IdleRich

IdleRich
At my parents' house and they induced me to watch a documentary about birds of prey, there was a bit where they went to the garden of this guy who had owls visiting recently and he wore a t-shirt that said The Owls Are Not What They Seem. So what are they then? Why are they so important?

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I always think of Pram, Stereolab and Broadcast as the same kind of thing (also United States of America but they're not from Britain, not sure where they are from in fact) and from what I've heard Pram are the superior band. And they love Garner too so I guess you should.


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Also

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Which has gotta be based on The Owl Service (and in turn on the Mabinogion) cos the first track is called Owls and Flowers. So TOS is THE basis for the whole of this sound in uk pop I guess.

And US weirdness too



And I kinda get that cos on the very rare occasions I've seen an owl, particularly a barn owl in flight it's one of the spookiest and most beautiful sights.

Or a different take. Girl from East London is evacuated to the countryside in the blitz, hears this weird noise and asks her foster family what it was "that was an owl" - she replies "I know it was an owl but what owled it?"
 

luka

Well-known member
ive not seen one in the wild but ive heard them wake up and go out to hunt and its the most beautiful, haunting thing.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
It's hard to see one in the wild. Only by luck for me until my dad had one nesting in his garden at one.
Some of the sounds are beautiful, but there was this noise and i kept thinking what the fucking hell is that, and then I realised that I'd known the name screech owl for a long time without ever knowing why it was called that.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Imagine you are a mouse or a vole or something and you see this - I suppose they probably never do which is a blessing.

 

sus

Moderator
We seem to like owls. Rare among nocturnal beasts innit? We hate hate hate bats. Owls are friends, maybe because they kill pests and rodents?
 

sus

Moderator
They feel almost mammalian among the birds. Round faces. Big round eyes. Earth tones like a cat or dog. Not some giant ravens death beak in the middle of their faces.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
They feel almost mammalian among the birds. Round faces. Big round eyes. Earth tones like a cat or dog. Not some giant ravens death beak in the middle of their faces.

They look an awful lot like cats yea. I guess it's parallel evolution of predators with eyes to the front etc but both owls and cats do look a bit human almost.
Gonna disagree with you about bats though.
 

Benny Bunter

Well-known member
The two most obvious things they represent in literature and mythology are wisdom (Athena/Minerva) and as harbingers of death.

Rereading Macbeth at the minute, and an owl shrieks as King Duncan is murdered, and an old man reports that:

"'Tis unnatural,
Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last
A falcon towering in her pride of place
Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed."
 

Murphy

cat malogen
A mate has one sit right by his bedroom calling to its mates. He doesn’t mind, just doesn’t wanna serve an owl a statutory council order for noise abatement. Have to get one of his vids. He said it just sits looking up at the windows and if you peak at it, it calls more and more

They’re active here across a myriad of tree networks, calling to each particularly when it warms slightly, then it’s like an owl rave


The two most obvious things they represent in literature and mythology are wisdom (Athena/Minerva) and as harbingers of death.

Rereading Macbeth at the minute, and an owl shrieks as King Duncan is murdered, and an old man reports that:

"'Tis unnatural,
Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last
A falcon towering in her pride of place
Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed."

Heed its terrible call!
 

Murphy

cat malogen
Dickey also wrote poems, one of which is titled The Owl King - the novel of Deliverance also features owls, both real and artificial. According to C. Hines Edwards, jr., in his paper Dickey's Deliverance: The Owl and The Eye

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In Chrysopoeia: metaphysical reflections on transformation in James Dickey's "The Owl King" it is stated that:





The Owl of Minerva ( alt; Athena ) was a symbol used by the Bavarian Illuminati:

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The Owl of Athena:

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Athena became Diana in the Roman Pantheon. And of course it was Diana who was ritually slaughtered in a tunnel. Owls are believed to be able to show the road to Hades, which is underground.

In The Princess Di Conspiracy ( the Film They Don't Want You to See) By Patrick O'Connor there is a scene where Diana is presented with an artificial owl by "major" James Hewitt ( he has to make a living as a gardener now, hard times ):

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Owls figure heavily in UFO lore



not to forget Bohemian Grove

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or Macron and his owl tee shirt

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or Twin Peaks

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Murphy

cat malogen
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This representation of an evil sorcerer comes from the Codex Laud, one of a handful of manuscripts predating the Spanish invasion that survived the mass incineration of Mesoamerican codices by Christian friars.

The generic name to refer to evil sorcerers was tlacatecolotl, or “owl-man.” Owls were believed to come from the underworld and announced death and bad fortunes to the living. A tlacatecolotl was capable of inflicting sickness, death, and bad fortunes onto their victims. Harbingers of disease, they were considered sad, poor people, unable to find peace or have a home, who made their miserable living out of contracts to hurt others. Those who captured a tlacatecolotl cut the hairs in the crown of the sorcerer’s head, as this was believed to put an end to his magical powers and lead to his death shortly after.

A tlacatecolotl was just one of dozens of sorcerer kinds inhabiting the Nahua world. Unlike owl-men, most sorcerers used their diverse magical abilities to benefit society: some diagnosed illnesses, others cured the sick, some knew the occult and the future, others located lost people and things, some had supernatural personalities, while others could control meteorites.
 
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