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Registered: The
International Register
of Arms, 4th June 2023.
Registration No. 0673
(Vol.4).
Arms:
Azure, a chevron burst
Argent between in chief
three bees in fess
proper and in base a
beehive Or.
Crest:
The Sun in
His Splendour Or.
Motto:
Organize Yourselves.
Slogan:
Break Through.
Assumed: 29th
October 2017.
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The
components of the shield
blazon work on multiple
levels. To start, the
arms visually tell the
story of when, as a
seven-year-old, the
armiger accidentally
stepped on a yellow
jacket hive on the hill
in his backyard. A large
number of small,
determined insects will
grab your attention when
provoked! Beyond this,
the bee and hive relate
to well-known symbols
for home, family,
efficient industry, and
working together in an
organized way.
The bees and hive both
tie into historical
symbols of the family’s
Latter-day Saint faith
and the armiger’s
ancestral heritage
(particularly in
northern England in the
early- to mid-1800s –
bees and hives were
important symbols of
that region at the time
they lived there). The
armiger’s ancestors
worked as stonemasons,
builders, and later
settlers in the early US
and in the Territory of
Deseret (itself named
after the Jaredite word
for bees and which later
became Utah and
Arizona).
Digging a bit deeper,
the chevron, an
architectural element,
represents the armiger
as a builder (of minds)
who has accomplished
some work of faithful
service (terminal degree
and lifelong work in
education). The chevron
also ties to his
ancestral heritage and
occupations. As a burst
(or broken) chevron, it
also serves as a
reminder to be humble—he
is a work in progress
(broken heart and
contrite spirit, C. S.
Lewis quotation “Imagine
yourself as a living
house”). The chevron
also is visually
reminiscent of an open
book (learning), a
bridge (a metaphor for
mediating between
extremes in his field
and in life), and
mountains (where the
family lives).
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The
armiger’s pedigree
chart contains a
record of an
armiger named Sir
Hugh Owen, High
Sheriff of
Pembrokeshire from
Angelsey, Wales, a
descendant of Owen
ap Hugh of
Bodowen,
Angelesey, and
whose arms are
blazoned Gules, a
chevron between
three lions
rampant Or.
The chevron and
the beehive also
subtly form the
letters MAO (a
visual cant). The
rough hexagonal
shape of the bees
ties to the MAO
hexagram in the
armiger’s Mon. The
three bees
represent his
three children,
three university
degrees, and three
workplaces. The
overall colours,
in addition to
representing the
values listed
above, represent
at least one
colour from each
of the
universities where
the armiger has
worked (green and
gold from Wayne
State, purple and
gold from Cal
Lutheran, and
white and blue
from Brigham Young
University).
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For
the Crest, set upon the
torse is the sun in his
golden splendour. The sun
refers to divine
providence, glory and
splendour, justice,
fountain of life, and
Celestial Kingdom. In
tying into the glory of
God, it relates to the
armiger’s given name,
which is Hebrew for the
rhetorical question, “Who
is like the Lord?” This
sun could be modelled off
the Argentine sol de mayo
or the Nauvoo Temple
sunstone; the armiger
served his mission in
Argentina, and some of his
ancestors were temple
stonemasons. The armiger
has toyed with the idea of
giving the sun a lion’s or
catamount’s face to
differentiate it from a
regular sun in splendour.
Motto and Slogan: Several
meaningful phrases embody
ideas important to the
armiger and aspirations he
has for his family. The
motto, Organize
Yourselves, was inspired
by Doctrine and Covenants
88:118-120 and his
personal slogan (Break
Through!) refers both to
breaking free of mental,
physical, and spiritual
bonds and of the process
of innovating in research.
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NEED
AN HERALDIC ARTIST?
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Contact us
for
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Further
Information
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The
Armorial Bearings of
Dr. Michael Aaron Owens
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