Feathers as Omens?

[Xiao Rong]

I'm a little stumped on this one. I feel like I've been finding a lot of feathers lately -- just walking to and from work, I'll sometimes find a feather right in the middle of my path. I usually pick them up and keep them -- I've collected three or four now in the past 2 months. Of course this could all be completely random, but I can't help but feel like they mean something and they're meant for me. I'm also getting a good vibe from them -- like a sort of reassuring feeling ... I've looked online for what they might mean, but there's so many other meanings to them, so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or advice on what they might signify ... Thanks!

[AdastraJunction]

Well in Native American beliefs, they signify honor and a connection with the Creator. They are perceived as gifts from the sky, trees and sea and arrive unexpectedly. In their culture birds were the bringers of messages, symbols of change and freedom. Also Celestial wisdom.

Could be a message from Horus the son of Isis and Osiris?

In Druid belief its a symbol of accession or transcendence.

Some believe to find a feather on your path means encouragement on your spiritual path, to have a lighter outlook on life.

Any of these could fit.

[Xiao Rong]

Thanks, Adastra! I don't work with deities that much, so I am not sure that it's Horus. But it might be a reminder of my spiritual path (which has been more on a backburner lately -- been getting busy with work). It could definitely be a reminder to have a lighter outlook on life, which would explain why I get a "cheer up" feeling from them.

I'm hoping that they are a positive omen, because I remember distinctly twice after completing some big projects at work, I found feathers -- the instinctive impression I was getting was a "that went well, don't worry about it" message. And another time when I had been feeling really, really under the weather I found a feather right in my path and the first thing that came to mind was, "Hang in there; it'll get better soon."

[Echo_of_shadows]

I think it could be a sign of travel. Feathers are associated with wings, and wings are associated with flight. Most birds travel by flying.
It could also be a sign of "winging" it. Do you feel unprepared for something?
You're so creative Xiao, maybe nature is giving you something new to incorporate into your crafts?

[AnaisStar]

Some believe that finding feathers are signs from the Angels. Or you can determine what bird they come from and read more about that particular bird and it's magic it offers. "Animal Speak" is a great book to learn more about animal totems.

[SnowCat]

We saw a lot of feathers the night we were driving back from Albuquerque. They all belonged to the owl that nearly flew into our windshield. Fortunately, Erin braked, the owl co% enter his flight path, and we all continued on our respective journeys. I wonder now though, if the owl meant something more. I need to ponder that.

Snow

[MsMollimizz]

Good Evening Gentle People !!! (slightly british accent! )
Are the feathers from different species of birds ? What bird ?
Each bird carries a different message and it could be
different messages to different people
AnaisStar... Took the words right out of my mouth !
Thank you for saying it for me
SnowCat... Yes Dear it is a message, if you had not
thought about it it wouldn't be You said there was
a bunch of feathers near the road ? Like bird got hit after all ?
Bummer, I hope not ! Get some before they're gone...

Gentle Light
MsMollimizz

[SnowCat]

No, the feathers were still attached to the owl as he corrected his trajectory. We just got a close up view of the wingspan and feathers. His wingspan pretty well covered the windshield of my Durango, so he was a good sized bird. He veered upwards in time to avoid a collision, and Erin managed to keep a steady hand on the wheel.

Snow

[MsMollimizz]

[Xiao Rong]

Oops, life kind of got in the way and I forgot to reply to this thread ... silly me!

@ Echo: Hmm, I wonder if it could be a sign for change? There are certainly transitions happening in my life (and I feel like I am "winging" my whole life, haha!) I do wonder sometimes if I can incorporate them into my crafts, but I haven't thought of any good ways. So far, I've just used them as bookmarks.

@ Anais & Ms. Mollimizz: I don't know what bird they came from -- by my apartment, we have a lot of pigeons, but lately I have been dreaming about owls and Minerva/Athena. I wonder how hard it is to identify birds via just the feather ....

@ Snow: Oooh! Good thing the owl is okay!

[Sakura Blossom]

Okay, so, it's really, really funny and strange that I opened this topic RIGHT as in my movie (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), one of the guys starts pretending he's Native American and doing the stereotypical 'aye-yi-yi-ya' sound or however you'd spell that out.

So given what Adastra said about Native American beliefs, and that I didn't even see that until seconds after that part of the movie finished, I'm going to have to say that's a very strong sign that perhaps you should look into feathers and beliefs from a Native American perspective.

Sorry I can't be much more help than that, but because of the irony here, I had to share.

[Xiao Rong]

So, reopening this thread ... I had a dream a few nights ago in which I just kept finding more feathers ... The rest of the dream is a little muddled, but I know that I was on a path and found a gray feather that had some beautiful red hues. I vaguely recall someone else in my dream telling me that I must be making it up, and I insisted that I really did find the feather, and then as I walked a bit further, I found three or four more (most were gray and white, but at least one was black).

I rarely can recall very detailed dreams, but the image of finding the feathers keeps on sticking in my mind (although perhaps this isn't surprising considering I have spoken of finding lots of feathers recently, all of which look quite different from one another). This (along with a few other dream images) strikes me as kind of significant, for some reason. It feels qualitatively different from the kind of dream in which I'm messing up an exam or whatever. I was thinking about doing a Tarot reading. Maybe it's a god/dess reaching out to me -- which would be funny, because I'm the one on the forum who's been all "No gods for me!", although I did promise to myself to stay open to the possibility.

[azriel]

The feathers are quite persistent!

Do you think you could find out what types of birds the feathers are coming from? I do not know if knowing the birds will help you in any way. Maybe it is an element trying to get your attention?

Azriel
^-^~

[Xiao Rong]

Well, I did a bit of research/educated guesswork. As for the real feathers that I found: One (a long gray feather) I'm pretty sure is a pigeon feather (there are a lot of pigeons by my place). Another I believe to be a crow feather (quite long and dark gray / black). A third is a small, cute, gray feather (possibly also from a pigeon). The last is a downy white feather. And there is a fifth feather, although I can't remember where I put it. As for the dream feathers, I can't remember them well enough to guess. Suffice it to say, with the exception of the two gray feathers, I think they all come from different birds and are all quite different in shape, size, and color. It's also not like I go out of my way to find feathers -- I just see them in my path when I'm walking.

It might be Air trying to get my attention, but I generally feel quite comfortable with Air (Earth is the one that's hardest for me to connect to), so I don't know what it is. Of course, it could always be completely random, although it feels significant/synchronous to me.

[Xiao Rong]

I think I've made some progress on figuring out the feathers! I wrote about it on my forum blog here. Thanks to everyone who gave me guidance and advice!