Pathfinders Animal Oracle card 23 Skunk

By request the Skunk is next!
Here some general info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striped_Skunk
On the card we see what seems to be a pen and ink drawing of a Striped Skunk in the center. The background is sky-blue with white clouds, as if the critter is floating in the clouds!?? Its feet however are obscured by a reddish pink cloud of ...??? What do you think it is????
I hope the artist did not try to portrait the animal's odor, since skunks that are not actually spraying right now does not stink but still have a distinct smell.
What surprises me is the reddish / pink Celtic looking triskeratel that the Animal is holding between its front paws !!???
To me this is not a Skunk in its natural habitat but rather the floating ethereal Spirit of one!??
But WHY a Celtic design??? There are no skunks in the wild in England?? are there???
.... Unless gregory......??

.....................................................................................
For the First Nations here Skunk is a n Animal associated with courage, valor, being feisty and standing firm for what you are fighting for. Skunk was war Medicine and Skunk fur and roaches were worn by warriors.
There are many legends featuring the steadfast and staunch Skunk out-maneuvering Wolves, Badgers, Coyote the trickster and even the Jaguar...
Westerners have 2 cartoon characters which are Skunks: Pepe le Pu who chases the girls in Paris and has the wrong perfume and "Flower from Disney, - in Bambi, who is friendly and playful.
Skunks are not afraid of humans and usually will not spray, if not cornered.
They make excellent and clean pets, when raised from young.
They however do not like Dogs and Cats and we all know, what a mess it is to wash your pooch or pussycat in Tomato juice to get rid of Skunk spray and its smell.

Soooo now it is time to put in the link to Precious Flower, the skunk I rescued almost 2 years ago:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=1094138&postcount=565
and the conclusion:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=1095960&postcount=577

While it looks like the skunk is spraying, with the clouds all around it and the tail up, the thing in the front, though it has a celtic knot look to it, actually looks like a rose to me, in a lotus symbol! And a symbol of power. The skunks spray is it's power and protection, but to the skunk it is not a bothersome smell? lol

Interesting that I see it as a flower and you named your skunk "Precious Flower", Mi-Shell!

Maybe skunk is trying to tell us we all have a protective shield that belongs to us alone, and may turn others off, but is sweet and attractive to us, and this is our inner power. Must look skunk up in Andrew's book, tomorrow. This Cricket is tired!

All of the cards by this particular artist have a celtic knot design of some sort. Wondering if it's less about the significance to the animal but to the artist.
Other cards by Gray Wolf are: 21 Deer, 22 Crow, 23 Skunk, 24 Ferret, and 25 Boar.

I think skunks are just super cute. When I was in grade school we had someone come in a do a presentation with her pet skunks and I thought they were great. I guess the pets get de-scented somehow.

Anyway I think skunks tell us about "not judging a book by it's cover" in a way. They can be friendly, social, etc... if you can just get past the smell (even when not spraying). Also agree with HearthCricket about having a protective shield around us (thanks HC)... but it doesn't have to be solid like a wall.
I'll need to think on this little guy a little more and look at his habits for more ideas.

I was reading in Andrew's book and skunk stands for self esteem, respect and sensuality. Skunk has a lot to do with how we react to people and how they react to us, who we attract or turn off, as well as taking time to re-evaluate your self image, both physically and spiritually! Cool!