What it usually means
The owl is a night creature that sees and hears what others cannot. It hunts in silence, turns its head almost all the way round, and watches from a stillness that seems almost human. Dreams about owls usually draw on these qualities: insight, attention, the ability to notice what is hidden.
In European tradition the owl belongs to wisdom. It was the bird of Athena, goddess of wisdom, and it still sits on the covers of encyclopaedias and the logos of schools. A dream owl often appears when a person needs to see a situation more clearly, or is beginning to.
In many other traditions, though, the owl is a messenger of death or misfortune. Its call at night was heard as a warning, and in some cultures seeing an owl by day was a bad omen. Dreamers who grew up with those beliefs may wake from an owl dream frightened. The fear is real, but owl dreams do not predict deaths.
Owls also stand for solitude and the night itself. They are active when others sleep. A dream owl can be about late hours, sleeplessness, thoughts that come only in the dark, or the part of you that is most awake when the rest of the world is quiet.
The owl's gaze is perhaps its strongest feature. Being looked at by an owl in a dream is often about being seen through — by others, or by your own judgement.
What changes the meaning
An owl watching you. Being observed; a judgement, or an inner wisdom paying attention.
An owl calling at night. A warning or a message; something asking to be heard.
An owl in daylight. Insight arriving at an unusual time; something hidden coming into view.
A white owl. Clarity, purity of perception; in some traditions, a link with the dead.
An owl flying silently past. A thought or opportunity that could easily be missed.
An owl hunting. Precise attention; going after something specific.
An injured owl. Wisdom or intuition that is not being used, or has been hurt.
An owl in your house. Insight coming close to home; a family matter seen more clearly.
Holding an owl. Coming into possession of knowledge; responsibility for it.
An owl speaking. Advice from a deeper part of yourself.
Many owls. Many watchers; a council; or a strong pull towards learning.
Being afraid of an owl. Fear of knowing something you are not ready to know.
When it keeps coming back
Recurring owl dreams often appear when a person is studying, researching or puzzling over a problem for a long time. The owl becomes the image of the search itself.
They also come in periods of sleeplessness, when the dreamer spends nights awake and the mind has made a companion of the hour.
Some people, especially those who live near woods, hear real owls at night. A call heard through an open window can enter the dream directly, and then the owl is simply the sound.
If an owl keeps watching you in dreams, try asking it a question on waking — in writing, in a few words. What you write in answer is often more than you expected to know.
In Jungian terms
The philosopher Hegel wrote that the owl of Minerva — Athena's Roman name — spreads its wings only at dusk. He meant that understanding comes late: we grasp a period of life fully only as it is ending.
Jungian readers find the same truth in owl dreams. The owl is a creature of the twilight, the hour when daytime consciousness weakens and the unconscious grows clearer, and its wisdom is the kind that arrives after the event. A dream owl often appears when something is closing, and the meaning of it is finally becoming visible.
An owl dream, in that light, comes at dusk on purpose: not too early to be useful, but just late enough to be true.