As a little girl, I somehow developed the belief that my "spirit guide" would appear to me in the form of an animal. Don't ask me who taught me that, it was just one of those things I assumed.
Throughout my life I've had a few animals that could very well have been totem animals, but the hummingbird and the fox have been the most consistent.
Until I started reading this book, I thought they were just manifestations of whatever spirit was watching over me. I would see these animals everywhere I went. They appeared in recurring dreams, I would run into them in real-life in the most unlikely places, and other people would often give me gifts that had something to do with that animal (although I rarely talked about this with anyone). Now that I'm reading this book, I'm starting to learn a lot more about what I was missing about these occurrences.
Looking back, those animals were appearing to me so often because they represented something important in my life at the time. They were either trying to teach me a big lesson, or they were warning me about something that was coming. Of course, I had no idea at the time. I just thought there was something that was sending those animals to either be my friend or my protector (because those were two things I desperately needed at the time).
The fox, my most recent "totem animal" has been following me in my dreams for years. But I didn't know it had much significance until it appeared in the same dream that I got my magical name from (you can read about that dream here). Since then, the fox has acted as an aid in my study of the craft in many ways. It's a clever, fast, and tricky creature that has been thought to live on the border between the two worlds. It brings me important messages in my dreams, helps guide me in meditations, and even greets me in person at the most unlikely times.
What's your totem animal? How has it helped you?
I've always been of two minds about totems. I do seem to have both spectral and real animals appear at crucial times in my life; but I always think of them as helpers. I've always liked the musings on the topic by Lupa better than Mr. Anderson.
ReplyDeleteI've had visitations by an astral-ish she bison, her face white with snow, her breath hot on my neck. I've had real visits by various small snakes and a cougar that followed me across my yard and batted the holiday lights off my roof after I got inside. Crows and occasional ravens sometimes follow my work on the Labyrinth.
Perhaps they are merely curious about me; I know their presence warms me when I am feeling chilled in the world and dubious of my effectiveness.
I haven't actually read anything on Totems other than this one book. Thank you for bringing Lupa to my attention! I think I'll be purchasing and reading DIY Totemism. I think it's very important to pull from as many sources as possible. I'm sure I'll have another, more structured and in-depth blog post with an updated version of my opinion when I've done more research! LOL!
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