The witching owl

Last night after midnight, while I was brushing my teeth, I saw a very huge owl standing on the roof. It took a good look at me before it flapped its wings and flew away. For me, this is something cryptic. Come on, how often you actually see an owl especially in a surroundings where there are street lights and motorcycles zooming around noisily every now and then. O.K, there are actually a few mango trees and other types of trees around.

So, I went berserk after that, searching high and low for a book called The Secret Language of Symbols. Instead of finding that book, I found something else. I found these lost-and-found film negatives which I had been looking for so long and could not find it. I also found this Chinese book which I would like to reread. Life is so bizarre sometimes, when you are looking hard for something, you won’t find it but when you don’t look for it anymore, then you find it.

Then, I carried on my searching session. I pulled out a box and in it I saw this beautiful invitation card to True Jesus Church (Seven Evenings of Good News), what stated on the card is this: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, what God has prepared for those who love him, no mind has conceived…..”. I didn’t go to that gathering which took place in 2004 but I kept the invitation card. Then, what came into sight was this packet of 15 or more booklets about The Passion of The Christ written in Thai. I bought it when I was in Chaing Mai in 2004. Only God knows why I bought it. I guess by now I know what I have to do with these booklets.

After ransacking the whole place, I still couldn’t find the book, so I went to sleep. Of course, this morning the first thing I did was to look for the book and I found it. So, Index…looking for the word owl and then went on to page 136…Human and Spiritual Symbols---Witches, Priests and Wizards. I took a deep breath and started finding the word owl. So, here you go: “With the advent of Christianity, witches were seen as the Devil’s instruments, and the Biblical invocation to "not permit a sorceress to live” was taken literally as late as 1692, when nineteen convicted witches were hung in the Massachusetts Bay Colony of Salem. Witches were often characterized as seductresses or cannibals, or depicted as owls, cats and toads in the belief that they could physically transform themselves into these creatures of the night.”

Actually, I remember in the Bible, the chapter of Deuteronomy says: You shall not practice augury or witchcraft. You shall not make any gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am your Lord. Do not turn to mediums or wizards; do not seek them out, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.

Then, I started referring to the Bible, trying to find a chapter saying that the witches should be put to death. I didn’t find anything about this. This means that killing the witches is not scriptural, it is solely human interest. Do you know any chapter in the Bible saying that the witches should be put to death? If you do, please reply in the comment section.

Remember that so many years ago, the case about Mona Fendi and a guy who murdered the V.I.P. The case traumatized Malaysians not so much about the killing but about how Mona Fendi practicing witchcraft to kill. You see, that time everyone wanted Mona Fendi to die because we were so stricken with fear. She was executed in the end. You see, both authorities and societies always want to get rid of people who are seen as evil by wiping them out. We always see ourselves as more godly than the other or in another case, other people are more evil than us.

The 911 incident took place because the terrorists see the Americans as evil. On the other hand, American government sees Saddam Hussien and Iraqis as evil too. Sometimes we are so obsessed with drawing a clear line between good and evil that we become so merciless and loveless.