and less with all this "guardians of the chicken
coop" business. We didn't get our concepts of "chickens" or "the
otherside" from Gardner, either. You can choose not to believe us since we
did not "scratch down" on paper what was clucked to us orally (which, at
certain times in history, was the only way to avoid becoming Easter
chicken soup!),but that doesn't change the facts: there *were* real
chickens, and they *really did* cross the road!
Kitchen Witch:
The chicken crossed the road to get food, to get a rooster or to getaway
from me after I decided to have chicken for supper !
Left Hand Path:
White, fluffy chickens prancing across the road ! Do you think that is
*all* there is to crossing the road? Do you *dare* to know the Dark Side
of crossing the road and the *other* path to self-development?
New Age:
The chicken crossed the road because she chose this as one her lessons to
learn in this life. Besides, there was so much incense and bright, white
corn to explore on the Other Side.
Newbie:
well, 'cause I read in this book that said, like, chickens are supposed to
cross the road, right?
Posting on an Online Discussion Group:
What do you mean < ???!!!??? Haven't you read **any** of the previous
posts? We've been [expletive deleted] debating every word of that
question, painstakingly trying to come to some kind of answer. I know all
you
wrote was why chickens cross the road, I'm not looking for any chicken
spells but I'm fed up with newbies who can't even bother to
REEEEEEEEAAADDD the posts on that very topic! No, this is *not* a flame.
But, I and several others here have the *maturity* to properly explore and
respond to this question, and we were properly trained; we *didn't* just
read a book and think we were full-fledged chickens.
Shaman:
Crossing the road is a way to reconnect with the healing, visionary
lifeways of the past. Chickens have long known this, but increasingly the
Rooster's Movement is adding more roosters to the crossings too.
Wiccan:
The chicken crossed the road because she felt like she was finally "coming
home." She could do it alone or with others, but she had to call to the
Guardians of the Watchtowers of the Barnyard first... uhm, after casting
the circle.
How Some Pagan Authors Might Respond:
Margot Adler:
The recent chicken resurgence, it can be argued,is directly based on a
response to the suburban middle class experience. While I found that
chickens-who-cross-roads who responded to my survey are of a wide range of
ages and backgrounds, I discovered some trends in the "why" of crossing
the road. For some it is was freedom. For some it is chickenism. Many
chickens told me they crossed the road for intellectual satisfaction. One
thing is clear: the growth of road crossing by chickens is expanding in
the numbers of chickens and in the ways they cross the road, including at
chicken festivals and for political blocking of roads.
I. Bonewits:
Real crossing-the-road, we have seen, is a very interwoven and complicated
subject. Our conclusion could be that real crossing-the-road is the build
up of chicken emotion in conjunction with chicken concepts to vary the
modulation of chicken energy so as to effect the modulation of the road's
energy. That's all! Perhaps it is unfortunate, though, to use the word
"chicken" in relation to it, since the "C" word is being used now in a way
it was never used before in the English language and is an utterly
meaningless term without a qualifying adjective. And this, of course, is
the fault of the medieval Christian Church, through the Gothic Chickens it
invented and used as the basis of persecuting men, women and chickens. The
word "chicken" itself comes from an Indo-European root, "cheeka/e" meaning
"one who lays eggs," and it has no relation to the later Anglo-Saxon word
for "wise spirit of flight,"as so often stated by certain contemporary
"Chics." An'Chk'Rrhod ("Our Own Chickens on Our Own Roads"), an authentic
Neo-Chicken Rooster tradition, offers the best of paleo-, meso- and
neo-Chickenism ...
Carlos Castaneda:
4/10/1964
I spent 14 hours, without food or water, sitting on the dirt
and under the sun in front of Don Juan's house, grinding chicken feed. I
asked Don Juan if I could have a drink of water, and he told me that it
was always this way, that a man who wanted to cross the road with the
chicken cannot have any food or water till the chicken feed is ground. I
asked Don Juan if the chicken is an ally, like the little smoke. Don Juan
seemed to get angry and stayed silent. After I completed grinding the
corn, I hallucinated from heat exhaustion, and Don Juan said I was ready.
As I collapsed to my side, I spilled the chicken feed around me. A chicken
appeared to be eating the feed around me, and I became strangely absorbed
in the vision. I heard Don Juan's voice tell me, "You must let the chicken
cross the road into you. It is very painful, but for a man of knowledge it
is easy."
Scott Cunningham:
A chicken passes between the grasses, clucking. The wind blows, and the
chicken knows, *knows*, that this is the time. She puts her energy into
taking the steps, inharmony with the gravel and the stones of the road.
She is across; it is over, and the chicken stands in the field on the of
the road....Natural chicken crossing is unique among most other of the art
of chicken road crossing. It doesn't require years of collecting or
fashioning coops, feeders or hen houses. Indeed, the most important tools
of natural chicken crossing are free: the road, the chicken and you, your
personal chicken power. You're already familiar with it. You've felt it.
You *are* a chicken. Crossing the road is you, with your chicken need.
And, you can do it on your own. After all, who initiated the first
chicken?
Janet and Stewart Farrar:
Since so many editions of Gardner's Chicken Book of Crossings have
appeared in print (some accurate, some not), we think it won't "lay an
egg" too much if we clearly present "The Chicken Crossing Rite,"
especially if we do so after two and half pages of well researched
introduction set in six-point type. Inversion A of the Chicken Crossing
Rite, we find many pseudo-archaisms (e.g.,"Yea, Ye Anciente Rite of Ye
Chiks and Ye Rodes is a moste powerful Crafting,taking thy athame ...");
however, Doreen Valiente notes (in version C, which is what we present),
and we agree, that underlying it all is a basic ritual forsummoning the
astral road through the spirit of the Chicken (drawn down in the person of
the High Priestess, holding the black handled feed bin; of course, a
second degree may assist or perform the rite when....
Llewellyn's Practical Chicken Magick Series:
To some people, the idea that "chickens crossing the road" is practical
comes as a surprise. It shouldn't. The whole idea of Crossing the Road is
practical for chickens. While Crossing the Road is also, and properly so,
concerned with spiritual growth and psychological transformation-- the
"why" of crossing the road-- every chicken's life must rest firmly on
material roads. Crossing the Road is the flowering of chicken potential.
And the profits from publishing all those books on how to do so? Well,
that ain't chicken feed...
Starhawk:
The chicken crossed the road to reclaim the crossing experience, the
experience of being fully alive, with streams and earth and rocks and
road, in the fullness of her chickenhood after thousands of years of
roosterarchy. The chicken crossing the road ---not a chicken laying eggs,
not a chicken being roasted and eaten--- a chicken strong and free,
crossing the road, this is something I can believe in. We chickens, as
chickens, can reclaim this in harmony with the Earth who gives life to all
chickens and Who has been terribly scratched by roosters. Exercises: Dance
the Spiral Road Crossing.
Doreen Valiente:
Old Chicken really did exist, and she really did cross the road. Gerald
talked about her often, but she didn't cross the road till before I began
studying with Gerald. Still, there are records of Old Chicken which
confirm her reality. As for all the comments that Gerald had a "thing" for
chickens, that is simply not true. The reason we worked with chickens is
really quite simple: it worked !
Silver Raven Wolf:
Although many times people have asked me why exactly the chicken crossed
the road, I often wonder myself. My point is that every chicken comes to
the road in a different way, and there is no one correct way for the
chicken to get to the road to be crossed. The study of crossing the road
is hard work if the chicken is going to develop any degree of proficiency.
It is not something where you can just cluck yourself across the road. The
first time my chicken crossed the road was for my chicken's friend, whose
rooster was being abusive. The chicken worked the steps for crossing the
road after carefully considering all the reasons for crossing the road and
all the steps she would have to take. Finally, my chicken just started
clucking and flapping her wings and started across the road. When she
reached the other side, her friend's rooster was respectful! Afterwards,
the chicken ate some corn to ground herself.
(author unkown... very slightly modified by myself)
Take me back to Beth's Pagan Humor Page,
please!