Secrets, Symbols and Myths

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m_scott_hay Week 12.

Pencil and white charcoal.

My aunt Sharon is half Sioux Native American and once told me about the power of the owl, coyote and deer in Sioux culture. Since then, I've always thought those beasts had deeper symbolic value than other animals.

A couple of weeks ago I started drawing owl face masks for no real reason other than it seemed fun and spoke to something primal in people. During that time, I attended the OTA Sessions and Jonathan Harris talked about how important it is to start seeing secrets, symbols and myths in your own life as he does in his. One of his primary symbols is that of the owl.

It rattled my head just a little at first. In hindsight, I think it was my wake-up call to start allowing myself to live much more in my imagination again. I don't know why I stopped a few years ago. Fear of being thought of as weird and aloof, maybe? That fear has had less and less power over me in the last month though. Harris's speech may have been the final push I needed.