Bird symbol in art therapy

The bird, as it should be for a symbol, has many completely different meanings, and for an art therapist who uses a symbol as a means of reprogramming a client in order to launch new archetypal programs, it is especially important to understand the semantic meaning of certain symbols. The image of a bird as a symbol occupies a special place in the symbolism of the universe, and not just like that, but really for a number of reasons. Let’s try to find out why the bird symbol is an excellent assistant in the work of a psychologist who uses art as a form of help.

Consider a number of arguments why drawing or any other visual art related to birds brings relief to our client:

1. Symbols of birds are present in the mythological, biblical and fairy tale plot, which contains options about the metamorphosis of birds and humans, which perfectly and logically determines the understanding of internal transformations. So, the rebirth of a phoenix from the ashes is a universal metaphor after experienced psychological trauma.
2. The motifs of contemplation, admiration, goodness, happiness, beginning, hope, positive transition, rebirth, morning, spring, sunrise, diligence, home comfort, paternal heritage, the magical world are often associated with the image of birds. Remember the bird that announced with an olive branch about the imminent earth after the Flood. So, another of the beautiful metaphors is the drawings of the bird of hope. Often the blue bird of happiness is the visual label of this metaphor.
3. Signs associated with birds often speak of a transition to a new reality. A well-known terrible sign: a bird knocked or flew into the window as a harbinger of death… In folk tales, funeral lamentations, legends about gods, the death of some gods, heroes, people is their transformation into birds, flight on birds, abduction by birds… For example , Ivanushka was carried away by swan geese to be eaten by Baba Yaga. As part of the therapeutic process, perhaps there is a deeper meaning to this. It is necessary to let go of the old, symbolically die in the old obsolete form and be reborn in the new form of the Soul. I recommend using one of my favorite metaphors for these purposes, “The Bird of Soul, Body and Thought Renewal”.
4. Birds often act as assistants and accompany the hero on his way and in battles, secretly giving him advice (“a little bird told me”), often it is the hero who understands the language of birds. This is a surprisingly subtle image of the ability to hear your inner voice and understand it. So in a difficult life situation, it is very important for us to hear ourselves true, and the metaphor “Magic Bird of Wisdom” will come to our aid, the analysis of work with which will make it possible to understand the reality of desires and needs.
5. The image of a bird is often associated with protection, this ability involves communication with Heaven or the help of celestial forces, such as celestial guides. A bird can be both on earth and in heaven, and this is its function as a liaison between the spiritual and the earthly. The bird on the pillar is the unity of spirit and matter, or a symbol of the sun god. Flocks of birds are magical or supernatural forces associated with gods and heroes. The formation of the metaphor “Birds of my power” in the drawing makes it possible to accumulate important resources of the individual.
6. Birds as an ancient symbol of the eternal, soul, spirit, divine manifestation, spirits of the air, spirits of the dead, ascension to Heaven, the ability to communicate with the gods or enter a higher state of consciousness, thought, imagination. In Christianity, birds are winged souls, everything spiritual, souls in Paradise. The Christ Child is often depicted holding a bird in his hands. On the World Tree or Tree of Life, the place of birds is at its top. As a bird of the World Tree in each specific tradition, the most regal bird usually acts – most often an eagle, sometimes referred to as a thunder bird, less often a certain generalized image of a large (“main”) bird, in some cases with fantastic features. The bird, as an ancient symbol on the World Tree, denotes the top and in this sense is opposed to the animals-classifiers of the bottom – chthonic animals, primarily the snake. For an art therapist, this is another opportunity to open the necessary channel of the unconscious in a metaphorical language in working with a client. Thus, the metaphor of the “Almighty bird” helps the client to consider more broadly the consciousness narrowed due to difficult life situations.
7. Birds often act as a kind of guardians of wealth and guarantors of the correctness of the ritual. The transformation of the image of a bird on the World Tree is also a fairy tale motif: as a reward for rescuing chicks in a nest on a tree (oak) from the Snake Eagle, Raven Voronovich, Nail-bird, etc. they take the hero out of the underworld, where he obtained living water, to the earth. Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) wrote in her work on natural science ( Liber de subtiltatum ) the following phrases about the bird in general: “Birds are colder than animals living on earth, because do not multiply due to the intense heat of desire. Their meat is purer than that of land animals, because they do not crawl out naked from their mother’s body, but are covered with a shell. Some live on fiery air and therefore always strive, like fire, upwards. The Pain Healing Bird is a great image to work with a client who is experiencing deep inner suffering. I will say from experience, I once met at work when a person created entire flocks of birds to live the pain of loss. And here we can recall paper cranes, which are often made as a sign of memory.
8. Birds – creatures approaching the sky with their wings – are the personification of the human desire to get rid of earthly gravity and rise to higher spheres. The disembodied soul of a person is often depicted as a bird, as a bird with a human head (part of the Ba soul of the ancient Egyptian belief system), or – this is often found in cave paintings – as a person with a bird’s head (which is partly due to the symbolic depiction of hallucinations of flight in distorted states of consciousness ). This symbolization of the image makes it possible to use another motive for work – the “Wish Fulfillment Bird”, which activates new processes of positive changes.
9. Intermediary birds in the transmission of the expression of divine will play a significant role in the predictions of the ancient Roman augur priests, who made interpretations based on the flight of birds. A bird fighting a snake (for example, Garuda in India) is considered the embodiment of overcoming low instincts at the expense of spirituality. In the ancient Indian “Upanishads” we are talking about two birds sitting on the tree of the world; one is eating fruit (a symbol of active life), the other is looking (a symbol of the desire for knowledge through meditation). And here you can use a wonderful metaphor for art therapy – “The bird of my harmony”; this image will make it possible to balance the internal processes of acceptance and struggle within the personality.
10. The bird is a symbol of the sun (the king of the sun), wind, air, clouds, thunder with lightning, fire, time, deity, creator, creator, divine ambassador, immortality, spirit, soul, female basis, fertility, parental care, child, rapid movement , pleasantness, purity, airiness, inspiration, prophecy, madness, betrayal, hell, freedom, spectacle … The solar symbol provides many meanings that give a person inner support. And we can offer the metaphor “Bird of Liberation” for art therapy, because by freeing ourselves from reactions, we are freed from the consequences of suffering about the inability to accept changes.

 

This is only a tiny part of what the disclosure of the symbol in art therapy gives. You can learn more on our visual art therapy and symbology training programs.

Successful work and let the chirping of summer birds give peace and faith in the best.

Author — Victoria Nazarevich ©2019

When using the author’s art-therapeutic motifs, please respect copyright