Owls are the sacred animal of Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and war. Greek and Roman warriors believed that if an owl flew over them in battle, they were sure to be victorious. The Dakota Hidatsa natives also saw the burrowing owl as a protective spirit for warriors.
In Babylon, women wore amulets depicting the owl to protect them during childbirth and in Celtic mythology owls were a sign of the underworld because owls fly and hunt at night, the night being a time of the movement of spirits and ghosts.
Owls are powerful creatures for witches and wizards because of their great wisdom, spiritual influence and psychic powers. They are linked with the crown and third eye chakras. By working with the owl spirit in magic they bring knowledge of the underworld, increased concentration, enhanced visions and astral freedom.
In southern India, the cries of an Owl were used for divination, one hoot was a warning of impending death, two meant to succeed in anything that would be started soon after that moment, and three were a sign a woman soon to be married into the family, four marked a disturbance, five destined coming travel, six signified guests were on the way, seven cautioned mental distress, eight was an omen of sudden death, and nine stood for good fortune.