19 Spiritual Meanings Of Swallows

Swallows live in many countries around the world. We instantly recognize them for their red faces and forked tails. Additionally, we know them for their amazing acrobatic abilities. They are beautiful birds that also carry with them a host of spiritual meanings and symbolism that some might not be quite so familiar with.

To begin with…

They are widely regarded by many for their close connection to the spirit world, as well as for their abundance of positive skills and qualities they want to share with us. So, hopefully, the following 19 meanings of swallows will help you understand the significance of these birds a little better. 

They should also give you a better idea of just why they are revered so much!

19 Spiritual Meanings Of Swallows

1. Being Watchful 

The swallow is watchful and alert at all times. It does not let its guard down, and its message to you is that you should not either. Be careful of how much trust you put in others because there could be people in the physical world who will betray you and do you harm. 

People in your work life and even some of your peripheral friends may use information against you if they get the opportunity. Consequently, if a swallow flutters into your sight, do not overly share things with anyone you do not know well around that time. 

2. Self-Belief

Swallows are small birds, and considering the distances and the varied climates they live in, they appear to punch well above their weight. This plucky little bird epitomizes the concept of the underdog. It is a bird that thrives because it believes in itself and its ability to hunt, fly thousands of miles, and find shelter.

If you see lots of swallows, it is a sign that you should not underestimate your capabilities. Like the swallow, you should adopt a positive mindset. After all, if you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect anyone else to?

3. Acceptance

In the same vein, the swallow may appear to you as a means of helping to accept yourself for who you are. It could be that you are having a hard time embracing your personality, flaws included, and this is holding you back in life. People with low self-esteem usually suffer from accepting themselves. It will usually have nothing to do with their qualities and everything to do with their self-doubt and anxieties.

If this is you, then you should seek out a good friend or relative that you can trust. Tell them about how you are feeling and see if they can help to improve your self-belief and confidence. If you still feel you need more assistance, you should consider speaking to a trained counselor or start by trying some basic meditation exercises.

4. Harvest Time

The swallow is a sign of spring. When we see a swallow, we think of harvest time and the abundance of crops and fruit. It is a happy and joyous part of the calendar of life.

Just like the coming of harvest, a swallow represents the coming together of the fruits of your labor. So, if you have been engaged in a long project of study or work, you can expect the rewards of all your hard work to pay off shortly when you see Swallow. 

Put simply, you reap what you sow!

5. Exploration

There are many sides to the swallow. They are beautiful, they are fast, and they are amazing acrobats. Additionally, they have huge capacities for endurance. What’s more, they are also loyal, nurturing, and adaptable. 

The swallow shows us there is a lot more going on with his little bird than you first see on the surface. So, when you come across a swallow, it is a call for you to explore every area of your personality. It means that you should engage and utilize everything you have to help you achieve your goals and ambitions.

6. Finding Love

If you see two swallows together, it is a sign of love, whether you are single or in a relationship.

If you are single, it means there is love in the air, and you will shortly meet with a romantic partner who may turn out to be the love of your life. This is a good time to keep yourself open and receptive to meeting new potential partners. It might, therefore, be a good time to dust off those dating apps or dancing shoes, and give things another go!

And if you’re married…

Or maybe you already have a long-term partner, then you can expect a happy phase in your relationship. Any squabbles and disagreements will soon be behind you. Your marriage or partnership will become even stronger than before. 

7. Freedom

The swallow has long been a spiritual representation of freedom. This is something that has traditionally been picked up upon by sailors and convicts. In the case of sailors and those attached to the military, they would have tattoos of swallows on their arms and chest. They represented successful tours of duty and subsequent safety and freedom. In the case of convicted felons, a swallow might be tattoed on their hands to symbolize their release. It would be a sign of both freedom and rehabilitation.

And for the rest of us?

To those of us that have neither been in the navy nor seen the inside of prison, which is most of us, the swallow still symbolizes hope and freedom. However, it could be freedom from something like a job we hate, a toxic relationship we escaped from, or maybe a long-standing financial debt. 

Regardless, it is still freedom at its finest.

8. Release

The swallow is, likewise, symbolic of release. Therefore, when you see a swallow, regardless of where you see it, you need to think of letting go of something from your past. Maybe you are holding a grudge against someone, and you cannot realize your anger. Maybe you are jealous of something or someone. Alternatively, you might feel guilty for something, or you are still trying to overcome a long-held trauma.

Either way, it’s a trap…

Whatever your reasons for keeping hold of these negative emotions, the swallow is telling you that it is time to move on from your trapped emotional state. If you feel this is difficult to do on your own, you should think about getting help. Maybe talk things through with a trusted friend or family member. Alternatively, you could get professional help from a counselor or attend a course relating to your specific problem.

9. Confidence

Next, on my rundown of the 19 Spiritual Meanings Of Swallows, confidence can take you a long way in life. Sometimes we do not possess the same skills or experience as someone else competing with us for the same purpose. However, confidence, hard work, and persistence can still take you where you need to go.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way…

If you look at the swallow, it is a small bird, and you would think it would be easy prey for larger birds like hawks. But this is not the case, because the swallow is extremely quick and can perform incredible acts of acrobatics that often seem to defy logic and physics.

Moreover, the swallow is fully confident that it can escape a predator’s attack. So, if you see a swallow, it may be there to urge you to be confident and believe in your own skills and abilities.

10. Versatility

Humans are creatures of habit. We typically form a series of habits that become increasingly entrenched as we get older. Having a routine is comforting, and not having to confront endless new issues can help to keep our stress and anxiety levels low.

This is all good, but unfortunately, as a species, we also thrive on new experiences. Without shaking things up, we can easily fall into a rut which can quickly lead to feeling bored and unfulfilled. 

As we’ve touched on already…

The swallow is a highly adaptable bird that can live and survive in several different conditions. Its presence reminds us that we need to break our entrenched habits and make fresh and interesting changes in our daily lives. This is the time to start a new hobby, take a new class, or even explore that trail you keep meaning to hike or cycle on.

11. Intuition

Intuition is something we all have, but there are many times that we do not listen to our inner voice, and fail to trust our instincts. It is easy to doubt ourselves, begin second-guessing everything, and lose our confidence. Following a significant trauma, like a breakup or job loss, this is very normal.

Still, doesn’t make it easy…

That’s right, re-establishing your self-belief is not always easy. However, time will help, as will sharing your thoughts and feelings with a good friend, loved one, or relative. This is such a simple thing to do, but I can assure you that it can often work wonders. Additionally, the swallow is trying to play its part by delivering a message from the spirit world that you should listen and believe in your inner voice once again.

Our intuition is a powerful thing, and you would be wise to take note of this spiritual message.

12. Travel

Swallows are remarkable birds that often take on huge distances during their migration. If you take the example of swallows found in the United Kingdom and South Africa, they fly an incredible 6,000 miles between the two countries in search of food.

Therefore, the appearance of swallows represents a call for you to stop making excuses and look at some of your own travel plans. Trips to new places and meeting new people are excellent ways to improve your personal growth and development. 

Swallow knows this through experience!

13. Peace

If you see a swallow by a river, it is a sign of a peaceful mind. 

It may be that you have several stressful events going on in your life. Maybe you are facing difficulties at work or at home. Maybe you have recently lost your job or have split from your long-time romantic partner or spouse. These kinds of things are bound to cause higher levels of stress and even anxiety.

Seeing a swallow by a river symbolizes you finding better emotional stability. It shows that you will soon find ways to combat any building negativity, and you will learn to be happy again.

14. The Spirit of a Loved One

If you have recently lost a loved one, they could come back to visit you in the form of a swallow. They will do this as a means of comfort. And to let you know that they are fine and you shouldn’t worry. The bird will contain the spirit of your loved one and then will take it back to the spirit world once its task is complete.

So, if you come across a swallow, you should look for any unusual interaction it has with you. Maybe you feel it looks at you differently, or you can sense that it has something to tell you. Remain open to any message you feel it has to give.

15. Health and Happiness

Swallows often stay together as mating pairs for the entirety of their lives. They build a nest together, and look after and feed their young with a fierce passion. Their ability to stay together, with sometimes the occasional straying from the female, leads to a happy life.

Interestingly, they can build their nests in all kinds of places, and they will usually return to the same nesting site year after year. If you are lucky enough for them to choose your rafters, or maybe a nesting box or old tree on your property, this is a very good sign. It means that you are being blessed by the swallows and the spirits. Consequently, you and your family will enjoy a happy and healthy future together.

A quick note…

Please also remember that if you do come across an active bird’s nest, it is illegal to remove it in many countries.

16. Good Friends

A swallow can be a sign of friendship, and they appear as reassurance that you are surrounded by good friends and good people. Maybe your trust has been recently tested, and you were beginning to have doubts about whom you could believe. This is normal, but you should now be able to trust and have faith in the people closest to you when the swallow pays a visit.

Talking about trust…

If you have recently suffered a betrayal, it is normal to feel guarded and fear being hurt again. However, with the help of the people closest to you, in time, you will learn to believe in people once again. 

Hopefully, the sighting of the swallow will be your first tentative step toward this goal.

17. Strategy

Swallows have adapted to maximize their hunting abilities. They are highly streamlined, which enables them to fly for long distances with very little effort. They also have special beaks so that they can hunt and eat while they are still in the air.

If you see a swallow, you need to question your own strategy and consider if you are doing everything you can to optimize your advantages. Make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and marry your skills to your plan. This will help you to quickly reach your ultimate life goals.

18. Comfort 

This is undoubtedly the saddest of the 19 spiritual meanings of swallows.

Let me explain carefully…

In the extremely sad circumstance where you lose a child before it enters the physical world, a swallow can represent the spirit of an unborn child. If the child was lost through a miscarriage, it could be that the swallow is making its presence known as a sign of comfort to the mum, through the lost baby’s spirit.

It is also thought that this can be applied to children making it to full term but who were not able to survive the birth. Likewise, it’s believed that it could apply to babies not living past an early age. 

If this has happened to you, I am so very sorry, and I hope seeing a swallow will offer you some small relief.

19. Warnings

Swallows stand for peace, harmony, and good luck. However, if you see a dead swallow, this is not good at all. It means that you will have bad luck, and a phase of disruptions and troubled times is about to begin.

What kind of trouble?

Well, it could be that you are about to enter a very difficult time in your romantic relationship. This might lead to a breakup or a divorce for those of you that are married. It might also mean you are going to lose out on a business deal or lose your job. Consequently, a period of financial hardship and uncertainty will follow.

Folklore strongly cautions against ever hurting or killing swallows for these reasons.

The Importance of Respecting All Creatures

It’s not just ancient folklore that cautions against harming these winged messengers. There is a growing body of people working hard in today’s times to educate and share with others about the spiritual significance of earthly creatures.

So, if you’ve read this far and found value in what you read, we invite you to please keep reading!

We have everything you need to know about the Spiritual Meanings of Bees, Cockroach Symbolism, Fly Symbolism, Wasp Symbolism, Cat Symbolism, Dragonfly Meaning, and much more!

Animal messengers in your dreams?

Yes, we can help with that too! Learn about the surprising meaning behind your Dream About Worms, a Dream of Chickens, your Dream About Orcas, the Puppy Dream Meaning, Dreams About Turtles Meaning, or the Lion Dream Meaning. Please search our library for any animal dream you can think of in 2023!

Back to today’s guide to the swallow’s spiritual significance…

The 19 Spiritual Meanings Of Swallows – Final Thoughts

So, there you have it. I hope the spiritual symbolism behind swallows has given you a better appreciation of this remarkable little bird.

I also hope you will now understand its significance and the kind messages it is trying to convey.

Finally, remember to remain open to receiving any special message it might have to impart to you. Swallow encounters are not just for the birds 😉

Happy swallow spotting!

Please Pin Us.