Ostrich - Strauß

(Struthius camelus)

The ostrich is the largest living bird. It has an unmistakable appearance, with its long bare neck, its small head with a short bill and robust body with long muscular legs. The wings are long and skinny. Ostriches are unable to fly. Female feathers are generally shades of grey. Males have a black plumage with white at the ends. Unlike all the other birds, the ostrich has only two toes on each leg. They range in height from 6.88 to 9.18ft (2.1 to 2.8 m) and a weight between 220 and 350lb. (100 to 160 kg) Even though it is too heavy to fly; it can run with great resistance and considerable speed (reaching up to 43.5mph i.e.70 kph for a period of 30 minutes). It is the only species within its own family. Formerly, there were ostriches in Africa and West Asia, currently there are almost exclusively in East and South Africa. However, nowadays, we can find them all around the world since farmers have recently switched to raising ostriches commercially because ostrich meat is considered a good alternative to other kinds of meat. They live in savannas, steppes and semi-deserts. In the wild, they are semi-nomadic and travel through large distances to find grass and other food. Ostriches have large eyes and long eyelashes. They have excellent vision. The ostrich’s long, powerful legs allow it to look over the top of tall vegetation when scanning for predators.

Ostrich in Mythology: In Egyptian mythology, the ostrich is related to the goddess Maat. Their feathers represented truth and justice. In Africa, they were awarded magic abilities. Ancient people believed that it could hatch its eggs by staring at them, when in fact this was done by the sun. Many tribes venerated it and they ate its eggs and its meat. With its feathers and eggs, they made art objects and masks for their shamanic rituals.

The Ostrich in the interpretation of dreams: It represents the challenges and the problems which we must confront rather than avoid.

Ostrich essence can help people who always tend to avoid doing things directly. It helps those who prefer getting away from the problems, fleeing and avoiding them, rather than tackling them.

On the body level: The essence is stimulating. The ostrich is an animal that loves movement so it can lead us to move, to do sport and to keep our body in shape, strong and healthy.

On the emotional level: The essence can help us release old patterns. Rather than adopting evasive behavior when there is some problem and difficulty in our life, the essence strengthens our self-esteem. Fears can be overcome, we can develop some courage to directly face our problems and toughness rather than avoiding them and fleeing as we did previously. It is an essence that works very well in problems of addiction, since the addict doesn't want to see their own pains and wounds and takes refuge in their addictive behavior. In order to escape from reality they consume alcohol or other drugs. In the same way as the ostrich "hides its head in the sand"; we release these patterns when we stop closing our eyes to the truth and to the uncomfortable reality.

On the spiritual level: The essence helps us develop confidence in our own strength and in our ability to solve problems. As a result, we are more reliable; we encourage our social behavior and trust in Divine Protection within our life. We understand that difficulties and challenges can represent opportunities in our lives that help us grow internally and mature. We comprehend that, at the end of the day, we are the only ones who attract these difficulties or the people that cause them, until we are ready and mature enough to recognize the lesson of life, to accept it and grow through it.