Have you ever wondered why certain events have been happening in your life? Or why there are so many flies swarming around you, entering your home, or sitting idly on your bedroom window? The simple solution would be to swat these pesky bugs away or spray them down until they fall to the ground, lifeless.
But, have you ever thought deeper than that? Flies can be seen as messengers warning you or preparing you for a situation that will soon occur. To understand this fully, simply read on to learn more about the spiritual meaning of flies in your house.
Fly Symbolism and Meaning
Flies are often associated with negative connotations and heavy emotions pertaining to the mental well-being of others. Such emotions are anxiety, irritation, frustration guilt, and fear, just to name a few. These emotions can be expressed through imaginings where a fly is present in some way, shape, or form.
When flies are in your dreams, they are usually representing the deep emotions that are repressed in the subconscious part of your mind. After seeing this fly, it is suggested that you find out what these emotions are and face them head-on.
The simple explanation for this is that it could be tied to a situation that may be causing these feelings to fester deep inside of you. Flies are fluctuating symbols among many cultures. Ranging from evil destroyers to peacemakers who honor their own.
As you read on, ask yourself a few questions about your life and why a fly may be present? Have you surrounded yourself with negative people? Are you allowing negative thoughts to dictate the course of your life? Are you remaining stagnant when you could be prosperous?
Expert Tip: The more you learn about the many symbols of flies, you will learn the importance of releasing these negative thoughts in order to move forward and continue to live an abundant lifestyle.
Native American Symbolism
In Native American culture, flies are considered messengers from the spirit world who are calling for change and transformation. These messengers urge the person of choice to change a certain aspect of their life to transform their ways of living.
For many, it is believed that despite flies being harmless, they are also seen as bad omens of unfortunate news or misfortune upon their victim. Yet, Native Americans respect the flies because they take their messages seriously for the reason of flies being messengers from the spirit world.
In Native American culture, a fly is a chance for change, transformation, and a new beginning a common positive connotation among many different cultures. Another detail about flies, as believed by some is that flies can tell the man the secret of fire.
In other tribes, such as the Navajo, it is told through their history that spirit ancestors like the Big Fly who was the protector of sand painting, watched over many of the artists as they worked on their craft.
This can also be seen with Hopi tribes as well who associated these messages or prayers to the fly as a chance for fertility and keeping strangers away from their people.
Eastern Symbolism
In Eastern regions, many believe the fly to represent something more meaningful than an insect that spiritually has both good and bad intentions. The majority of what is said pertains to the importance of life and the power that flies hold on their own. Here, a few examples will be explained to highlight how influential a fly is within the Eastern regions.
As stated in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, European individuals believe that a God used a swarm of flies as a punishment resulting in many believing that flies are the embodiment of pestilence and death.
This also stemmed from medieval times when many of the flies were believed to be supernatural beings seeking to cause corruption with evil intentions. This is because of the reason that many Europeans believed flies are born from fruit or organic matter.
In contrast to this, in European history, flies were actually added to many Renaissance paintings by multiple artists. These flies, whether they were placed by the heads of the subject or in the comer of the painting, usually symbolized the meaning of life.
To expand on this idea, many Renaissance painters used a fly to compare the life of a human to the lifespan of life, the transience of human life is short and should be highly valued.
To continue on with this knowledge of the fly representing life in Asia, flies are seen as symbols of disturbed souls who have yet to pass on. These restless souls are the residents in the body of a fly and remain present in the physical world until they are released from being a fly and find peace.
A ritual that is typically used to release the soul of the fly in Asian households, is capturing the fly to feed it fermented rice. It is said that because of the offer of this fermented rice, the fly is ecstatic because of this kind of act and proceeds to move onto other spiritual realms in order to find freedom.
With these two examples of how flies are perceived in two Eastern regions, it should be noted that flies are not always seen as threats to society because of their fragility or contribution to society as symbolic morale for the people.
Christianity Symbolism
Christianity sees flies as everything bad and negative in your life. This is because Christians believe the fly either represent or is a direct descendant of the Devil’s prime example. Beelzebub from the Lord of the Flies.
To be completely transparent, Christianity sees flies as the worst of the worst. Flies are seen as the evilest creature on the plant as many concur that if flies were to follow you, you are currently suffering from a lack of happiness or depression and will not be happy until you repay the debts you owe.
Or, others may say that repenting would be the better choice because of the sins you committed.
Celtic Symbolism
In Celtic mythology, flies do not always appear in the tales that are told. Yet when flies are mentioned, they are seen as the symbols of death, pestilence, and disease. This caused many to avoid flies as maggots were seen as carriers of such diseases.
Despite this, flies were also represented as transformative and offer a rebirth as flies are seen as creatures who symbolize lots of perseverance and evolution because of their unwavering tenacity.
African Symbolism
The earliest civilization to appreciate the fly were Egyptians. In all of Africa, flies are not widely used to represent anything meaningful in their history. However, Egyptians placed emphasis on the fly because of the military prowess that was achieved during wars.
After many soldiers came back from war, the Queen chose to carve amulets and pendants for protection as well as being royal rewards from the royal crown.
These amulets had flies carved into them to represent the military prowess that was displayed on the battlefield as well as symbolize the meaning of the fly, persistence, and unwavering resolve. Egyptians saw past the negative representation of the fly and chose to embrace the fly as a code of honor rather than fearing it.
These symbols were also seen in Egyptian mythology to protect against the misfortune and disease that would threaten the people. In the end, Egyptian soldiers were given a golden fly medal as an acknowledgment of the bravery that is displayed relentlessly on the battlefield.
A more heroic stance in contrast to the idea of good or evil that surrounds the fly’s symbolism.
Dream Symbolism
Based on the dreams that you are having about flies, the common theme is that there is an issue or situation in your life that is currently hindering you in a way that causes the people around and the emotions you have to be more intense than usual.
One example of a dream is a fly zooming straight towards you. These dreams usually mean that someone is trying to gain your attention and control you. This can be annoying because the fly is constantly in your face, buzzing around and purposely throwing you off.
Expert Tip: Flies in dreams are basically people or situations that you need to face because you might have to let go of them soon. They may be draining you or simply wants your attention.
Encounters and Omens of Flies
Flies are already seen as bad omens among many different cultures. These omens are essentially tied to the misfortune that is brought upon the individual when encountering a fly. A real specific kind of omen that is well-known is a swarm of flies.
This symbolizes many different meanings because it could be that there is dullness in your life which, if you think about it, resembles a carcass with no movement. Stagnancy can be a clear path for flies to swarm you because this can also force you to change your life before the swarm continues to grow.
Mythology and Folklore of Flies
Many myths and legends briefly mention flies as it depends on which folktale or story you are reading from. Flies are usually seen as tormentors, tricksters, or even destroyers. In myths such as Greek and Roman mythologies, flies are seen as tormenting innocent people because of their reputation for being deceiving critters.
Some myths include Norse mythology where Loki is told to have chosen a fly as one of the shapes to play one of his legendary tracks. In Indian folklore, a swarm of flies can predict rain that will be arriving soon. There is a God in Greek mythology named Myacoris who warded off many flies.
And finally, there is a myth on the island of Sardinia that in two barrels are flies and wealth, a bad omen and a product of fortune. In mythology and folklore, there is a common theme among all tales about the flies, they are mischievous and can lead to a path of destruction.
Spirit Animal Symbolism of Flies
Flies as spirit animals are amazing to have because if you have a fly like a spirit animal, you are seen as extremely adaptable to different situations and can endure and persist through many different changes.
If you have a fly as a spirit animal, don’t fret. These little critters symbolize the unwavering determination and strength that is held deep within you. You, in regards to your spirit animal, can also find beauty in the strangest places, similar to a fly.
This can coincide with the meaning of your adaptability because you can find the good in any bad situation. In addition to that, the fly being your spirit animal also forces you to be humble because of how determined you are to achieve your goals.
Much of what is done by people who have a fly as a spirit animal is direct and purposeful to their everyday life. But, the fly’s intention as your spirit animal is to teach you new lessons every day because of this consistent grit that remains deeply rooted in who you are.
Totem Animal Symbolism of Flies
As a totem animal, flies are a signal for you to take action. Flies seek your success from every angle, pushing you to change what’s around you, your mindset, living habits, anything.
This change that the totem is pushing for you to go through will lead to more fruitful endeavors that will consequently encourage you to chase your dream despite the negativity around you.
People with this totem are quick to act and never miss a valuable opportunity because this will allow them to multiply their endeavors as well as create limitless possibilities in order to prosper and grow.
Expert Tip: The totem is essential to learning what can be done as it also represents the chance to overcome adversity and maintain a survivalist’ instinct that prepares you for the worst but hopes for the best.
Power Animal Symbolism of Flies
Flies as power animals truly express the meaning of you reap what you sow’ as flies tell about changes happening in the present in response to the action that you have done. Some of these conditions may be harsh, but with a fly as a power animal, you are urged to move quickly as the negativity of the situation will soon pass.
It is explained that with a fly as a power animal, the bad changes will ultimately lead to lots of abundance and prosperity because, again, even in the darkest of corners, there is much fruit to bear or good fortune.
Flies as power animals ultimately can be utilized to observe multiple situations and observe what your next move will be in your situation.
Tattoo Meaning of Flies
When it comes to tattoos, flies are one of the few pieces of art that can mean anything to anyone. However, there are a few meanings of a few of the various fly tattoos on the internet that have been done by many individuals in the past and present.
Each of them ranges from simplistic meanings to others that may mean something deeper to the wearer. These associations can be tied to perseverance, good and fair judgment, or even religious affiliation.
The first example would be a fly being eaten by a frog. This tattoo simply means that a fly is meant to nourish and help the Earth with its sacrifice to help feed the inhabitants of the Earth such as the frog.
Another example would be a fly bursting out of the skin. An eerie and maybe uncomfortable sight can mean decaying or decomposition of something old such as a person’s rotting past that no longer holds them down or a form of rebirth, breaking out of old cycles, releasing oneself, anything.
Finally, the simplest meaning would be an interest in insects. Many are intrigued by the presence of insects and might just want one of the many variations of the smallest organisms on Earth to remain present on their body. Having a fly tattoo can be just that, a fly tattoo.
An interesting fact about fly tattoos is that sometimes many believe fly tattoos can resemble business expertise which exemplifies the perseverance and tenacity of a fly while others see fly tattoos are the negative parts of one’s personality due to their perceived evil nature to the rest of society.
Much of what is told about the fly is neither bad nor good because the fly has qualities similar to that of a human, both an ugly side and a beautiful one. So, next time you see a fly either outside or in your home, it’s safe to say that you can decide what you will do based on what has been told.
But before you do anything to the fly, ask yourself this, is there anything in your life that may need your immediate attention? Remember, flies are messengers that have come to tell you something important