Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road ? (Pagan-style)

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. Second, 
"crossing the road" is part of the three levels, or worlds,
and the chicken simply crossed from one level to another. 
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 therefrom. 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 prepare 
herself 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 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 doing so, 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 chickencoop" business. We didn't get our 
concepts of "chickens" or "the other side" 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 get away 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 of 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 really kewl 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 you wrote > 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. much better after ranting> 

Solitary: The chicken didn't want to be part of a coven or 
an oven. 

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. 

Snert: Hey, are you guys really chickens? Can you give me 
a spell that will make a chicken cross the road? 

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 chickensim. 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. 

Isaac 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 Castenada: 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, in harmony with the gravel and the stones of the 
road. She is across; it is over, and the chicken stands 
in the field on the other side of the road. Natural chicken 
crossing is unique among most other branches 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. In version 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 for summoning 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 Chicken. 

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 til 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. 

Other Chicken Humor: As a chaotic Buddhist gourmet kitchen 
witch of family traditionalist leanings, I choose to 
participate in the parallel consciousness where said plump 
chicken (having realized its ability to bi-locate to what 
the uninitiated perceive as the "other" side of the road 
since it observed in a moment of center that an alternative 
possibility for exquisite consumption lay just beyond 
understanding in that alternative other side of the road -  
why else would any creature of taste and proper upbringing 
exert the apparent energy necessary to be perceived as 
movement) is now located in my boiling pot of soup (deemed 
sacred for today since it is producing soup for High 
Holiday - which we are celebrating eight days late since 
it coincides with a family reunion). Oh, it's alright about 
boiling the chicken, I contacted its higher Self and 
identified my intent to use its physical form in a most 
respectful manner and my gratitude for the sacrifice of the 
creature now known as Chicken (keeps the meet tender while 
cooking).