Angels-BIRDS

In world mythology, birds are often symbols of the spirit. In particular,
they are portrayed as messengers to the gods and as bearers of the souls
of the dead to the otherworld. From these associations with birds,
angels ultimately derived their wings. The connection of birds with
angels springs from two distinct experiences of the sacred.
First, in all world religions, but particularly in Western religions,
there is a tendency to view the sacred as especially associated with
celestial phenomena (e.g., “Our Father Who art
in Heaven . . .”). Because the heavens seem to
be the peculiar “residence” of divinity, it is a
natural step to regard birds as closer to the
sacred, even as potential emissaries of the gods.
By the same token, it is natural to assume that
celestial beings have wings, either literally or
symbolically.
Second, to the ancients the air itself was a
spiritual substance—a medium that could be
felt but not seen. In many cultures, even the
word for soul is the same as the word for breath:
one’s breath is the invisible yet tangible part of
the person that seems to leave the body and
escape into the atmosphere upon death. To
members of many traditional societies, birds
were marvelous creatures who could shake
themselves loose from the earth and float aloft
in the spiritual medium of the air. It is but a
short step from seeing birds as travelers of the
spirit realm to attributing wings to spirit beings.