An open-winged dove carrying an olive branch is a symbol that is widely recognized in political spheres, religious traditions, and historical context as a message of peace. But, outside of generic symbolic meaning, what does a dove spiritually in our current daily lives? What does it mean to have a spiritual encounter with a dove?
Doves that appear to you in synchronistic ways represent hope, faith, renewed purpose, compassion, purity, and intuitive communication. They may show up when hard times are ending, and a new understanding of one’s self is emerging. The presence of a dove brings energy back into balance, harmony, and invokes an internal sense of peace.
These gentle creatures have a magnificently spiritual depth to them, so when they show up in your life be prepared to venture into the spiritual depths of your own existence. They tend to stir up the deeper meanings of life, making their interpretation unique to the individual.
This article goes over the most common encounters with a dove, the most common spiritual inquiries about a dove, and a general interpretation of various dove messages. Please use your own intuition to determine what resonates with your unique situation.
What Is The Spiritual Meaning Of A Dove?
There is a reason why doves have been used throughout history in the context of Divine visitation. Doves are strongly connected to the spirit realm and are often sent as messengers between the spirit and physical worlds. They are strongly influenced by the flow of spiritual guidance and comfort that we need in times of trials and tribulations.
Doves represent communication with one’s own intuition and the emotional language of others to find inner balance, healing, peace, and joy. They are associated with the third chakra, linked to creativity, verbal and emotional expression, and discerning the truth. Doves are a symbol of Divine love flowing into your life which is reflected in how you express your highest truth and sense of self.
The presence of doves may make you feel as if compassion is overtaking you. They can awaken the empathic nature in you, which allows you to deeply connect with the spiritual flow that weaves us into the energetic fabric of reality. Doves can open your heart, allowing you to receive love, give love, and recognize that you are love.
If a dove appears to you in synchronistic ways, now is the best time to tap into the rich emotional bank account that is being filled right now. You may be more receptive to creative ideas, new relationships, spiritual insights, and a desire to connect more intensely with your experiences in life. Something is waking up inside you that is wanting to love life more deeply and with more passion.
You may be in a season where you are searching for more spiritual and emotional fulfillment, and are ready to plant the seeds of a new life in a field that has been barren for many years. Doves give you the confidence that emerges from complete peace and acceptance of self.
This is a good time to tune into your intuition to hear what messages are being sent to you from the spirit realm. Creative activities that open your intuition include making art, writing, spending time in nature, meditating, and solo traveling.
Pay attention to other synchronicities that appear in your life right now, especially if they show up in threes. Doves are linked to the number three, and will often bring you messages in threes.
What Does It Mean If You Have An Encounter With A Dove?
Humans don’t often get approached by wild birds, so when someone has a close encounter with a dove it is a special experience. If you have been visited by a dove, you may be wondering what the deeper spiritual meaning is behind this encounter. Below are the most common dove encounters and their general interpretations.
What Is The Meaning Of A Dove Visiting You?
A dove visiting you brings the energy of balance, patience, and highlights the importance of living your life with intention. If you have been feeling off-kilter lately, a dove may visit you to stabilize your unsettled energy and bring your life back into harmony.
Dove visitations are often about releasing resistance and surrendering to where the spiritual flow is guiding you. This is a time to simply “allow” events to happen without trying to exert control or force things to go in a specific way according to your old expectations. This is a period of rebirth and renewal.
A dove may also visit you after a period of grief or trauma. This is a message that you are surrounded and protected by unconditional love from the spirit realm, and your spiritual guides are all around you right now. The period of hardship you are experiencing will soon be over.
What Is The Meaning Of A Dove Crossing Your Path?
A dove that crosses your path, either by flying or walking, is the sign of a peacekeeper. You are invited to see a conflict from all sides from a place of neutrality and acceptance. This is a great time to set your normal beliefs aside and view the situation without being swayed by emotion or overly-charged feelings.
Doves invite you to take a contrarian viewpoint by stepping outside of popular belief. If you are feeling emotionally upset about political or social issues, this may be a good time to take a break from the mainstream media or go on a meditation retreat. You may be surprised by what is revealed to you when all the noise is gone.
A dove crossing your path is also a message about compassion, cooperation, and acceptance of all people regardless of how diverse the beliefs are. You may be in a position soon where you will be challenged to help others accept what is different, and to love their neighbors.
What Does A Dove Landing Near or On You Mean?
Doves are not as frightened by people as most other birds, so it is surprisingly not uncommon for a dove to land near you or even on you. It is very special when a dove chooses to land near you, so take a moment and listen with your full presence of self to what is happening in your internal and external environment.
A dove landing near you is a message to stay calm, even when it feels as though your life is out of control. When you are feeling stressed or anxious, a dove may land on you to offer comfort and peace of mind.
If you notice that doves land near you often it is a sign that you are someone with a naturally even temperament and someone who is a master over your own emotions. You do not let the temporary sways of your mood distract you from living life to its fullness. While you may not be the most optimistic or joyous person at all times, you are true, genuine, and authentic. You know that life is not always good or bad, and you stay even throughout the ups and downs.
When something is making you feel very frustrated in life, a dove may land on you to invite you to be patient. The more frustration you feel, the longer it will take you to achieve your goal. Spiritual energy moves under the surface of your reality, and a dove is telling you to trust that things are happening exactly in the way they are meant to unfold.
What Does It Mean If A Dove Follows You?
When a dove follows you, this can be a message that you are in a period of rediscovery about your life. You may be feeling more introspective than normal, asking big questions about your greater purpose on this planet. A dove follows you as you are following the deeper yearnings of your soul.
A dove lets you know that right now is the time to follow your soul’s desires to discover new layers of your spiritual existence. This is a good time to be brutally honest with yourself and to be bold with making drastic life changes to follow your dreams.
What Does A Dove Near Or In Your Home Represent?
A dove near your home is a positive omen that represents peace after a period of stress and hardship. It is a peace offering from the universe, signaling that you are entering into a time of rest. This time of rest should give you space to evaluate how you have grown from the recent challenges that you have faced. It is a time for reflection on what life lessons you are ready to move past in this lifetime.
If a dove takes up residence near your home, such as makes a nest or visits often, this is a sign that you are open and receptive to the Divine love and dynamic creative energy. The space that surrounds you is sacred. If you feel restless or physically ill, setting time aside each day to meditate in the home or out in your garden can be deeply healing.
A dove visiting your home is also a sign of renewed hope and undiscovered potential as your gratitude for life increases. You are realizing how blessed you are. This is a peaceful time in your life where others can benefit from your love and care. It can be fulfilling to invite people to your home, and spiritually uplifting for others.
What Is The Meaning Of A Dove At Your Window?
A dove at your window is all about letting the magic flow back into your life. This is the time to open the blinds and let the golden sun of your highest vibrations pour back into your energetic space. Imagine that your highest vibrational energy is being called back from everywhere it has been left behind and filling up your auric field. A dove at your window is a period of energetic healing.
A dove at the window also lets you know that your dreams can come true if you just believe. Right now is a perfect time to dream as big as you can, and quite literally see into the window of new possibilities.
What Does It Mean If A Dove Hits Your Window?
While a dove visiting your window represents new possibilities and energetic healing, a dove hitting the window carries a different message entirely. This may represent that you are living too much inside your dream world instead of in your present reality. You may be abandoning your sense of self while you are busy daydreaming about unrealized possibilities. This may be a warning signal to remind you to live fully in the present moment, which is where new opportunities get their creative lifeforce to manifest.
If you have been putting off a project, avoiding a difficult task, or feeling overly restless when a dove suddenly hits your window, this is a sign that your energy is too much in the future. There are so many new possibilities that await you, but they will never come if you don’t spend time in the present moment to begin to create them.
If doves hitting your window becomes a persistent issue, you can read about how to prevent this from happening by visiting this article here.
What Is The Meaning Of A Dove In Your Yard?
Doves in your yard represent a generous and compassionate spirit. You may have acquired wealth and want to share it with others right now. This doesn’t have to be material wealth, it could be emotional, creative, or spiritual health. Find something you have to offer to others, and share it with the world.
What Do Two/Pair Of Doves Represent?
Doves are monogamous animals, meaning that they stick with one mate for as long as they both live. Because of this, it is common to find a pair of doves hanging out together. A pair of doves together is a wonderful blend of water and air elements, combining the emotional and spiritual into one experience. This is the perfect recipe for unconditional love and total self-acceptance.
Two doves together can be healing for the heart center, allowing space for new relationships to take root. This could be new business partnerships, new friendships, or a new adventurous romance. You may feel a fluttery sensation in your belly, like the wings of a dove flying towards its mate.
This does not mean forming new unhealthy emotional attachments. This is about forming new relationships that don’t put expectations or limitations on love. A pair of doves may send you a message that true love should not be put in a cage. It is time to release past attachments or current unhealthy attachments and let love be a wild force in your life, without expectation.
If you are struggling to find a relationship and see a pair of doves may show up to offer guidance on how to find a true partnership. In order to receive love, you have to give love. If you have been stingy with the love you give in your life, the flow of love will be blocked. Find ways to care for and love others, and you will be surprised at how it will return to you tenfold.
What Does A Dove Cooing Represent?
Doves are fascinating creatures for a number of reasons, but their most interesting attribute is how they “coo.” They do not make any audible sounds by opening their beaks to make bursts of sound. Instead, they fill their throat with air and let it slowly escape. The gentle release of air makes the “cooing” that you hear.
A dove cooing is all about letting your inner voice be heard without using words. This is through your thoughts, actions, and imaginations which all combine to form your inner radiance. The way your inner radiance is expressed in life says way more than words can ever speak.
This is a time to reflect on how you are truly communicating with the world around you. What is the energy you are sending to your throat to softly “coo” into the world? What actions are you taking that are sending high vibrations through this physical dimension? What thoughts are being manifested into your reality?
This could be a powerful time for meditation to gain control over your “monkey-mind” so that you know how your inner voice is being heard by the world.
What Does A Dove Feather Represent?
Feathers are often messages sent from the spirit realm, either from angels or loved ones who have passed on. They are reactive to higher vibrations so they are easily guided and strategically placed by spiritual energies.
The message from a dove feather is all about truth. Dove feathers bring your awareness to the truth of a situation. If you have been feeling lost, confused, or in search of the true meaning of something in your life, a dove feather can guide you to the answers you are looking for.
Dove feathers are all about moving past the “fluff” and distractions cluttering your life that leave you feeling lost in a haze. They get to the heart of the matter and remind you of what is true. If you find a dove feather, this is a great time to sit in meditation and listen to what inner truths are being revealed to you.
You are able to see people and situations as they truly are, as dove feathers heighten your intuitive senses about discerning the truth. There may be people in your life that you start to feel wary of. A spirit guide might be using a dove feather to help you see past deception.
A dove feather may also be a message to release a “made-up” story that you keep telling yourself that is limiting you from making progress in your life. The lightness of a dove feather is telling you to lighten up and stop creating problems that really aren’t there!
But overall, finding a dove feather is a positive omen that you are moving towards truth, honesty, and are seeing things more clearly now.
If you are finding white dove feathers everywhere, you can read more in-depth about what this represents in an article I wrote here: The Spiritual Meaning of White Feathers Appearing All Around You.
What Does a Dead Dove Represent?
In spiritual language, the concept of death represents new beginnings and change. The message of a dead dove contains a similar message, related to transition, introspection, and deep internal change.
If you find a dead dove and wonder what the deeper spiritual meaning is, this can be a time to do some deep soul searching and ask dynamic questions to your inner critic.
Because doves are monogamous and mate for life, finding one dead dove may represent a permanent separation from someone or a certain lifestyle. It may be a time to move away from where you currently live and travel overseas to set up a completely new life. Or it might be time to get that divorce that you have been avoiding for years.
When a dove’s mate dies, it does find a new mate. The love story of the surviving dove is not over, but it is having to start again. While these changes are full of grief and devastation, often a more realized version of yourself rises from the ashes.
It is like that quote from Martin Luther King Jr. “Only when it’s dark enough can you see the stars.” This represents the message from a dead dove. Our highest versions of ourselves are often found amongst the darkest moments.
Ultimately, doves represent peace and new beginnings, so a dead dove may represent that a big change must happen in order to achieve the peace you have been searching for.