As owls avoid light they symbolise sadness, obscurity, melancholy.
In Greek mythology it is an interpreter of Atropos (Morta as Roman equivalent), one of the Fates who cuts the thread of the destiny. As a symbol of wisdom, it was a bird of Athena.
In Egypt it represents cold, night and death.
In Baltic mythology, owl is a bird of the Death Goddess Giltine (from the verb gelti – to sting). In the beginning, Goddess had the form of this bird. Owl’s scary voice predicted disasters: death, fire, birth of an illegitimate baby. The owl was also a bird of darkness, night, the Goddess of the Moon. On the other hand, the owl was a sacred bird, wise, solving important human problems.
In Rigveda the owl was the prophet of death and the bird of the dead.
