By Luz Chiara Atoyebi
Over the past two years I’ve started a feather collection. It’s not huge but it does have some pretty nice and unique feathers in it. I love collecting feathers of different varieties. For me, they represent angelic communication, good omens, and kisses from God. I can remember where I found most of my feathers, and the stories behind them. A lot of my feathers I discovered while walking around with my daughter in parks and on beaches. Others seemed to serendipitously land at our feet while talking. We love finding feathers together, it’s a special mother-daughter hobby we share.
Over the years, I’ve received large feathers at retreats and in yoga circles as parting gifts. However, my favorite feathers are the ones that seem to find me. Especially small white ones. Small white flowers always seem to float towards me when I need to remember to smile. Any connection to animals, nature and especially the ocean I tried to capture like lightning in a bottle. Considering the profound connection between humans and animals, you may want to keep fossils and feathers in your home to start an ongoing spiritual discourse with our lived environment. It makes a difference when you are becoming intentional about preserving and caring for the world around you. Sometimes it begins with something as small as a feather.
White feathers also provide comfort and confirmation to those who are dealing with grief. If you find a white feather, make a wish or set an intention–you have just made an important connection with spirit.
At the moment I keep them in a small mason jar on my praying space and imagine them bringing in a calming energy and connecting me to nature. In Native American culture, feathers represent the spiritual and ancestral connection. I love that connection because I believe all objects, even the ones that are considered to be inanimate, carry life force energy within them.
Embroidered Picture, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Mid 17th-Century. Bequest of Gertrude M. Oppenheimer
So the next time you’re outside and you find a feather, consider setting an intention with it. Or even better, repurpose it by getting some ink and using it to write with. I’ve done it, and it writes beautifully. You can collect several feathers and make your own dream catcher. Or just place them in a jar. Another option is leaving them on the ground to remain one with the Earth.
There’s nowhere to take them because essentially they’re already home.
