What Does This Symbol Mean? (And Why That’s the Wrong Question)

I often get messages and emails from people asking me “what does this symbol mean?” or “what this stone is about?” or “would this be appropriate for this purpose” and so on, that I think it’s worth talking about.

Few days ago, a customer came and asked me the exact same question, about the wing bracelet: “What does the wing represent?”

And I have come to think that the true question behind this question (and all similar questions before that), is not “what does it mean” or “what does it represent”, but “what is the correct meaning?”

Because I’m the maker. And I’m supposed to know what it really means.

So here is my answer: there is not a single, correct meaning.

There are many. And they can contradict each other and still be true.

A wing, can mean freedom.

Freedom of choice. Freedom to move on. Freedom to leave something or someone.

It can be escape. Or the need to escape. Or the belief that leaving was the only way.

It can be protection. It can be guidance.

It can be remembrance of a loved one.

It can be grief.

Two people can wear the same bracelet with the same symbol, and carry different meanings and different stories.

And they are both correct. And both tell the truth.

[Related: When a symbol is a symbol and when it's just design]

There’s a trap inside all this “searching for meaning”: Looking for something that already has a meaning assigned to it (by tradition, or instagram trends, or online gurus, or fashion magazines), stops you from looking for something that means what you want it to mean.

Sometimes people say “I want something meaningful”, but what they often mean is “I want something that already has an accepted meaning, so I don’t have to create it.”

There’s a big difference here.

If meaning is already assigned and pre-accepted, pre-approved, then by default a wing means freedom, a black stone means grounding, a red thread means luck, a wolf means a fighter.

And the work is done.  You just wear the conclusion.

Is that really what you want?

When it’s you, personally, the one who gives the meaning you want it to have, the symbol becomes your territory. Your evidence. Your truth.

And it becomes responsibility. It becomes exposure.

A bracelet, a stone, a color, a symbol on a pendant, don’t carry meaning the way most people think.

They hold it.

Like an empty container, until someone puts something real inside.

Something like an identity. Or memories. Or even something uncomfortable.

(I recently wrote about what objects truly hold for us on Medium, you can read it here)

That’s why two people can wear the same piece and feel something completely different.

That’s why someone can outgrow a symbol and release it.

And someone, can come back to it years later, and only then understand it for real.

Maybe the deeper question is:

“What am I ready to admit by wearing this?”

Then the symbol stops being about what it means in general, and becomes about what it means to you.

[Read Next: The beauty of the scar - Why imperfection in amulets makes them stronger]