Dream Symbols

Hummingbird Symbolism

Wisdom and guidance from the world’s tiniest master of flight

Hummingbirds, like all birds, have an inherent association with the free-flying, unbound nature of the soul. As such, much of its symbolism, drawn from its unique characteristics, is intertwined with this overarching theme.

For years hummingbirds have frequented my dreams. One even called me on a man's cell phone in a dream once. Lucky for me I was listening, because I really needed to hear what she had to say.

If hummingbirds have been sprinting in and around your life lately, then they likely have a metaphorical message for you. Granted, it’s summer and it’s their typical time to be buzzing about, but you know if they’re spying you the way you're spying them.

Lately, a whole clan of nectar lovers has taken to frequenting my windows, the trees in the garden, the flowers on my porch, and believe it or not — my face, when I’m sitting outside with my morning coffee.

With one of the little sprites just inches from my eyes, I wondered if she was thinking to poke one of them with her needle-point beak. She fluttered there for some 15 seconds, shifting her head side to side, examining me closely, then suddenly shot away.

Suffice it to say, I believe it’s time to pay tribute to the animal wisdom and spiritual medicine of hummingbird. If I don’t, things might escalate until I finally do get my eye poked out!

Dreamworkers often work with “animal allies” through the dream spaces as well as the waking spaces of ordinary daily life— an activity, albeit, that is often colored by extraordinary forms of communication.

What the hummingbird comes to communicate is a message of freedom — freedom of mobility on all levels, in all aspects of life. With freedom comes joy, lightness, and the ability to heal.

Hummingbirds are true masters of mobility. They’re the only creatures of flight other than dragonflies, that can fly in any direction. Like hummingbirds, dragonflies also hover with rapidly fluttering wings and both hummingbirds and dragonflies have a kinship with the faerie realms.

Hence the names of some species such as the wood-nymph hummingbird in Brazil, the Black-eared Fairy of Amazonia, and another one called the Purple-crowned fairy of Mexico and Ecuador.

No other bird has the flight capabilities of hummingbird and few creatures on earth are able to claim such extensive mobility, but the hummingbird can. It’s ability to fly backward as well as forwards makes it a creature freed from the limits of time and space.

If hummingbird has been making itself known in your life, meditate on the meaning and attribute of mobility. Consider it on multiple levels — not just physical mobility, but mental, emotional, and spiritual mobility as well.

There is an interesting synchronicity, mentioned by Ted Andrews in his book, Animal Speak. He says there are over 300 species of hummingbirds. As it turns out, “The letter shin in the Hebrew alphabet is given the numerical value of 300 and this number has associations with fire and relationships, the past and the future.”

Ted points out further how this symbolism relates to the hummingbird's wing movement. They can move their wings in a figure 8 pattern, which is the symbol of infinity, linked to the past and future, and also to the “laws of cause and effect.”

Flight to the left or backward gives it the ability to revisit the past and call forth from it only what is joyful, as joy is one of its primary medicines. When hummingbird first started coming to me, she entered my dreams always with a message for me to do what brings me joy — to allow myself to relax enough from dutiful thinking to move freely with life in such a way as to have lightness of being and a smile in my heart.

When hummingbird buzz’s into your life, she directs you to the kind of inner-smile and light that fills to overflowing, such that other people can actually witness it shining and extending forth through your actions. Hummingbirds are very playful, dodging about in flight, playfully sparring with each other and splashing about in birdbaths. They remind us not to overlook the immeasurable value of play.

My friend, Stephani, is a member of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone and she tells me that her grandmother always referred to the hummingbird as the healing doctor. This is perhaps reflective of the hummingbirds association with flower and herbal medicines, being in such a close and dependent association with the flowers themselves. Flower elixirs, such as Bach remedies are an example of this.

It is thus thought that the spirit of the hummingbird can teach you how to heal and be healed, especially in working with the flowers and herbs, many of which are flowering plants themselves. But the hummingbirds healing abilities are not limited to the body’s care, as the heart, mind, and spirit also have cares and need healing. Hummingbird addresses them all with her ever-present embodiment of joy-filled lightness of being.

Hummingbird is also a skilled architect, their nests being homes of very intricate and unique design. Reflect on what hummingbird may be saying to you about the architecture and design of your life, or of a particular area of your life, such as your relationships or a particular project.

Hummingbirds also have the fascinating ability to hibernate at night, helping them to conserve their energy supplies. Its rest periods are crucial for the rigorousness of its daily flight and feeding rituals, consuming up to 60 meals in a single day. Are you being conservative enough with your energy? Do you get enough rest and allow yourself to recharge when your inner or outer resources are depleted? Sleep in particular may be of importance here.

Perhaps the most inspiring trait of all is witnessed in the ruby-throated hummingbird, with her miraculous strength in migration. Every winter this tiny bird makes a treacherous journey — some 2500 miles from Alaska to Central America. How it is able to store up enough food and energy for such a flight within its tiny body, year after year is a scientific marvel.

Even to scientists, it seems an impossible journey. This great feat has made this tiny bird a symbol for accomplishing the impossible — for having the ability to do what seems like it cannot be done. If hummingbird is bestowing its medicine upon you, its time to trust your innate abilities to bring you through to successful completion of any great journey you’ve begun.

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