The occult Owls of Ga'Hoole

This isn't so much a review as a warning about the new movie "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole". On the surface it is a harmless children's animated story, but it doesn't take much to uncover the occult nature of this movie.



The big give away is the "battle between good and evil" that typifies this genre. (Think of Star Wars and "the Force" vs. Darth Vader.) This is the essence of the gnostic belief system. The formula also includes magic and legends - a whole "secret" world waiting to be revealed.

Then there is the "St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls" where the young owls are kidnapped to be brainwashed by the evil "Pure Ones". The author of the books that this movie is based on, Kathryn Lasky, seems to have some deep seated anti-Catholic feelings. (I could be wrong about this, but based on some admittedly flimsy evidence this is the conclusion I have come to.)

Exhibit A
Lasky wrote a children's book about Darwin called "One Beetle Too Many". In an interview she says, "[Darwin suggests] that the [Creator] is not directly and continuously intervening in the evolutionary process. That’s a hard concept for some people." By "some people" I suppose she is referring to Catholics and other Christians who do not accept hook, line and sinker the whole evolution myth in which Man mysteriously "evolves" without any higher intelligent guiding force. Not to mention that Darwin had not the first clue about genetics or DNA at the time that he proposed his "theory".

Exhibit B
Lasky wrote a children's book called Blood Secret. Here's a description from a review.

Since her mother disappeared from a campground several years before, 14-year-old Jerry has lived in various Catholic Charities homes. The trauma of her experiences has left her with selective mutism. Although she wants to speak, she just can't get the words that form in her throat to come out. Now, she is going to live in New Mexico with her great-great-aunt, Constanza de Luna. After settling in and beginning school, Jerry discovers an old trunk in her aunt's basement. The mysterious objects within it seem to call to her, and each time she handles one of them, she is catapulted into her family's past. Brief vignettes describe the experiences of several of her ancestors, beginning with Miriam, a Jewish girl living in Seville in 1391 who witnesses the murder of her people and is baptized by force. Jerry, who has been raised Catholic, comes to realize that her ancestors were Jews, and she is upset by their heart-wrenching tales of religious persecution.

Just like in this owl movie, there is an evil religious organization that preys on innocent children - only this time it is explicitly Catholic.

Exhibit C
And then there are quotes from the book like these from the "evil" Ablah General.

Welcome, owlets. Welcome to St. Aegolius. This is your new home. It is here that you will find truth and purpose. Yes, that is our motto. When Truth Is Found, Purpose Is Revealed. I am the Ablah General of St. Aegolius. My job is to teach you the Truth. We discourage questions here as we feel they often distract from the Truth. You are orphans now. We have rescued you. It is here at St. Aggie's you shall find everything that you need to become humble, plain servants of a higher good.

"Ablah General" sounds an awful lot like a Catholic term "Abbot General", which is a title sometimes used for the head of a religious order. "The Truth" is presented in a dogmatic way, which is a common stereotype of Catholic religious beliefs. And "humble, plain servants of a higher good" sounds very much like a description of a nun or a priest. Add to that the "Pure Ones" name given to the bad guys and the religious nature of the villains becomes inescapable. (Also St. Aggie sounds similar to St. Agnes - a Christian martyr of the early Church.)

Dabbling in the occult is a dangerous business. It can lead to very serious spiritual problems. The very essence of this movie is dripping in occult symbolism. I'm as much of a bird lover as anyone, but it is unfortunately true that owls are often associated with the occult. This also lends itself to a dark movie, full of nighttime scenes, giving a hypnotic experience to the viewer. This is enhanced by an entrancing soundtrack which surrounds the viewer in this dark fantasy world. If a child should happen to see it in IMAX 3D, then who knows what hidden messages it may be exposed to while completely immersed in this imaginary 3D world.

There is a line in the trailer that disturbed me because I had encountered a similar line in Gattaca with occult implications. "When you've flown as far as you can, you're half way there." In Gattaca, the protagonist "sells his soul to the devil" in order to go beyond that half way point of pure exhaustion. Is Lasky subconsciously encouraging her fans to explore their fantasies to the point at which they cross over into the world of the occult?

Just like Iron Man 2, the story of this movie depicts good as evil and evil as good. This is another typical gnostic twist. But what is worse is that this movie is targeted at young children that will not have the maturity and sophistication to be able to protect themselves from the twisted messages they are being exposed to.

I said this in my review of Iron Man 2 and I repeat it here - we are willingly subjecting ourselves to occult programming and we are even paying to have it done to us. I would not go near this movie with a ten foot pole.

One last comment. The similarities to "The Golden Compass" movie seem too obvious to ignore. That was also marketed as a children's movie. It turns out that the author of that series is an avowed atheist and the message gets more and more explicit as the series of books continue. And I suppose the same holds true for Harry Potter.