Why The Platypus?

Why the platypus?

The platypus is a bit of a biological contradiction.

It’s a mammal that lays eggs. It has a bill, webbed feet and a beaver-like tail. It spends much of its life quietly doing its own strange little thing, without fitting neatly into the categories we expect animals to fit into.

That was the part that got me.

When one of the Aunties at the Indigenous women’s group I attended suggested the platypus might be my spirit animal, I went home and started reading.

I found modern interpretations of the platypus centred around individuality, independence, intuition, adaptability and refusing to fit neatly into predefined boxes.

Which felt… pretty fucking accurate.

For me, the platypus has become less about claiming one fixed spiritual meaning and more about what it represents personally:

Being difficult to categorise.
Trusting your instincts.
Making your own weird little world.
And not needing to make yourself easier to understand in order to belong.

So when Platiipussy accidentally fell out of my mouth one day, it was ridiculous.

But it was also kind of perfect.

And now here we are.