Ostrich Spirit Animal Guide, Totem, Symbolism and Meaning

The ostrich is a strange bird. Some people may even have trouble thinking that it is a bird, as it cannot fly, and is much larger than most other birds. Because this bird is so different from other types of birds, ostrich animal symbolism varies from other winged creatures.

There are countless myths and legends about this bird that make the creature seem almost magical.

Seeing an ostrich symbol in your dreams can also have symbolic meaning. While some people may think that this is a silly bird, there is much that even humans can learn from the creature. Read on to learn more about the symbolism of the ostrich totem.

Since the ostrich is a large bird, it is obvious that it also had some fairly large feathers. Ostrich feathers were used in an important Egyptian myth about life and death. The Egyptian goddess Ma’at was said to help decide whether the souls of dead Egyptians were worthy of going to a heavenly place when they died, or whether their souls should be destroyed.

The goddess weighed the person’s heart against the ostrich feather. If the heart weighed more than the feather, then the person’s soul would be destroyed.

If the heart weighed the same or less than the feather, then the person’s soul would move to the other world.

Due to this ancient history, the Egyptians thought of the ostrich as a symbol of truth and purity. The Egyptians would like to live a virtuous life to pass to the other world.

There are other South African myths about the ostrich that help define the symbolism of the animal. Much of the wonder of the ostrich comes from its large size and the large eggs the bird occasionally lays. People who lived near the ostrich sometimes took the birds’ eggs to eat. Of course, bird feathers were important to these other groups of Africans as well.

Some of these people thought that if enough feathers were collected from the bird and hidden in a bush, then a new ostrich would hatch from the feathers, basically out of nowhere. This is similar to the myth of the phoenix, which would die and create a new baby phoenix from its ashes.

This myth inspired further symbolism for the ostrich animal totem.

The ostrich spirit guide did a great job representing the concept of life and death, the circle of life. The bird also symbolizes fertility and renewal.

Traits associated with the ostrich

Life, death, fertility, renewal, wealth, prosperity, abundance, denial, deception, escape

The symbolic meaning of the ostrich

The ostrich was large, as were its feathers and eggs. In fact, the ostrich spirit totem lays the largest eggs of all the other birds on the planet. This simple trait made the ostrich very valuable to the people who lived around the animal. Eggs were eaten or sold. Because they were so large, they were a symbol of wealth, abundance, and fertility.

Although the symbolic meaning of the ostrich has many valuable traits related to it, it also has not so pleasant symbolism. For example, almost everyone knows that the ostrich sometimes sticks its head to the ground to hide.

This symbolizes denial, avoidance, and deception.

That is why many people think that if you see an ostrich in your dreams it means that you are avoiding something in your own life. You could also be in denial and need to accept that truth that is right in front of you. For these reasons, the totem of an ostrich animal can also symbolize the truth.

Generally speaking, the ostrich spirit totem symbolizes several things, some of the things they symbolize are contradictory, human beings can still learn something from the bird and what it means. You shouldn’t be like the ostrich and stick your head in the sand when something goes wrong. The rest of the world is still happening around you.

And frankly, even ostriches look dumb when they do that. Instead, take the wonder of the big bird and its eggs. Know that it symbolizes abundance and all the other wonderful things in the world.