re-pete-a
According to some legends the moth is a sprinkler of dust from it's beating wings...this dust is inhaled and aids in the spell, cast from other dimensions, and assists in contacts in the dream state...Shamanism stuff.
What is your power / totem animal?
According to some legends the moth is a sprinkler of dust from it's beating wings...this dust is inhaled and aids in the spell, cast from other dimensions, and assists in contacts in the dream state...Shamanism stuff.
RiverRunsDeep
cool, RRD. And, yes, deer is a very STRONG animal to have. I imagine really all totem/power animals are very strong in their own way. There are many different ways of showing strength. I think its really cool with deer is their ability to be so graceful - even when fleeing a dangerous situation.
It reminds me when one day I was looking out our window at our vacation home--over the river and on the other side is a hiking path. I saw a deer running down this path! It was the coolest thing, as I just never expected to see a deer running down there. We often see people walking, running or riding their bikes down the path, but NEVER a deer!
So, I watched it and this beautiful animal was just running - very fast - down the path and it was truly graceful and beautiful! I couldn't take my eyes off it and watched it for as long as I could see it.there is a very sweet gentle and innocence to the deer, yet, don't take that to mean they aren't strong. I've seen deer fight as well. they are just amazing and interesting creatures.
Thank you for sharing this story, CN. You are right, all animals have their own unique strengths. And thanks for sharing your recommendations about Ted Andrews' books in your earlier posts. I've been looking for good books about animal totems, and I have added his to my wish list.
Amazing story, Dee Ell! And your kitty/panther/monkey is very beautiful.
celticnoodle
Ted Andrews' book on Totem Animals is one of the best I've come across. I'm sure you'll love it!
WolfyJames
You too are BOTH wrong. The term that is entirely Native Americans is "totem animal". It's impossible and quite rare for anyone else to get a totem animal. Totem animals are attached to a clan, not to a person, so everyone who is the same clan has the same totem animal. I do have some Native Americans ancestry on my mother's side, but I don't know enough about that. Mi-Shell here wrote a blog entry about it which I share, which she shared in previous totem animals threads here.
https://shamanicdrumm.wordpress.com...-a-clan-guardian-not-a-personal-spirit-guide/
Everyone else can get power animals, animals guides,, but never totem animals.
I've done celtic shamanism in my coven and took celtic shamanism courses by my coven for around a decade. Our tradition was Celtic Shamanic Wicca, called The Greenwood Celtic Shamanic Wiccan Tradition, but our coven folded last year because a few were moving away. The other covens, created after ours, are still there.
In my case, my power animal is the frog. It was important, since we'd be doing a lot of shamanic works in our coven, to discover and get a power animal, because power animals protect us doing our shamanic journeys. So I found out my power animal is the frog back then and he likes to shapeshift into anything. Since I shapeshift myself we both shapeshift together. He also likes to morph into funny things and tease me so it was hard to keep on being serious while doing journeys. Also, he likes to wear a crown because he thinks he's the coolest... and I agree with him.
I've called him Rupert because I think it sounds noble (royal).celticnoodle
Thank you, WolfyJames for your post. It was very informative. I am of a Celtic background and would love to take some Celtic Shamanic courses, but sadly I don't have any Celtic Shamans around me. The one Shaman who was teaching me at first was taught a Hawaiian Shamanic Way. We soon parted ways and I found a Peruvian Shaman. This last one was very, very good and helped me a lot. I really enjoyed those classes, but also feel a pull towards the Celtic way--since it is my heritage too.
I do have a few books about Celtic Shamanism. I think one or two are by John Matthews and I have many by Tom Cowan, and possible a few others. Can you recommend any Celtic Shamanic books or cds? T.Y. in advance.
I do have a few books about Celtic Shamanism. I think one or two are by John Matthews and I have many by Tom Cowan, and possible a few others. Can you recommend any Celtic Shamanic books or cds? T.Y. in advance.
frac_ture
I believe that the term "Power Animal" was coined by the American author, Michael Harner. Harner is often cited as a primary factor in bringing shamanistic concepts to the collective attention of the modern metaphysical/New Age community. He's also not loved by plenty of people who feel he was just a force for cultural misappropriation. I haven't personally read much of his work, so I'm just reporting the news here, not claiming it as either fact or fiction. You can easily surf up some material about and by him on the internet if you're interested, though.
I further believe that "Spirit Animal" is a more generic term, not limited to any specific group or culture or movement. It, and Power Animals, and Animal Guides, are probably all "safer" terms to use without risking offense to anyone else out there (although I'm always open to new evidence about any such beliefs...).
I agree with WolfyJames that "Totem" is a culture-specific term, as compared to the terms I just mentioned above. It does indeed refer to an animal that lends its attributes and energies to a clan/tribe/group. I disagree, though with the statement that "Everyone else can get power animals, animals guides, but never totem animals." I wouldn't recommend using the term "Totem" if you're not of the people who coined it (which, I believe evolved from out of the Ojibwe language, which was/is spoken in parts of Canada and the US)...but I also don't think it's accurate to say that -- terminology aside -- no one but certain Native American people can ever experience the phenomenon in which a group finds all members of itself imbued with the energies and attentions of a given Animal Spirit. I believe that could certainly happen -- I'd just recommend calling that Animal Spirit something other than a Totem. WolfyJames, I'm not sure I'm reading your statement correctly, so if I garbled your meaning, please do correct me! But either way, I feel that what I just said is true.
A lot of the issues we all have around these concepts is that we want labels to share, so that we can discuss the concepts with others in a healthy and positive fashion...but it's no easy task to get huge, far-flung, internet-connected groups of interested parties on the same page with respect to terms and definitions. When I say "Spirit Animal" or "Animal Guide," does it mean to you upon hearing it what I was trying to convey when I said it? It helps to keep your mind both open and critical at the same time. Listen to the viewpoints of others, but also don't necessarily take any one such viewpoint as Ye Olde Gospel without studying it a bit.
And labels aside, your own experiences are valid. If a certain animal keeps popping up for you across multiple layers of your experience -- in dreams, in appearances in real life in its actual physical form, in appearances in real life as a symbol that you see, as a concept that gets name-dropped in your presence, etc. -- then the essence of that animal-type may very well have some specific bond with you, and it may have guidance and teachings for you regardless of what you call it.
Last year, I spent 10 days in Peru in the jungle with an actual shaman and his apprentices. Many of us saw Animal Spirits in our sessions with them...and the shaman and his apprentices just referred to them as "Animals," or as parts of "Visions," in a very general way. They were of course speaking to us in their native language, which was then translated into Spanish, which was then translated again for us into English (my Spanish is old and trembling...). Nuances can get very lost in translation, very quickly...
Dee Ell
Mahalo for the info on totem animals Wolfy James.
I will use the term power animals from now on because I personally know Native Americans who get offended at people appropriating the term spirit animal (so many people say things like "John Oliver is my spirit animal!" or some such statement about a celebrity or a food or something else...)
Morwenna
My own experiences were in guided meditations by various people over the years who had either shamanic training or other meditative training. And all resonated with me in different degrees at different times.
I once got a deer, who was only there for that one session.
Once a frog showed up, but that came again, as I'll soon explain.
Once I was in a 7-direction meditation, with the following results: east, bald eagle; south, black panther; west, bullfrog; north, sheep. Then above, an owl, and below, a spider large enough to ride; and at that point I strongly suspected that since the animals I resonated most with in waking life were the cat, the owl, and the spider, I was afraid that my conscious mind would impose the cat for the center and I fought against it, but that cat came through anyway, in shifting appearance as if to include every variety of domestic cat there was. I suppose it was obvious, since I had related to cats ever since I was a small child, in life, in pictures, in stories (even when the cats were the supposed villains--I had to really suspend my prejudices to enjoy Mighty Mouse!). I had latched onto spiders in my teens, and onto owls in my twenties. And in light of the above, it was no real surprise to take the quiz RRD posted a couple pages back and come up with the owl. One of my friends is forever sending me email pictures and videos of owls, cats, and owls with cats. The spiders are something different, but I notice I have a lot of spider jewelry... and owl pins...
Some time after that meditation, I thought about the four compass-direction creatures, and at least the surface connections hit me: the bald eagle is the symbol of my home country, the panther was the mascot of my high school, "frog" is a slang (derogatory, I realize) term for French, which is my mother's heritage; and sheep, well, when we were in England on our honeymoon I was struck by how many sheep we saw, so many more than we ever see in the eastern US--and my father's heritage was English. I know there has to be more to it than that, but that's for surface starters.
And some time after that, in a ritual with meditation, I interacted with an eagle again, though a different type.
And later still, in a Nordic group series of meditations, I got butterflies--three of them, all species that were very familiar in my childhood, and I even got to ride one. In the same series, there was also the cat I grew up with.
None of these teachers or presenters had any problem with us sharing our experiences if we wished; evidently their own training also allowed that. I'm delighted to read of other people's experiences here.
I once got a deer, who was only there for that one session.
Once a frog showed up, but that came again, as I'll soon explain.
Once I was in a 7-direction meditation, with the following results: east, bald eagle; south, black panther; west, bullfrog; north, sheep. Then above, an owl, and below, a spider large enough to ride; and at that point I strongly suspected that since the animals I resonated most with in waking life were the cat, the owl, and the spider, I was afraid that my conscious mind would impose the cat for the center and I fought against it, but that cat came through anyway, in shifting appearance as if to include every variety of domestic cat there was. I suppose it was obvious, since I had related to cats ever since I was a small child, in life, in pictures, in stories (even when the cats were the supposed villains--I had to really suspend my prejudices to enjoy Mighty Mouse!). I had latched onto spiders in my teens, and onto owls in my twenties. And in light of the above, it was no real surprise to take the quiz RRD posted a couple pages back and come up with the owl. One of my friends is forever sending me email pictures and videos of owls, cats, and owls with cats. The spiders are something different, but I notice I have a lot of spider jewelry... and owl pins...
Some time after that meditation, I thought about the four compass-direction creatures, and at least the surface connections hit me: the bald eagle is the symbol of my home country, the panther was the mascot of my high school, "frog" is a slang (derogatory, I realize) term for French, which is my mother's heritage; and sheep, well, when we were in England on our honeymoon I was struck by how many sheep we saw, so many more than we ever see in the eastern US--and my father's heritage was English. I know there has to be more to it than that, but that's for surface starters.
And some time after that, in a ritual with meditation, I interacted with an eagle again, though a different type.
And later still, in a Nordic group series of meditations, I got butterflies--three of them, all species that were very familiar in my childhood, and I even got to ride one. In the same series, there was also the cat I grew up with.
None of these teachers or presenters had any problem with us sharing our experiences if we wished; evidently their own training also allowed that. I'm delighted to read of other people's experiences here.
celticnoodle
I believe I have one of Michael Harner books, Frac_ture. "The Way of the Shaman". And, wow! What an experience you've had going to Peru in the Jungle and being wiht an actual shaman and his apprentices! What a magnificient experience that must have been! I'd LOVE to read more posts of your adventures and anything you can share on this subject!
celticnoodle
that spider would've been enough for me to pass out, Morwenna!
thank you for such a beautiful post and for sharing your experiences! I, too, can remember riding on the black panther and I can still feel how powerful and strong he was. I remember vividly him scooping me up and taking off running through the woods, and feeling the wind on my face and body as he ran, and ducking to miss branches with leaves on it. It was exhilarating! I can only imagine your experience of riding on a butterfly! So magical, that!
