The Story of Twit and Woo

The owls that brought connection back to Larry.

Once upon a time in a dark dark wood, a little boy called Larry was wandering.

He had forgotten his way home.

He tried to make a fire but his kindling was wet and he couldn’t get it going properly. Clumsily he tried to put big sticks onto the little flame but they couldn’t catch and he gave up in frustration.

He tried to make a shelter but the rain had soaked the brush and the leaves and he just shivered and shivered.

He remembered his mother and his father. They where strong keepers of the hearth in his village. His mother a wise woman who sang as she danced through looking after her children, creating magic in her cooking pot, talking with the spirits of the herbs she used to heal and loving herself so so well, laughing with her friends and elders. His father was kind, a quiet man who helped his mother and his friends. He remembered him as always standing looking out as the village played and moved, a sentinel keeping watch, alert and ready to act if needed. He was a wonderful hunter. His eyes always twinkled and his hands where skilful and quick.

Something had happened. They got separated. The village had spilled apart in a strange time of illness, over crowding and sadness. Amongst many other things men and women had fought badly with each other and a strange disease of forgetting and confusion had taken hold. In this muddle and this mix up Larry had got lost.

He missed his family badly.

Snugged up under a bush, keeping himself as warm as he could he heard an owl hoot. Twit woo.

Twit woo.

A little thrill of excitement ran through him. He loved to hear an owl. But then he got confused. Twit came from one direction, Woo came from another. What was this owl? Where was this owl?

As he drifted to sleep a strange thing happened.

An owl woman came to him, wrapped him in her arms and reminded him he was loved. She sang to him like his mother had and gave him herbs to remember his connection to the waters of life.

And an owl man came to him, and reminded him of his power and his ability to tend things, all his friends and relatives, to be strong and responsible, to love others and to love himself and walk in powerful integrity.  The owl man gave him a staff, to remind him of the fire he carries.

Inside himself he felt a big remembering. Two parts becoming one. Boom.

Owl woman, owl man. Two beings, one heart.

As he woke he rose from his bush and again heard the owls hooting to each other. He remembered in his waking body the wild connection of potency and love explode.

He found twigs, tiny slender dry ones ones, the right size to kindle fire. He remembered the small steps it takes to make fire, build the good conditions for life. He warmed himself, and asked the spirit of the deer to feed him. He hunted easily and she gave himself to him, warmly, willingly, with all her heart.

Fed, warm, remembering he walked and walked gathering medicines and gathering knowledge.

When he returned to his village it was messy with confusion and the detritus of years of living out of harmony. Larry called to his mother and his father and gave them the herbs he had found. And just because he had taken the journey he had, something was able to change in them because of the being of their son. His mum and dad stopped fighting each other. Realised they are two beings with one heart. And the village began to heal.

As we leave our friends, dancing one dark night by the fire, shaking out the years of stuckness in lose and open movement, you might notice out of the glimpse of your eyes, twit and woo, the owl people, soaring in the night sky, singing their song of connection and remembering.

Two owls dancing in the night

We think they re one

But that’s not right

We carry man and woman in our soul

Lets not forget the gifts we hold

Bring unity where there was strife

Remember love remember life.

Lets dance with our capacity

To thrive and build community