Saturday, August 30, 2014

four owls all lined up on four posts

rural Wiltshire County

While traveling through the countryside of England this summer, I stayed in traditional little inns. Dinner was served each evening, and there was one night I was busy until late, so I came back just before the kitchen closed, in time for dessert and a pint of stout. I was the only one in the small dining area, and the waitress sort of stared at me and eventually asked, "Are you one of those crop circle people?"

I replied, "Well, sort of."

She explained that the inn gets a lot of 'croppies' each summer, and she was sort of mystified by them. I explained that I had spent the day at a crop circle conference on the campus of Marlborough College. Then I told her I was working on a book about owls. She told me that was odd because just the other evening when she was pulling into her driveway she saw a set of owls. She lives on a nearby farm, and there are four posts alongside her driveway and there was a big owl on each of the posts, four of them all lined up. They didn't fly away as she pulled in, they just sat there as she lit them up with her headlights.

I asked when that was, and she said two nights ago, the same day I arrived at the inn.

At that point I mumbled, "Oh, that was me."

She looked at me quizzically, and said, "What? Do you think you somehow manifested those owls?"

"Well, maybe."

Then I asked if she sees a lot of owls. She said not very often, but they are around. I asked if she had ever seen four in a row like that, she said, "No, never."

I then went on to explain the weirdness of my research, and how owls seem to show up in all kinds of strange ways, sometimes it seems in direct connection to me. I guess I made my point because she seemed to take me seriously and said that, "Maybe you did manifest those owls."

She told about growing up in Wiltshire and how the area is rich with folklore. She was skeptical about most of these tales, that it was just part of living here. She told me a story about a friend who was hunting rabbits, and was about to shoot towards a hedge row when an small orange orb appeared, floating near where he was pointing his gun, causing him to pause. At that point a fellow walked out from behind the bushes along a foot path. If he would have fired his riffle, he quite probably would have shot that man, so the little orb might have saved a life.
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9 comments:

Knocker said...

Best owl story yet, Mike. Fascinating.

indistinguishable said...

Regarding owls, UFOs and rock-n-roll: it has struck me recently (tho' it might not be news to you) that the "Flock of Seagulls" singer's famous haircut is nothing other than an Owl mask. Watch "Space Age Love Song" again...and say, isn't "flock of [birds]" an old standard in the UFO debunker's toolbox, like "swamp gas?" What are they trying to say here?

Red Pill Junkie said...

Maybe something will turn up if we could locate this woman's farm on a Google map :)

Knocker said...

I don't think I've mentioned him before, but another perspective on the owls, or personal animal spirits, can be found in the writings of Robert Moss. He takes sightings of power animals very seriously, developed his shamanic knowledge after powerful dreaming which started after his NDEs, and teaches other dreamers to rely on dreams to develop personal power in waking life.

http://www.mossdreams.blogspot.com

His entry as of this morning touches on power animals in a blog title starting with "Island Woman ...', but in each of his books, power animals take a front seat.

He's a fascinating character and a worthy dreamer. Synchronicity plays heavily in his dialogues too.

hopefulpundit said...

Just listened to Linda Godfrey on Arcane Radio...Sean and Lon's new venture. In the last few minutes Lon mentioned that he seems to be getting a lot of owl reports, but he didn't really put it into context but Linda mentioned that Owls are currently in our "national zeitgeist" esp.as home decor. ..any input on your part Mike ?

Mike Clelland! said...

Reply to Wade:

Well, owls are certainly popular. It is a ever present part of pop culture, from owl backpacks to owl salt and pepper shakers to owl bikinis.

There are lots of owls out there, in all kinds of forms, forcing me to be judicious in how I choose what I focus on.

Mike C

Knocker said...

I've neglected to mention nearly being scalped by an owl a few days ago. I was walking under my covered porch and just as I ran out of roofing over my head, my husband and dog saw an owl suddenly two feet above my head with his talons extended. The dog jumped at the owl and I looked up in time to see him fly past me and soar over a gate rather than go for a dove in the tree in front if me.

For someone who rarely experienced owls before reading this blog, I've certainly seen my share since.

Red Pill Junkie said...

@ Knocker: What I read on an article in National Geographic, is that owls would often 'punch' human trespassers with their claws to defend their territory, so I'm not sure if the bird was really aiming to maim you.

Knocker said...

Well, that's certainly interesting! I don't think he even intended to punch me though. We just showed up in the same space at the same time and were both surprised, I'm pretty sure. Hawks and owls have been eating the doves in my neighborhood, but the timing for this event was interesting. He couldn't see me until I was suddenly under him. Had to be going for dove which are prolific in my trees.

I looked up the symbolism for owls and of course wisdom is mentioned, but they are also symbolic for things unseen (intuition), and death, or more aptly, transition. I decided to take our near collision as a good omen for transition, purely from a personal perspective, but the collection of symbolic references all seem to dovetail with events in Mike's life, like totem animals if you will.

I'll have to look for the article on owls "punching." Very interesting, so thank you.