a cat is never just a cat. an owl is never just an owl. after a tawny owl visits her house miriam darlington writes in the book the wise hours "my mind tumbled down the generations, struck by magical thinking. thousand-year-old ancestors would have made this moment an omen. but thiswas just an owl, not a sign, and i was just lucky. but still..." the term magical thinking is a sad indicator, to confuse magic and its meaning with delusional thought. we're captured in a contorted technological and neoliberal paradigm. but still...magic exists. an owl is never just an owl, a cat is never just a cat.