Blogpost 5: Seeing Owls

       When you see an owl what would it mean to you? Rather than thinking and answering it as an ordinary bird with huge eyes emitting spooky hoots. In my point of view I would rather identify the owl as a doctor that kills when it sees a person crossing its field of vision. That was a little bit different when we say that the owl is simply identified as death. Even in my previous discussions I identified the owl as the death persona, but at some point I also represent the owl as an archetype to a person’s rationality. Thus, that made neglects me to believe in the symbolism for wisdom.

         I followed into deep research in terms of the owl’s association to death and even wisdom itself. I find it hard to believe that owls are clearly associated with wisdom itself, yet I found and generate a new idea which is that the owl is now associated with the wisdom of death knowing that the death is impossible to escape from. From my current claim this is true to everyone, even those people in myths and legends they all die; unless they are immortal. Sometimes, I have this kind of thinking about the owl’s representation towards gender; instead of identifying them as mere wandering souls; how about looking upon their personality itself.

     I found this article entitled “What does it mean when you see an owl– Facts and Symbolism” by Cyndi Calhoun from hubpages. Almost everyone knows that when identifying owls as a symbol for wisdom this simply denotes that they are automatically associated with Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom. Others view them as the moon, night, and even female souls.

        In the Native American realm they had a bad image for the owl; since they regard it as the bird that associate too much with sorcery. Another would be the association with their god of death named “Skeleton Man”; which somehow made an impression towards its symbolism for darkness and death. When we say that they are subjects to sorcery; the article mentioned that these birds help sorcerers gain clairvoyant powers for malicious deeds and selfish reasons. They also made a prediction towards death like when the owl hoots and it was heard; it depends on how close the bird hoots and it is relative to how close the person to you is going to die.

         At some point, owls were not entirely viewed as an aspect of death. Some of these people view these birds as signs of impeding danger or we simply say is as an obstacle. It may be hard to believe, because most of the time people see these birds in horror films and generate certain imageries that would defile the truth of the bird’s background. At the same time, they also view this bird as the one who balances the night; since the day was represented by the hawk. The weird thing is that when a person is born in between November 23 and December 21; most likely their symbol would be the owl. This is relatively similar to the movie entitled brother bear; wherein the main character in that movie who was a Native American was given a necklace carved with a bear. Others in that movie have different animal necklaces too like eagles, condors and many more.

     The article also mentioned about totem animals; the owl itself simply represented as someone who can see other person’s personality. Thus from that ability itself it is easy to identify the meaning of the actions of people whom you will encounter. Gaining this kind of ability is somehow related to clairvoyance.

         Owls are differently identified by the means of culture, sometimes they are indentified as death itself or wisdom. Well, in other countries like the American Natives, view owls in a different way; since these creatures are somehow considered as a deity that promotes balance. Still, I do not say that the owl is completely a deity itself. It is said in the article that the owl represents the moon, night and the female gender; while the opposite of the bird is the hawk because it represents the sun, day, and male gender. It may somehow make any sense that Native Americans consider animals with greater value.

         Relatively, I made further research and found this article entitled “Animals in Mythology– Explore the mythological Attribute of Animals” by Kum Martin from ezinearticles. The article stated that animals were somehow part of the growing civilizations; since they also contributed to the growth of the society by the means of myths and legends. There are common myths and legends that are presented to us nowadays. Never the less these stories and epics are passed down from generation to generation.

“Mythology has demonstrated animals in diverse roles such that of heroes, mediators between the heaven and earth, resources of knowledge, and at times dangerous as well.”

From that statement I find it appealing to say that animals have greatly influenced the human culture. Never the less they also generated certain personas that would also help us understand the meaning of life. Most of the time, people are ignorant to understand the depths of the truth itself. At some point it is also relative to say that with the use of animal background and symbolisms; we tend to understand each other. Like the classification of the night owl for example. These people tend to be active at night, but sleepy during the day; same goes with the owl some of them stay at night and feed themselves and roost during the day.

“Owl is an example of one such animal with discrepancy in character owing to the area concerned. While in the West, an owl stands for acumen and foresight; in the Eastern myths, it is regarded as an omen of death, disease and felony.”

From my discussion above, it is true that owls are regarded differently in culture, but this does not hinder us to make certain things that would distort the balances of the circle of life. It may be true to the point that it is already embedded to the people practices and beliefs. Still, certain things that are beautiful enough to see are not meant to be destroyed.

To conclude, owls do have different cultural profiles all throughout the world. They may be regarded as a symbol for death and at the same time wisdom. In the midst of my discussions, I self proclaimed that the owl is not simply symbolized as death and wisdom, but the rationality of having the wisdom towards death knowing that death itself is not avoidable. At some point people who view these birds only as death are blinded with the truth, wherein the owl is simply a sign of incoming harsh obstacles.