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OWLS AND BIRDS
Birds, and especially owls, were clearly very important to Helen as they feature throughout the house and yard. Birds often symbolise
freedom, and perhaps Helen was drawn to them as her own life was constricted materially and socially.
According to friends and acquaintances, Helen liked to roam around at night, much like the nocturnal owl. In Western culture, the owl
symbolises wisdom, and in Greek mythology, it is associated with the goddess Athena, and she is often depicted holding the bird.
However, in many African and Latin American traditions, owls are harbingers of death and to be feared.
In one of her Bibles, Helen underlined Psalm 102:6, which reads "I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert."
Numerous peacocks are placed around the yard. These exotic birds, originally from Asia, are another example of Helen’s
fascination with the East. Peacocks are associated with resurrection, possibly because they regain their magnificent tail feathers
after moulting. In Christian art, they symbolise immortality and incorruptibility. In certain parts of the world, the cry of the peacock is
believed to signal the approach of rain.
One of the most striking bas-reliefs in the yard is of a huge flying, white-painted stork on the south wall of the Lion’s Den. Storks are
migratory birds, and their arrival signals the approach of spring. In popular culture, they are often shown delivering babies to new
mothers. They are sometimes associated with new beginnings.
One of the strangest figures in the yard is the Cock Man, a hybrid of a man and a bird standing with his flies open. When
interviewed by Ross, Helen’s friend Jill Wenman said it was copied from a cartoon postcard her sister had sent her.
The postcard read:
Now he knows the terrible fate,
Who overcomes all gluttons
He will reform before it’s too late,
And do up all his buttons!
252 FOR THE LOVE OF LIGHT
FOR THE LOVE OF LIGHT 253