Here’s another good story from Jim Banholzer that involves owl medicine. He heard it from a friend, Tammy, after he helped her and her husband Richard move into a new house.
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At the old place, Richard and Tammy had lived with a single mother, an arrangement that worked great in some aspects, but also felt a little cramped, which tends to get worse during harsh Idaho winters. Both families had gone down to look at the prospective larger house a few times. All four kids loved it, as did Tammy and her single-mother friend. Richard wasn’t so sure; after all, they had already moved earlier this year. His hesitation was understandable, as the new house cost more and he is the main breadwinner.
With the pressure on to decide soon, one evening Richard vociferously announced that he was “going fishing.” He walked down to the river to spend some time alone and reflect. As the evening twilight progressed, an enormous owl swooped down over the water and dropped something shiny. Richard waded out to where the owl dropped the item and discovered an empty money clip. Examining it closer, he saw that the silver was emblazoned with his own initials!
Richard took the owl’s message as a sign, which helped him, decide that his family would be better off in the end if they made the move. Coincidentally, a few months ago, at their old house I had dropped off some animal totem books, including the one by Trish. On a whim, I marked one of the owl stories with a copy of my own owl story, using it as a bookmark. It’s called The Midday Owl who Withdrew from the Bank.
What’s interesting about my story is that it’s the same one that forty moons ago, I sent to Trish, when I saw a sentence towards the end of her and Millie’s totem book, which asked readers to contact them, if they had any interesting animal encounter stories of their own. In other words, the same story I stuck in their book is the same story that led to your and my Internet friendship and enduring exchange of ideas!
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Thanks, Jim. And that was long before we began this blog.
Experiences with owls are always mysterious. Will check out your blog, Mike, and thanks for dropping by!
Hi there,
I just stumbled on your blog, and I was impressed by your recent owl story. And it's from Idaho, where I live.
For reasons unknown, this summer brought me a LOT of owls.
I have a personal blog about my own synchronicities (mostly) and it's been very strange. The act of sharing these stories seems to bring even more experiences to me.
LINK to my Owl STORIES:
https://hiddenexperience.blogspot.com/search/label/owls
I think you may find my site interesting…
enjoy,
Mike C!
could be the strong UK influence here in Canada.
Just as a further, I've seen Owls on only two occassions. Once, when travelling across the country Cath and I saw a big beautiful Snowy Owl– ghostly! And this spring we were visited for about an entire month by a small owl who skimmed along the open fields (more like tundra)outside our door. Maybe the hunting wasn't good enough since the Owl didn't stay on.
Thanks or the link, Toumai. My brownie experience was overseas. Maybe the rules are different in different countries!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girlguiding_UK
This site leads to a section called Brownie Guides which says this:
The adult leader is often called Brown Owl. Other leaders are often named after different owls. These two elements are taken from the Brownie Story, in which two children visit the Brown Owl in the wood to learn how they can help doing the housework
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hmm I wonder if the Brown Owl was teaching us girls something else… and the housework thing was just a coverup ;-)(-:
oh, i can hardly wait to read about yours – just the other day one of the photography sites that i follow had the most incredible image of an owl – took my breath away – wonderful little creatures – other-world-like – love the way they look us in the eye, it seems –
there were several such experiences like this when my brother died – one involving a snow storm and a rainbow in the mountains – when i'm not so exhausted, i'll send a note about it – in the meantime, i think i'm about allow myself the luxury of lights out watching the moon through the clouds out my window –
manana, amiga!
That is one lovely story, Gypsy! We've had some experiences with owls, too, which we talk about in the book. They are magical, mystical birds. I suspect it was your brother following you, for sure. Looking after you.
i'm reminded that when my brother died many years ago, on the night that i received word of his death, i went out onto my patio clutching a childhood picture of him – and as i stood there holding his image to my chest sobbing and crying out for him, across the drive, in a big pine tree, came an owl who sat there "talking" to me until i went inside – throughout the night, i heard the owl out my window – and for a very long time, i was never without the "voice" of the owl – for several years, actually, i was followed by an owl, even when i moved – and i lived in a city – there were times i asked other people to listen to be sure that i wasn't imagining it – but, sure enough, they heard it too – at some point, the owl or owls left me – but not for a very long time – i've always liked to think that it/they left only when my brother knew i was ok –
Hi & welcome, rhythm.
Stacey – that must've been really strange and wonderful!
Toumai – have never heard that before, about brownie troops being called owls!
Esoterically, owls are messengers – among other things. Remember the owls delivering messages in the harry potter movies?
Cool story. Thanks for posting so regularly. I really love your blog!
Owls remind me of my younger years of being a Brownie… our Leaders were named Brown Owl, Snowy Owl and Tawny Owl. My mother was a Snowy Owl.
Mythologies quite often portrays goddess figures with owls… and even the so called 'demoness Lilith' (supposed first wife of Adam, but she became uppitty- wanted equality and so Adam had her replaced with Eve… so Jewish lore goes).
Amazing! Love this, a couple years ago I had the priviledge to spend time in a giant owls "nest" for lack of a better word, with over thirty barn and horned owls watching me…it was one of the most profound moments of my life!
I love that story! Especially the pat about the money clip with the initials. Real life sure beats fiction.
wow! what a long, roundabout flight of this story!!! great story! well, stories, actually – i've always held owls in such awe and treasure each time one visits my vision –