Animal Totems?

[The Happy Squirrel]

Wow. What blessings you guys have. My blessings so far haven't been in this form. But this peaked my interest. Now I am asking myself what animal often visit my dream. I never thought about it before. And now that I am thinking about it.... I can't think of any... o_o
Not one! Will ponder further.

 

[junethird]

Some good ways to start Looking for clues to see what you link together is your chinese zodiac and look at the constellations associated with your sign. What you are drawn to should be a good guide. Thats how i clued into mine that i couldnt ignore it any longer. I like my animal, just slightly dissapoimted it was not more exotic maybe lol Im not sure how he helps me yet, but he has popped up in my dreams a few times. I also like certain animals, but again im still not sure how they help or what the message is.

 

[The Happy Squirrel]

Haha

My Chinese zodiac is the Rooster

But no roosters anywhere so far... In any case this has been really helpful

Thanks Labhrain for starting the thread and asking the question!

 

[Mi-Shell]

The Chinese zodiac is a man made/ invented system of RULES and is NOT linked to Spirit or Spirit Animals - other than by accident. But you could use a Zodiac Animal as a Gate Keeper, It would work well, if you have Chinese or East Asian ancestors.

 

[The Happy Squirrel]

Thanks Mi-Shell from what I know of Chinese zodiac I didn't think they qualify for spirit guides, and I don't know what a gate keeper is. But I thought that is about the closest anything animal to some of us

 

[junethird]

I respectfully disagree. Each culture has its own symbolic way and understanding to linking an animal guide to its human spirit. It should not be so quickly dismissed As some poor accident. Each method has its own merit and should be respected.

 

[The Happy Squirrel]

But I think "totem" is very specific..... It was briefly discussed earlier. The word "totem" I suspect is what makes the difference, if I understand it correctly.

 

[ravenest]

I know little of Chinese concepts, but I have always seen their astrological animals the same as the western ones.

In Chinese ' I am a ' Goat. And western a crab or the Twins.

I have been given local names by the indigenous , of a tree and an animal , but they are more ways, I think, of defining my character, so they can identify me;

Webra jali - ( fire tree ) - the Illawarra flame tree. - stands out and is noticed from the rest of the forest.

Baarlijinbullaginbellingin ( now that's a mouthful ) - a cheeky fellow Quoll from the place that is named after Quoll - and that is far too much to go into, its a multi level pun and observation about me, where I come from, tied in with mythology and a play on words and excessive verbiage ( they say that and I say " You and your excessiveverbiage ! " )

But non of that is totemic.

I have different animal 'familiars'. They aren't given to me ... in some situation and rites they can be, but I dont qualify for that. They .... come to you.

Raven 'bugged' me for ages, but I would not have it ... how passe !

When I was building the temple in the back yard ... they came and watched nearly everyday. And then increased in intensity. The more I read up and learnt about it from various sources, the more I realised how apt it was.

Still not a totem .

Same with goanna ... come to think of it, the boys hunted and cooked one here a while back, and saved and offered me the 'best bit' (the fat gland near the back leg) .... I had no idea how I was going to get it down, it was disgusting ... but forcing myself to eat a bit I started to retch and feel really sick so refused and apologised and explained.

I got some unimpressed looks until the elder took it back and said 'Ohhh ... maybe it's your totem. "

- I forgot about that. He seemed to think I could have one ? But I didnt ask ... I just agreed and concentrated on not vomitting up the bit I DID swallow .

Hmmmm .... now goanna saunters inside into the kitchen and I have to tweak his tail to get him to move , he doesnt even run off, like he used to. I try to scare him off and he just looks at me like ... "yeah ... sure ! What are you going to do about it?"

So I say " Just you wait to Uncle Lewi visits again ! "

There does definitely seem to be 'horse people, cat people, dog people' though.