Item Tag: Snake

INCLUDESCharm and necklace chain in a black velvet jewelry bag. You can also choose just the charm alone to use on your own cord or chain, or have me make a pair of earrings for you by selecting that option. MEASUREMENTSThe charms are about .945″ tall x .827″ across (24mm x 21mm)The necklace chains are offered in your choice of length from 16″ to 50″ (40cm to 127cm)The optional earring hooks are comfortable 21 gauge earring wire (not too thick, not too thin). MATERIALSThe charms are antiqued silver zinc alloy castings. The necklace chains and optional earring hooks are made with hypo-allergenic Stainless steel. ABOUTIn Greek mythology, a little owl (Athene noctua) traditionally represents or accompanies Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom (or her syncretic incarnation Minerva, in Roman mythology). Because of these associations, the bird often referred to as the “owl of Athena” or the “owl of Minerva” has been used as a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity: the quality of having a ready insight into things; and erudition: the quality of having or showing great knowledge or learning. The reasons for the association of Athena and the owl are varied. Some mythographers, such as David Kinsley and Martin P. Nilsson, suggest that she may descend from a Minoan palace goddess associated with birds and Marija Gimbutas claim to trace Athena’s origins as an Old European bird and snake goddess. The city of Athens seems to have adopted the owl as proof of allegiance to its patron virgin goddess Athena, who, according to a popular etiological myth secured the favor of its citizens by providing them with a more enticing gift than Poseidon. The association between the owl and the goddess continued through Minerva in Roman mythology. For example, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Cornix the crow complains that her spot as the goddess’ sacred bird is occupied by the owl, which in that particular story turns out to be Nyctimene, a cursed daughter of Epopeus, king of Lesbos. As for ancient Roman folklore, owls were considered harbingers of death if they hooted while perched on a roof, and placing one of its feathers near someone sleeping could prompt him or her to speak and reveal their secrets. The philosophical use of the metaphor of the mind as a night owl goes at least as far back as an analogy in Aristotle’s Metaphysics between the day-blind eyes of bats and human intellect. This more negative epistemological metaphor of a night owl was long transmitted through the philosophical tradition, e.g. Thomas Aquinas. In affirmative contrast, the 19th-century German idealist philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel famously noted that “the owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk”; meaning that philosophy comes to understand a historical condition just as it passes away. Philosophy appears only in the “maturity of reality”, because it understands in hindsight.