Owl

Owl n. 1. Nocturnal bird of prey. 2. A coin first produced by the Athenian tyrant Peisistratus, using silver from the Laurion mines 25 miles south of Athens, in 546 BCE. 3. In AA parlance an owl is an elder who is no longer sympathetic with the movement.

Usage

Jorge Suarez once wrote about an encounter he had with a barn owl on a ranch in Venezuela:

"Las chuetas malabuenas mirando la noche y torciendo el cogote en mil puertas giratorias. Las tres al mismo tiempo, gritaban: "carne carne" y luego volaban en un vuelo recortado."

-- Journal excerpt, 1940.

Breakfast at Owls Nest Camp, Bohemian Grove, July 23, 1967

Extrapolation

The owl has a long and storied history as a popular and resonant symbol. During the Classical Period, for example, anyone could tell you that the owl was the symbol of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and patron of Athens. Today, the owl is still a popular symbol of sagacity and even school children know that the Owl, or Silver Tetradrachm of Ancient Athens, was the Dollar of its day: universally recognized and accepted currency.

Perhaps the most intriguing use of the owl as a symbol in contemporary times is the Bohemian Club. Founded in 1872 by men nostalgiac for East Coast refinement, it has become a bastion of the rich and powerful men of the conservative elite. Every year they hold a retreat in Sonoma County at a place called Bohemian Grove, where the high-jinks seem to be a cross between the Council for Foreign Relations and Animal House. Just in case you think the pedigree of the Grove guests and members may be over-rated, taked a look at just four examples: Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, George Bush and William Casey. And who's that in the picture featured on this page? Why, it's Ricard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Important speeches known as "Lakeside Talks" are given by these prestigious guests and important foreign policy decisions are discussed and some would say, actually formulated at the Grove. Employees of the Grove have said that all this occurs against a backdrop of heavy drinking and sexual abandon.

Perhaps the most bizarre activity at the Grove is a ritual called the "Cremation of Care." Men in red, hooded robes burn a coffin called "Dull Care" in front of an "altar" in the form of a owl, forty feet tall. With such a heady mixture of powerful men, strange rites and orgiastic behavior, is it now wonder that the Grove has seized the attention of conspiracy theorists? Doesn't it all sound so very Skull and Bones? Some Christian writers have cited the Grove Rites and linked to owl to Molech, but this appears to be entirely unsubstantiated.

The fact is, something strange is going on at Bohemian Grove, and thus lends our little rodent-eating friend the owl an air of mystery he has already been well steeped in.

See Also

• Ornithologist

A common barn owl, captured in a ubiquitous moment of quiet reflection.

Desiderata

Xenophon Aliokrate was sometimes called the "Owl" by his Bulgarian Connections.

Mr. Korea had a pet owl named "Lucky."

The Bohemian Club, a conservative organization holding annual retreats at Bohemain Grove in Northern California, has an Owl as its symbol. Every year they burn a fire to "cremate Dull Care" in front of a giant concrete owl.