Feng Shui & Birds — Part 2: Pet Birds

Pet birds add delight and companionship to our lives. Birds, like all animals, add a yang presence. In feng shui, birds are believed to be messengers of heaven. Having them as pets is considered beneficial. So says my favorite feng shui writer, Baolin Wu, who I mentioned in my previous post. In Lighting the Eye of the Dragon, he says that the most important factor is the color of the bird—it must match the color of your birth season.

Now when I read something like that, my mind immediately starts thinking, “What if your bird is the ‘wrong’ color, but you’ve developed a strong friendship or perhaps the bird found you?” That’s what happened to us. Between the time that I wrote my last post and now, a duck found us. I don’t care what color that bird is—I love it! We’re (at least temporarily) naming it Lulu. My mom said we’ll know the gender if it makes a nest and lays eggs or not.

This wonderful duck appeared in front of house four days ago. We love it and it loves our pond. Here it is on a little stepping-stone island.

It’s like something dropped out of heaven and landed in our pond. Our pond has come alive in a most unexpected and welcome way.

If your pet bird is the wrong color for you (or one of you), you can make up for it by balancing your home in other ways. Add a large houseplant, such as a ficus, in the vicinity of the bird’s cage. The plant adds nature to the bird’s environment, and it also provides some competition for attention, and that symbolically lessens the importance of the bird.

My dear old friend Lilli Antonoff sent us this card as a holiday greeting years ago. I take it with me as an example of art with good “relationship energy” when I do talks and classes. (Artwork: Shoson Ohara, “Swans and Reeds,” 1928)

Also, add a picture in your home of a pair of birds that are the “correct” color. That’s especially advisable if you’re keeping a single, caged bird in a Relationship Corner. Think about the symbology there.

You might also consider adding another bird to your home—a bird that is the “correct’ color. But don’t start a menagerie—one to four birds is plenty. Too many birds (or pets of any kind) causes an off-balancing of the energies of the home. (Remember, the birds are adding yang energy.) Pet birds kept outside can be any number that is harmonious with your property, meaning a farm can have more pet birds than a home on an urban lot. But even homes on urban lots can have chickens—you get avian delight plus eggs. There’s quite choice of color available in chickens: white, black, brown, red, and even blue for some Plymouth Rock chickens. Because the chickens are kept outdoors, they do not create too much yang energy for an urban lot.

If your birds are kept inside, be sure to make your home bird safe. Check sites like birdsafe.com or parrotparrot.com. You can consider that if it’s making your home more bird safe, it is good feng shui.

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