Familiars

[Jake57]

Hello.  I am not pagan, but am very pagan-friendly.  For the past two months, I have been seeing owls everywhere I go.  They are in magazines, TV shows, on the Internet and even in music videos and on clothing!  This cannot possibly be a coincidence, as it happens way too frequently, sometimes even daily or more than once a day.  

Can anybody tell me what's going on here?  I have looked up totem animals and understand the symbolism, but need more guidance, please.

[SPhoenix]

Hello.  I am not pagan, but am very pagan-friendly.  For the past two months, I have been seeing owls everywhere I go.  They are in magazines, TV shows, on the Internet and even in music videos and on clothing!  This cannot possibly be a coincidence, as it happens way too frequently, sometimes even daily or more than once a day.  

Can anybody tell me what's going on here?  I have looked up totem animals and understand the symbolism, but need more guidance, please.

 
When things like this happen to me, I use to use my infamous "Google Divination Method". I put into a search engine of my choice (google, generally, cause I r teh lazy), "animals bring messages [animal]". So in this case, I googled "animals bring messages owls".

The site that I clicked on, in my mystical, magical, maniacal divination method of "close your eyes, grab your rump, and click!" was this one:

http://mytruthsetsmefree.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/when-owl-appears-2/

I like this phrase from there, because it rings true for me, for you:

Quoth the blog: The owl is the silent guide, teaching us to trust our instincts and silent impressions, especially in regards to spirit communication.  Its appearance now is alerting you to much spirit activity around you.



I don't really see things in terms of totem animals or the like, I see their repetitive appearance as an attempt to send a message. So my method is to look up what message they bring. Otherwise, my totem animal would change every month. :p

[Jake57]

I like this phrase from there, because it rings true for me, for you:

Quoth the blog: The owl is the silent guide, teaching us to trust our instincts and silent impressions, especially in regards to spirit communication.  Its appearance now is alerting you to much spirit activity around you.



I don't really see things in terms of totem animals or the like, I see their repetitive appearance as an attempt to send a message. So my method is to look up what message they bring. Otherwise, my totem animal would change every month. :p

That's wonderful!  I especially like the part about having to deal with people who are "outrageously irritating."  That made my day.

[Catherine]

Can anybody tell me what's going on here?  I have looked up totem animals and understand the symbolism, but need more guidance, please.

I can't say definitively what's going on, but when this happens to me I figure there's something I'm supposed to learn or figure out. So, I try to learn about the animal as well as the symbolism.

For example, I had a thing going on with dragonflys for a while. Suddenly, they were everywhere. The symbolism alone wasn't enough to go on, so I learned more about the life cycle of the dragonfly and that's when I made the connection. I figured out what the "Powers That Be" wanted me to know.

I hope that helps a little.

[SPhoenix]

That's wonderful!  I especially like the part about having to deal with people who are "outrageously irritating."  That made my day.

 
:

Sometimes, it's the most mundane thing that can make you go, "OMG! That's IT!"

Another score for Google Divination. :p

Seriously, though, I really do like to look up "messages from animals" or the like when this happens to me. Although, sadly, sometimes it seems to make them stop showing up, and that can be a little sad-making.

Also, if you feel like that was the help or the message they were bringing you, it wouldn't hurt to stand outside and say "Thank you!" That's a message the wind can carry. To all the world.

[Valentine]

Hello.  I am not pagan, but am very pagan-friendly.  For the past two months, I have been seeing owls everywhere I go.  They are in magazines, TV shows, on the Internet and even in music videos and on clothing!  This cannot possibly be a coincidence, as it happens way too frequently, sometimes even daily or more than once a day.  

Can anybody tell me what's going on here?  I have looked up totem animals and understand the symbolism, but need more guidance, please.

 
To add to what everyone else is saying, there's also this: owls are extraordinarily trendy right now.  They're a really, really popular decorative motif and really "in" with all the hipsters I know.  It's a passing trend.  (It vexes me, some, because I have always loved owls, and now that they are "in," there's sort of a cultural glut on them.)  I don't know why they've become so trendy, but it's not just you seeing lots of owls, it's everyone.

[Jake57]

To add to what everyone else is saying, there's also this: owls are extraordinarily trendy right now.  They're a really, really popular decorative motif and really "in" with all the hipsters I know.  It's a passing trend.  (It vexes me, some, because I have always loved owls, and now that they are "in," there's sort of a cultural glut on them.)  I don't know why they've become so trendy, but it's not just you seeing lots of owls, it's everyone.

Maybe if we are all seeing them, they have a message for the world in general?

[Agonistes]

Hello.  I am not pagan, but am very pagan-friendly.  For the past two months, I have been seeing owls everywhere I go.  They are in magazines, TV shows, on the Internet and even in music videos and on clothing!  This cannot possibly be a coincidence, as it happens way too frequently, sometimes even daily or more than once a day.  

Can anybody tell me what's going on here?  I have looked up totem animals and understand the symbolism, but need more guidance, please.

 
Hey Jake,

A familiar is usually an animal that assists you in magic, the owls you could be seeing are perhaps your spirit animal or you seeing yourself in animal form--or just an omen.

As far as what Valentine is saying, yes owls are super trendy right now--which makes me want to throw chairs across a room because now my house looks like a hipster's palace. Albeit, they will pass this fad and I will once again revel in my nonsense.

BUT, owls in a lot of folklore and omen interpretation are usually very positive. The fact that you actively noticed the owls could be a sign of good fortune.

American Indian and the Romans saw owls as disastrous and a sign of impending doom, if you will. The bringers of sickness and death.

Interpretation of omens can be tricky, and generally goes by culture-to-culture. Or just self-interpretation. When you see the owls does something generally good or bad seem to follow or coincide with the omen?

Anywho, I do love owls.

[Jake57]

Interpretation of omens can be tricky, and generally goes by culture-to-culture. Or just self-interpretation. When you see the owls does something generally good or bad seem to follow or coincide with the omen?  

 
Hi!  Nothing good or bad seems to happen when I see them.  I am going through a rough time now, a time of great change and the need to make many major life decisions.  When I see the owls I do not sense anything negative.  I find them to be beautiful and fascinating.

[Agonistes]

Hi!  Nothing good or bad seems to happen when I see them.  I am going through a rough time now, a time of great change and the need to make many major life decisions.  When I see the owls I do not sense anything negative.  I find them to be beautiful and fascinating.

 
Owls are very beautiful. I would go with a good omen, since they fill your time of strife with great happiness and curiosity.

After all, it's all about how you see your situation. :]

[Sophia C]

American Indian and the Romans saw owls as disastrous and a sign of impending doom, if you will. The bringers of sickness and death.

Interesting. Owls have been considered bad luck in British folk tradition for a long time. I wonder if that might date back to the Romans.

[Nyktipolos]

American Indian and the Romans saw owls as disastrous and a sign of impending doom, if you will. The bringers of sickness and death.

(bold is my emphasis)

No, only particular tribes and nations saw the owl as a symbol or harbinger of bad luck or death. There is no one unified thought on animals in Native cultures (especially considering some animals a tribe would have probably never seen, and thus have no created folklore on them from their perspective).

[Nyktipolos]

Can anybody tell me what's going on here?  I have looked up totem animals and understand the symbolism, but need more guidance, please.

 
You might want to be careful when doing online search involving totems. The term was appropriated from Ojibwe cultures and has now come to mean something that doesn't have very much similarity to the doodem anymore (mostly nowadays I see "totem animal" used as broadly as "spirit animal", with very little determiners), but people are still publishing information on them as if they are the same thing.

You might have better luck hitting up your local public or academic library and asking them for resources on owl folklore in relevance to your ancestry or the area you live in.

[Jake57]

You might want to be careful when doing online search involving totems. The term was appropriated from Ojibwe cultures and has now come to mean something that doesn't have very much similarity to the doodem anymore (mostly nowadays I see "totem animal" used as broadly as "spirit animal", with very little determiners), but people are still publishing information on them as if they are the same thing.

You might have better luck hitting up your local public or academic library and asking them for resources on owl folklore in relevance to your ancestry or the area you live in.

Well it looks like the owls may have all flown away.  I'm not seeing them anymore.  Perhaps by acknowledging them openly I have internalized the lesson?

[Diana]

Well it looks like the owls may have all flown away.  I'm not seeing them anymore.  Perhaps by acknowledging them openly I have internalized the lesson?

 
I think its more likely that the owl fad is finally dying down, it is here in the UK too.