Owl King
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| [[Category:Glossary]][[Category:Personages]]According to [[Dr. Jeanne-Marie Sicre]], a noted [[Toulouse]]-based historian and expert on regional folklore, the Owl King is a variant of an ancient local "deity" whose cult was centered around the area of St. Girons in the Arriege department of southern France. The Owl King began as a local deity, but by the time his cult was active in the Middle Ages, his story was heavily influenced by elements introduced to the area by returning Crusaders. The resulting story reflects both traditions; basically, a man, arrogant and uncompromising, challenges [[God]], and for his impudence is turned to stone. The Owl King Cult, however, believed that they could cause the return of the Owl King through proper sacrifices; the Owl King would then sucessfully de-throne God and afterwards reward his followers for their service by setting them up as masters over the earth. They were said to meet in covens of 13, dressed in red and white robes under the starry blue sky. | [[Category:Glossary]][[Category:Personages]]According to [[Dr. Jeanne-Marie Sicre]], a noted [[Toulouse]]-based historian and expert on regional folklore, the Owl King is a variant of an ancient local "deity" whose cult was centered around the area of St. Girons in the Arriege department of southern France. The Owl King began as a local deity, but by the time his cult was active in the Middle Ages, his story was heavily influenced by elements introduced to the area by returning Crusaders. The resulting story reflects both traditions; basically, a man, arrogant and uncompromising, challenges [[God]], and for his impudence is turned to stone. The Owl King Cult, however, believed that they could cause the return of the Owl King through proper sacrifices; the Owl King would then sucessfully de-throne God and afterwards reward his followers for their service by setting them up as masters over the earth. They were said to meet in covens of 13, dressed in red and white robes under the starry blue sky. | ||
| - | Tradition has it that members of the cult kidnapped children and waylaid prostitutes to be [[sacrifice]]d at their camps in out-of the-way places. The victims were chopped into small pieces and burnt on [[altar|altars]] in front of stone effigies resembling an [[owl]]. | + | From Sicre's ''The Owl King Revisited'', (1995): |
| - | Step one of the [[Ritual Murder]] was called "Decefalos". The victims' [[Opened Head|heads were separated]] from the body and placed upon a pike to "observe the grisly procedings." | + | :''Tradition has it that members of the cult kidnapped children and waylaid prostitutes to be [[sacrifice]]d at their camps in out-of the-way places. The victims were chopped into small pieces and burnt on [[altar|altars]] in front of stone effigies resembling an [[owl]]. |
| - | Step two resulted in the complete amputation of the arms, starting at the wrists, continuing to the separation of the forearm at the elbow and the upper arm at the shoulder. | + | :Step one of the [[Ritual Murder]] was called "Decefalos". The victims' [[Opened Head|heads were separated]] from the body and placed upon a pike to "observe the grisly procedings." |
| - | The process was repeated at the ankles, knees and groin. | + | :Step two resulted in the complete amputation of the arms, starting at the wrists, continuing to the separation of the forearm at the elbow and the upper arm at the shoulder. |
| - | The trunk was then quartered. | + | :The process was repeated at the ankles, knees and groin. |
| - | As the pieces were [[ablation|removed]], each is said to have had its own moral lesson delivered via sacred chant as it was placed in an ark made to Biblical specifications. | + | :The trunk was then quartered. |
| - | This entire step was called the "16 sans Tête." | + | :As the pieces were [[ablation|removed]], each is said to have had its own moral lesson delivered via sacred chant as it was placed in an ark made to Biblical specifications. |
| - | Step three, "Cremation," involved transporting the ark in a holy procession towards the Owl King effigy were the remains were burnt and the ark destroyed. | + | :This entire step was called the "16 sans Tête." |
| + | |||
| + | Step three, "Cremation," involved transporting the ark in a holy procession towards the Owl King effigy were the remains were burnt and the ark destroyed.'' | ||
| Sicre has linked the Owl King to the Oaken God, Old Man Gloom, the Wicker Man and various [[Beanstalk Hero Myths]] from the Trans-Baltic. | Sicre has linked the Owl King to the Oaken God, Old Man Gloom, the Wicker Man and various [[Beanstalk Hero Myths]] from the Trans-Baltic. | ||
Revision as of 20:18, 25 Sep 2005
According to Dr. Jeanne-Marie Sicre, a noted Toulouse-based historian and expert on regional folklore, the Owl King is a variant of an ancient local "deity" whose cult was centered around the area of St. Girons in the Arriege department of southern France. The Owl King began as a local deity, but by the time his cult was active in the Middle Ages, his story was heavily influenced by elements introduced to the area by returning Crusaders. The resulting story reflects both traditions; basically, a man, arrogant and uncompromising, challenges God, and for his impudence is turned to stone. The Owl King Cult, however, believed that they could cause the return of the Owl King through proper sacrifices; the Owl King would then sucessfully de-throne God and afterwards reward his followers for their service by setting them up as masters over the earth. They were said to meet in covens of 13, dressed in red and white robes under the starry blue sky.
From Sicre's The Owl King Revisited, (1995):
- Tradition has it that members of the cult kidnapped children and waylaid prostitutes to be sacrificed at their camps in out-of the-way places. The victims were chopped into small pieces and burnt on altars in front of stone effigies resembling an owl.
- Step one of the Ritual Murder was called "Decefalos". The victims' heads were separated from the body and placed upon a pike to "observe the grisly procedings."
- Step two resulted in the complete amputation of the arms, starting at the wrists, continuing to the separation of the forearm at the elbow and the upper arm at the shoulder.
- The process was repeated at the ankles, knees and groin.
- The trunk was then quartered.
- As the pieces were removed, each is said to have had its own moral lesson delivered via sacred chant as it was placed in an ark made to Biblical specifications.
- This entire step was called the "16 sans Tête."
Step three, "Cremation," involved transporting the ark in a holy procession towards the Owl King effigy were the remains were burnt and the ark destroyed.
Sicre has linked the Owl King to the Oaken God, Old Man Gloom, the Wicker Man and various Beanstalk Hero Myths from the Trans-Baltic.
Extrapolation
In 1664, Guillaume du Feu, an intrepid traveller of the Pyrenées, was caught in a blizzard one early October and sought refuge in a remote dale he had seen glimmering with village lights from a mountain trail along a long and bleak crest.
There, he witnessed a sacrifice to a Black Virgin who supported an owl under her arm, as opposed to a Jesus on her knee.
Du Feu barely escaped with his life, and his story brought him to the attention of several prominent prosecutors who mounted a massive search for this little village yet nevertheless found nothing. Du Feu was discredited and lost his job as an official surveyor of the region. His subsequent fustian broadsides got him into trouble with several local officials, ruthless martinets who suppressed his incredible allegations.
He died, hounded and penniless, in 1675, almost 11 years to the day he was found frost-bitten and delirious in the mountains, clutching a bloody apron and murmuring "Mormo....Mormo...."
