Kamna,

One of Athena's, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom and paradoxically war, has the owl as one of her symbols:

"...one of Athena's ancient epithets is Glaukopis, which symbolizes her role as a bright-eyed Owl Goddess."

Of course that means that owls have the gift of prophecy.

Northwest Coast Indigenous peoples often viewed the owl as a supernatural messenger with a connection to the afterlife or as a harbinger of death.

Great Canadian novella BTW: I Heard the Owl Call My Name.

Indeed, in terms of the four cardinal directions, in Lakota spirituality, the West is often associated with the bear, blackness, night, introspection and death.

It's as you shared, to many cultures, owls are creatures of the night, of darkness and therefore superstition.

On another front, I am more than convinced that Bosch was using some kind of psychotropic like psilocybin, which can create ocular hallucinations.

Bosch's use of the owl is that they are omnscient...they see and therefore are witness to all.

They can see past any hubristic pretentions, including the expensive cloaks and ornamentations of office.

Thanks for another great post.