The Image of the Owl

In UFO and related, supernatural, esoteric lore, the owl figures in a big way. The owl has been used, ironically, as the symbol for rational explanations to the anomalous by uber-pathological-skeptibunkies, like Joe Nickell. Nickell has concluded not once, but at least three times, that the owl is what witnesses to such strange events had seen. The owl, Nickell has smugly decided, is the solution to the Mothman phenomena, the Flatwoods creature, and the Kelly Hopkinsville entities.

But owls also appear in UFO abduction encounters; Whitley Strieber has written about his experiences with owls and other birds, like ravens, in his books. The owl has become a sub-cultural image of the mysterious, the unexplained, the "dark" side. The television series Twin Peaks was aware of this. As one character said: "The owls are not what they seem."

My Trickster's Realm column for BoA this week is on owls, and Lesley's Gray Matters column is also on owls. We didn't know about each other's topic choice beforehand. And, richelle hawks, also a Binnall of America contributor (and both are contributors to my blog Women of Esoterica) wrote about motif of birds. (Related post: Lesley and Regan on Owl Synchronicity.)

What does this have to do with art? In a round about way; Mike Clelland, of hidden experience, has a deep connection to owls. Mike, whose art has appeared here on Alien Art Genre, posted the following link on WOE about an upcoming movie, which, as he commented:"The owl as mystical bird is gunna find it's way into pop culture - for good or for bad - after THIS movie comes out this fall:

Legends of the Guardians. Usually YouTube lets you embed the clip but it's been disabled for this promo. Check it out; I liked what I saw, but will have to wait for the movie of course. Either way, the images and animation are beautiful. It seems worth seeing just for that. I wish I could post images from the clip but follow the link to see the trailer.

Interesting the owls are guardians, I assume . . . in other lore, owls are, well, "not what they seem."