Gail405

Jingle I'm sorry I'm so unskilled W/ this new forum to me. I'm learning as I go. For there is much wisdom (that I have saw) on this forum already. It's a challenge for us all this life.. You must seek out your answers in your heart, and then lay it on the elders. IMO. True intertribal thinking should dominate, seems to me if they are sound.Soundness must be determined as to your measurements. If you do not agree, I'm sure that within the tribe there is a vehicle to deal , W/ your present problem, questions!! Sincerely GES

Kiwehnzii

Let me get this straight Gail.

If my measurements are 5'8", and I'm a bit round, does that mean I can hear better than most people?

BurBz

:rofl2::rofl2:

Ki ewe krackt mea opt! :Chatter

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I'm not mean, you're just a sissy! :Tongue

Kakeeya

Yeah that's what she meant..... :Chatter

azurebreeze

Strange how to some people Owls are messengers of things like death. While to another group of people Owls are considered wise and used to sell candy ("How many licks does it take to get to a center of a Tootsie Roll Pop? 1-2-3")

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Wenona Gardner
http://www.geocities.com/azurebreeze

sookout sh'nob

That's a Tootsie Roll Pop - has a better candy center than blow pops ;)

MeXiCa~DaNcInG

I GUESS IT'S TRUE MANY TRIBES DO FEEL THAT WAY ABOUT OWLS, WE DO , I TRY TO STAY AWAY, I WAS ALSO TOLD THAT WHEN YOUR PALM ITCHES, GOOD FORTUNE OR MONEY WAS COMING YOUR WAY, AND C, IT WORKS FOR ME EVERYTIME, SOMETIMES I AM JUST WISHING FOR MY PALM TO ITCH.

Historian

While I agree with many of the posted suggestions, like talking with your family members and tribal elders about what certain bird or animal parts represent within your family, clan, tribe, etc., and the postings concerning the caution about using feathers or bird parts (such as Eagle, Hawk or Owl)protected by the Preditory Bird Act of 1964, (only in the USA I might add), I thought the original poster was asking to learn what the meaning of an Owl is to other folks.

Therefore, I can offer the following from my limited perspective. Among many northern and southern Plains tribes, the Owl is to be both feared and embraced. Traditionally, many tribes believed, (and some individuals still hold these beliefs), that certain medicine people (male and female) could be drawn to that part of spiritual power that would do harm to other people. Some tribes called them "witches" or the equivalent of a witch in their particular language. These "witches" or medicine people that practiced "bad medicine", were believed to have the ability to shape-shift or transform themselves into an animal or bird. Many of these witches, it was believed, would change into the form of an Owl so that they could fly silently through the night to cast spells on people while they were asleep and vulnerable to spiritual forces, or at the very least, spy on people and learn their weaknesses.

Because the average tribal member did not have the knowledge to distinguish a real Owl from one that was actually a witch that had shape-shifted into the form of an Owl, all Owls were avoided in general for safety sake. It was only the holy people or medicine men that had the special knowledge to tell them apart.

Holy men or holy women among many Plains tribes frequently sought out the spiritual help from real Owls in their healing practices. The holy people believed that the Owl had very soft and gentle ways, similar to the softness of an Owl's feather, and these ways were taught to them in the healing ways. Therefore, whenever Owl feathers were worn by an individual, it usually meant that they were a medicine person with healing abilities.

So when you go to a Pow-Wow that has some people from tribes that still have these traditional beliefs about Owl's, Owl feathers, or Owl parts, you can perhaps understand why some individuals would avoid an individual wearing these feathers.

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"Be good, be kind, help each other."
"Respect the ground, respect the drum, respect each other."
--Abe Conklin, Ponca/Osage (1926-1995)

Asgaya_Gigagei

This discussion is great, I have been so hesitant to use The feathers I had obtained. However, I have a 3 owls that I know of in my forested 5 acre yard. 2 Barred owls and 1 Great Horned. I had moved into my home just a week before The Hurricanes in Florida. I saw the first Barred owl. 10 feet from me in a scrub oak. I Spoke to it and and it watched me. It lasted about 10 minutes before I felt I could walk away. That following weekend Hurricane Charley Destroyed many homes and businesses in my area. My home and Forest was Untouched. Only Dead dry branches fell out of the surrounding trees. Unto which I use often for good warm fires. After all that, I had seen that one owl very offten and feel privileged to have it near. Since Charley we had 3 more Hurricanes. And No Damage to my home. I feel that in some way It and it's Partner (That I hear at night) Have offered protection and warnings that storms were coming and to prepaire my self. They acually make me feel safe. That Is how I feel. I am conflicted by its meanings. I will post more when I research more info on such a mysterious and controversial Animal.

sookout sh'nob

Good story, Thanks chief!

paintedsun22

I wuz always taught that they are our ancestors and they bring either very good luck or very bad luck...

forgivinhrt

I totally agree with everyone about respecting others beliefs, however, I personally have ALWAYS encountered "bad luck" after spotting an owl. For 11 years now I have spotted many owls and shortly after a death in my family has occured. I've never looked at it as supersticious,(how can you when it always happens after a siting?)???????? Each time I've seen an owl it has been a closer view, each time with it someone in my family from a long distant cousin to 1st cousin or aunt or uncle, has passed away. The last siting I had was just before Christmas, driving down the road, and there it is bigger than I'd ever seen, whiter than I'd ever seen, and I just did miss from hitting it with the car. That was the closest and clearest siting I'd ever had, and now, just a few minutes ago my mother-in-law called to inform me that my father-in-law was in the ICU in the hospital and the doctors don't think he will make it thru the night. I was taught that owls were a messenger of death or life changes. I don't really like being one to see these animals and know that something is going to happen. I do not advise for your friend to use the owl parts, but like it has been said, different tribe different beliefs.


forgivinhrt

s_jingle

forgivinhrt thank you for your input....and im sorry to hear about your father-in-law

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``'Stephanie'``

Historian

Two of the owls with tufts on their heads, Great Horned Owls and Screech Owls, are often seen as the most uncanny and most dangerous owls. In fact, some tribes believe that individual examples of these owls may not even be real birds at all, but instead are actually transformed witches or the unquiet spirits of the dead.

There are a number of reasons these owls might be seen as particularly powerful. First, they have tufts or horns on their heads, and horns are often signs of spiritually powerful beings for many tribes. Horned water serpents are just one example, which are seen as chief of the underworld powers by many tribes. So the tufts or horns on these owls likely connect them to underworld powers. Second, like most owls, Great Horned Owls and Screech Owls are active mainly at night, locating their prey in the darkness, flying on noiseless wings, and communicating with other owls through their weird sounding hoots, unlike most other birds, which are active in the day. Because many tribes associate night with death and the underworld, it is no surprise that some tribes often associate nocturnal owls with death and the underworld, too. Finally, specific characteristics of these owls make them stand out from other owls. Great Horned Owls are the largest owl around the Plains, and can take much larger prey than other owls, such as opossums and skunks instead of mice or voles, for instance. The calls of Great Horned Owls can also be especially disturbing to some. Occasionally it utters sounds resembling the half-choking cries of a person nearly strangled, and is sometimes attracted by a campfire and will fly over it, shrieking as is goes.

Screech Owls, although much smaller than Great Horned Owls, also have ample claims to their weird behavior. First, they come in two color phases, red and gray, and of course red is often seen as a spiritually powerful color among many tribes. They also utter disturbing cries at night, which have been described by some as screeching and by others as wails. Small wonder then, that many of the positive traits of owls are seen to belong to more normal-seeming species, such as the Barred Owl of the woodlands, also known as the Hoot Owl, or the Short-Earred or Burrowing Owls of the plains. Both the Oto and the Ioway had a Hoot Owl clan for instance, and the Ioway name for that clan, Mankoke, is the same as the Ioway word for the Barred Owl. The Ponca once had an owl subclan and the Osage also are said to have had an Owl people or Wapunka inihkacina although I do not know if it was a clan or a subclan.

Among the Cheyenne, contemporary members of the tribe only considered one kind of owl to be a bird, the Short-Earred Owl, which they know as the "snake-eating owl," an important source of medicine power for doctors or healers. All other owls the Cheyenne class as mista, or "spirits of the night." Even the Cheyenne Contraries or hohnuhke in the Buffalo Days wore the feathers of the "little prairie owl" in their headdresses, but not the feathers of the Great Horned Owl or the Screech Owl. Among the Hidatsa, I know of one warrior who had a guardian spirit in the form of a Burrowing Owl or Prairie Dog Owl, which protected him from being shot.

Warriors often sought to draw upon owl powers. For instance, Cheyenne warriors attached owl feathers to their shields, or wore them on their arms, to impart the owl's special powers, such as the ability to see in the dark and move silently and unnoticed. In a similar way, Creek warriors carried owl feathers so that they would have extraordinary night vision in battle. Among the Cherokee, one of four scouts on a war expedition, whose task it was to locate the enemy, wore an owl skin and imitated the owl's cry. The Cherokee also observed Screech Owls closely while they were out looking for the enemy, because these owls were said to be able to foretell victory or defeat in battle.

Members of many of the warrior societies of the Plains tribes, such as the various Dog Soldier Societies, also wore owl feathers or used them on their ceremonial objects, such as the Arikara Young Dogs Society, and the Hidatsa Dog Society. Several tribes had sacred owl bundles that they used while out looking for the enemy, including the Ioway and the Fox tribes.

The owl's predatory prowess was important to hunters also. The Pawnee have several stories of owls who gave some of their power to individuals so that they could become excellent hunters, with the ability to see at night. Among the Hidatsa, a large speckled owl was said to be the chief of the spirits controlling the game, and the bundle used in the Hidatsa Earthnaming ceremony to call for buffalo contained the head