The Ostrich Feather of Ma'at

The crown of Ma'at is represented by an ostrich feather. All of her highest devotees throughout Africa wore it to symbolize their devotion to Ma'at, to Truth. However, Ancient Africans did not use animal symbolism at random or because of looks; they used them for specific symbolic references based on the animal's behavior. The use of the ostrich as the animal representing truth in Kushite-Kemetic spiritual science was used for three reasons:

Firstly, it is an animal completely existing only within the boundaries of Africa. Thus, the Kushite-Kemetic people used it to be very clear that "truth" exists only in Africa, as opposed to their rivals in West Asia who spoke many untruths.

Secondly, the ostrich has the largest eyes of any land mammal on Earth. This immediately appealed to the Kushite-Kemetic people, who exaggerate their own eye size in art and see the eye as the most sacred symbol of the Supreme Being in his form as Ra. It was this very eye that Ra gave to Tehuti to aid Heru against Setekh. The eye is the biggest witness of truth over the ear or even the book. Thus the ostrich with larger eyes than any other mammal, became the sacred animal of Ma'at. In addition, the ostrich eye is bigger than its brain, which was part of the reason it was symbolic of truth. It SEES reality for what it is without using its brain to manipulate and distort reality. In other words, via ostrich symbolism, the eyes (witness to truth) are more important than the brain (the manipulator of truth).

The third reason is that the ostrich has the fastest endurance of any land animal. While cheetahs are faster in a sprint, no animal can come close to the endurance at high speed of the ostrich. It can do over 40 mph for over an hour. This endurance speed is symbolic of Truth, for the core value of truth over falsehood is because while falsehood wins a quick race, only truth endures forever!!!! For these three divine reasons, our ancestors chose the ostrich as the symbol of Ma'at.

The myth that ostriches hide their heads in the sand when an enemy attacks (suggesting they just hide from problems, even when in immediate danger) was a Roman myth to demonize the sacredness of this African animal that symbolizes Truth.

Despite how popular this myth is, it is entirely false. Ostriches do NOT hide their heads in the sand. They will however dig holes in the sand to bury their eggs. Certainly Romans during their north African invasion would have seen this, but they were not foolish enough to mistake this as the animal hiding from an enemy. The Romans colonized much of north Africa for over 600 years and would have learned that this is not true about the ostrich. So why did they say it?

It was never meant to be a literal description of the ostrich's behavior but a figurative one used to belittle the African deity of Truth named Ma'at, whose primary symbol is the ostrich. It was an attempt of the Romans to disrespect Ma'at as Truth. And 2,000 years later, this disrespect persists and many people actually believe ostriches hide from enemies with their heads in the sand.

This is how Europoid misinformation works. It demonizes African culture with a blatant lie and then repeats it so frequently until everyone mistakes it as truth.

But our Ancestors said Truth is only in Africa, truth is the ostrich feather of Ma'at.

Give thanks to MaTseba.
MaTseba
MoKga-a-Bjwala
Edward Mitole, PhD
Founder & Chair
The African Renaissance Project