The Enchanted Aviary: The Temple of The Bird Goddess

Below the cage of the Visionary Birds, on the east side of the small loggia, is the Temple of The Bird Goddess. It has a porcelain statue of The Great Mother Bird, She Who Dominates Air, ever pregnant and blissfully hatching The Seven Thousand Eggs of The World. This is the sacred image that greets first light long before the birds in the enchanted aviary begin to open their eyes. She is prayed to and worshiped by these birds at sunrise and at sundown. Even the birds that live in the other trees on the compound pay homage to her.

The old hermit who keeps this temple designated two java sparrows, a bird priest and a bird priestess, as the caretakers of this extraordinary sanctuary. It is appointed with copper and brass vessels from Tibet, high up north of the Philippines on the globe, and ritual implements that only the bird priest and the bird priestess may see. The statue of The Great Mother Bird traveled to Cubao all the way from the island of Marinduque, south of Metro Manila. North and south therefore meet in this temple.

The bird scholars of the enchanted aviary are the dyed sparrows that live in the Cage of The Divination Birds. It is their task to master the voluminous passages in The Holy Book of The Birds. This is a secret book that is seldom shown to human beings. The hermit very kindly shares with us seven passages from the secret book below:

Birds are always in the mythology, scripture, folklore, history, creative literature, and art of human beings.

The world has a myriad of birds, but all of them peacefully coexist. The world has a few races of human beings, but it is difficult for them to coexist.

Birds are born with natural raiment. Human beings must work to clothe themselves.

Birds survive on restricted diets. Human beings are unable to eat the same food everyday.

Birds talk with their beaks as human beings talk with their mouths. Birds are more straightforward and direct, for they also eat with their beaks while human beings need hands to bring food to their mouths.

Many human beings eat birds, but only few birds eat human beings.

When human beings fly, they sometimes crash, even if no one shoots them down.

Should you see the hermit placing fresh flowers and fragrant sunflower seeds inside the temple and lighting incense on the floor of the enchanted aviary, you can be sure that the sunrise and sundown rituals of the birds are about to begin.