Pictured: Left, Athenian Owl at the Acropolis — the chief temple dedicated to Athena/Minerva — in Athens (c. 500 BC); right, an exact replica at the Bohemian Club in San Francisco, which even includes the missing beak Also, note satanic hand signal....Excerpt:
But just because the owl is venerated by the Bohemian Club does not mean that it is only meant to symbolize Athena/Minerva. Lilith is also an apt identification: Lilith (Queen of the Demons), the great screeching owl mentioned in Isaiah 34:13-16; the night owl goddess that inhabits the ruins of Edom which subsequently became a permanent fixture of Kabbalistic demonology. Lilith is also closely related "to the Greek figure of Hecate, with her demands for human sacrifice," and the Grove participants perform a mock human sacrifice at the base of a 40-foot owl as part of the Cremation of Care ritual. In addition, the poet George Sterling, one of the most prominent "Bohos" of his time, wrote a play titled Lilith; a dramatic poem (1920), in which Lilith herself mentions the owl - demonstrating that they at least knew of such symbolism. Sterling stayed at the Bohemian Club in his own private room toward the end of his life, where he committed suicide by ingesting cyanide.
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