I'm a little late to the party in this thread, but I'm in agreement with you on this. The owl is a foreboding symbol. Say hello to Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec god of the dead (nice heart and lungs in second pic, where he is depicted as a blood-spattered skeleton):
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Mictlantecuhtli, in Aztec mythology, was a god of the dead and the king of Mictlan (Chicunauhmictlan), the lowest and northernmost section of the underworld. He was one of the principal gods of the Aztecs and was the most prominent of several gods and goddesses of death and the underworld. The worship of Mictlantecuhtli sometimes involved ritual cannibalism, with human flesh being consumed in and around the temple.
His wife was Mictecacihuatl, and together they were said to dwell in a windowless house in Mictlan. Mictlantecuhtli was associated with spiders, owls, bats, the eleventh hour, and the northern compass direction, known as Mictlampa, the region of death. He was one of only a few deities held to govern over all three types of souls identified by the Aztecs, who distinguished between the souls of people who died normal deaths (of old age, disease, etc.), heroic deaths (e.g. in battle, sacrifice or during childbirth), or non-heroic deaths. Mictlantecuhtli and his wife were the opposites and complements of Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl, the givers of life.
Mictlanteculhtli was the god of the day sign Itzcuintli (dog), one of the 20 such signs recognised in the Aztec calendar, and was regarded as supplying the souls of those who were born on that day. He was seen as the source of souls for those born on the sixth day of the 13-day week and was the fifth of the nine Night Gods of the Aztecs. He was also the secondary Week God for the tenth week of the twenty-week cycle of the calendar, joining the sun god Tonatiuh to symbolise the dichotomy of light and darkness.
His wife, Mictecacihuatl:
Her role is to watch over the bones of the dead and preside over the ancient festivals of the dead.
Owls and watching over bones. All ya'll know what an owl pellet is:
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After they eat a couple things, this forms in their gizzard, which they need to regurgitate before they can eat again.
Owls are birds of the night, birds of secrecy. Birds that do their business (the killing and the leaving of collected bones) at night, while the rest of us sleep and are 'unaware'. The ties to Athena and wisdom are those of Secret/Esoteric/Hidden wisdom, as the owl has very acute eyesight and hearing, making it very 'aware'. IMO, of course.
As far as owls and M's:
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That is the Egyptian Hieroglyph for 'M'. Phonetically, for the 'emm' sound, like man, money, etc. Concerning Egypt, there is the Owl of Thebes, which I
think has some Phoenix type qualities (there is also some rebirth associated with the Aztec god of the dead stuff). Unless I am remembering incorrectly, Egypt mythology associates the owl with guardianship of the underworld, as well. Another thing I remembering, perhaps incorrectly, is that some Native American tribes have some of that 'wisdom' stuff associated with the owl, too.
It ought to raise eyebrows when cultures separated by oceans and time have some very similar, if not exact, mythological interpretations of things ...
Coffee...?
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