Owl as Totem

Saw an owl tonight in a friends large magnificent backyard - Brenton & Jessica's she teaches Mindful Yoga, and works with Jeanne at Seeking Indigo in downtown Charleston. Their house is located in beautiful secluded spot on John's Island. Their backyard is adjacent to a marsh with a big natural life-filled pond. There is a view of Stono River bridge fairly close and gorgeous Cooper River bridge in the distance. The owl just stayed in the tree looking at me. I even got a good photo of it. I am in the process of moving from N. Myrtle Beach to Charleston, S. C. and Owl Totem is all about change - death and rebirth. It is very hard transition to move from family home, however I feel like it is time?

Owl sees and knows the truth. It's ability to navigate through the darkest night and bring back nourishment for itself and others is the foundation of this essence. When you have lost your way, owl essence will guide you back to your proper path and wisdom.

Expanded Definition - Death and rebirth, releasing that which has outlived it's benefit and usefulness in your life, actual physical death transition, can be placed in a bowl of water and used to help earth bound Souls find their guides and loved ones. Clearing a home or land of negative energy. Starting over in a new life or releasing the ties that kept you bound to the old one. Enhances clairvoyance, clairaudience, communication from one's Master Guides and Totems.

Owls have long been associated with both death and wisdom. In Greek mythology an Owl was sacred to Pallas Athene, the Goddess of wisdom, because it sat on her shoulder and lit up her blind side. Their association with death comes from their peerless ability as hunters of the night, they are able to navigate through the most densely forested areas in order to seek out and capture their prey. Crows will mob Owls when they are near their territory for they know that when night falls, Owl becomes a formidable predator that will return to the Crow's nesting areas in search of a tasty Crow dinner.

Yet even so, the Owl provides a vital function in keeping bird, rodent and insect populations in check; too many of any species is detrimental to the balance of all. So it is with other things in our own lives, for if we have too many possessions, too many projects, too much of anything, it limits and restricts our ability to move freely through the different areas of our lives and the resu lt is stagnation which leads to the death of joy, happiness and abundance. Owl medicine then becomes crucial in helping us to clear out that which is no longer needed or wanted. What may seem like a death to us in the giving up of something may be for another the birth and manifestation of a dream. We are most likely to lose our way when we become enmeshed in the "shoulds" and "must haves" in life, most of which come not from our inner selves but from the opinions and beliefs of those around us. We can spend so much time listening to others about what we should want ( and the commercials on the telly and radio are prime examples of this!) that we ignore what we really want. We find ourselves spiraling downwards into the darkness because we have become so busy thinking we must pursue this or hunt that, most of which provides very little, if any, real nourishment.

Think for a moment what your life would be like if you were able to jettison anything that did not speak to you on a Soul level. What would remain? What then would you "hunt" because it provided for you on all levels? That is what Owl medicine teaches us to do. We find that as we begin to move through the process of what we truly want, clearing the old to make way for the new birth of the Self that is close at hand, we find that other obstacles, limitations, fears and anxieties also begin to "die" in our lives. They no longer have the hooks to remain attached to our energy fields and without our support, they must die.

Owl knows that all apparent manner of death is in fact a liberation into a new life. Something must first be cleared away for anything new to be born. When a person moves, leaves a job or relationship, has a baby, adopts a new animal friend, something in the old way of life had to die for the new to be created. At the time it may seem incredibly painful because we have been taught that death is an ending, not a new beginning, and that what is in the process of being born is always more beneficial than the old. The pain and grief is extended and heightened when we try to hang on to what was because we believe that s the best we would ever have. The unknown can seem dreadfully forbidding, how will we cope, who will be there if we stumble, what if we fail?

Owl can take us beyond those thoughts and fears, for Owl sees far into the future and knows that even after the darkest night there is a new dawn that is approaching. It is as inevitable as babies crying and of buds bursting for th from plants in the spring. From every death something new must emerge for life is ever renewing itself. The Crow that was taken by an Owl last summer may reappear the following spring as a nestling. The Berries that were eaten by a Bear one year may reappear the next as a bird, an ant or a human being. All of life is interconnected and we are all part and parcel of the same fabric that wends its way through the stories of our own life and death. Death then becomes not a loss but a new adventure to be explored with great abandon and joy.

Chakra - Root, Crown
Essential Oil - Rosemary, Lime, Cinnamon
Chant - Ti mah su
Planet - Pluto
Other Supportive Measures - Write a letter to a loved one who has passed over or light a candle for them for 7 consecutive days. Look back at some of the "deaths" in your life, how have they helped you to become the person you are today? Join a discussion or support group for death and dying, study the planet Pluto in your natal chart and note what deaths have occurred through the house where it is found and also the house where Scorpio is found on the cusp or contained within it. Hold a releasing ceremony, symbolically burying or burning anything you no longer want or need in your own life. Make up your own ritual for this and follow your own inner knowing or call upon Owl to help show you the way.

Same owl not so close-up - in magnificent Palmetto tree!

Thanks for the feedback guys - especially "death can mean death of the ego & freedom of Self", Arji & Lisa - "about embracing the death part, that is when you really start to live!" very encouraging and supportive!