By Ernst: Spirit Animals and Totem Animals have their origin in Shamanism. Shamanism is an all-encompassing concept of traditional beliefs, rituals and practices from diverse cultures around the world. A Shaman is a kind of bridge or intermediary between the people and the Spirit world. He works for people who have problems or people who are ill and can heal and make predictions. A Shaman tries to restore balance that is out of balance. Moreover, he works with Spirit Animals. There are many shamans in, for example, Indian tribes.
Spirit Animals are Spirit Guides, spiritual helpers who share their wisdom with us. A guide in animal form.
For example, it can be the animal that has always attracted you or that appears (regularly) in daily life, dreams or meditations. If you connect with a Spirit Animal or you know which animal has something to tell you, you can understand yourself better and you can recognize both your strengths and your pitfalls. We all have several animals as helpers, protectors and guides in our dreams, meditations and visions. Our own Spirit Animal is the carrier of our personal power, which it also stores for us. He or she helps you find yourself. They help you strengthen your good qualities and add the qualities that you lack. They help you follow your intuition. A Spirit Animal can also help you heal to re-balance energetically, to process traumas or to let go of past events.
There are two types of Spirit Animals: Messengers and Life Guides.
Some animals stay with one person for a lifetime, those are Life Guides. They are a reflection of your character or perhaps a reflection of what you lack in your character. This Spirit Animal is always there for you, in every big or small event and situation in your life. It helps you in your spiritual development and healing rituals. Other Spirit Animals come and go when you need them in a certain situation, the Messengers.
These animals only come to help us find a solution to problems or situations. Spirit Animals are also powerful allies, offering protection and assistance.
How do you recognize your own Spirit Animal?
There are several ways to find your own Spirit Animal. Someone with experience in shamanism can bring you a Spirit Animal from the energetic world. You can also take a journey yourself with an experienced shaman to find your Spirit Animal. In this journey you go to the energetic world with your consciousness and meet your Spirit Animal there. This encounter or connection is the introduction and awareness of your Spirit Animal.
You can also meet your Spirit Animal yourself. Go and sit in a cross-legged position and visualize yourself in your favorite place in nature. Your animal spirit will lure you to its place, so open yourself up. When the animal comes, greet it lovingly, even if it is a different animal than you expected. A beautiful experience!
You learn the most about the animal by observing it in the wild. Learn as much as you can about his way of life so that you get to know his powers. Think about what the animal wants to teach you.
All animals can be Spirit Animals. Many people desire a large and powerful animal as a Spirit Animal, such as, for example, a black cougar or a bison. However, it is usually the smaller animals that emerge as large Spirit Animals. Therefore, your own Spirit Animal can be an ant. You may not like it, but an ant symbolizes work. They teach us to build and to be the architect of our own lives. The ant is able to carry many times its own weight and size. This also applies to the person who has found his strength in the ant. This person is strong enough to bear all the problems and burdens imposed in life. So never underestimate the power of small animals.
Totem Animals
Totem Animals can guide you and protect you, but they can also help you learn life lessons that are important to you at the time. The animals have properties in which you can discover certain messages and you can also derive certain powers from them. In addition to the Totem Animal that you receive at birth, you may encounter several Totem Animals in your life.
There are several Totem Animals:
Birth Totem: You receive this at birth and you can calculate yourself what your birth totem is. The Indians use a lot of totems, animals that you can use as a spiritual helper. The 12 astrological zodiac signs we use are associated with the 12 different Native American totem or medicine animals. No animal is higher on the ladder than another.
Zodiac sign & associated totem animal
Aries – Falcon
Taurus – Beaver
Gemini – Red deer
Lobster – Woodpecker
Leo – Salmon
Virgo – Brown Bear
Libra – Crow
Scorpio – Snake
Sagittarius – Owl
Capricorn – Snow Goose
Aquarius – Otter
Pisces – Wolf
Life totem: Your life totem works with you throughout your life. The animal is present in your environment or in your thoughts when you need its powers and specific properties. Usually, you have one life totem throughout your life. Different life totems in different parts of your life are also possible sometimes.
Travel totem: A travel totem stays with you for a certain amount of time but for a longer while, it could be weeks, months or even years. It is there, during the time you need, to learn your own specific life lessons.
Pay attention and you will see more and more that special animals appear in your life. The difference between a travel totem and a message totem is the time the animal stays with you. A message totem will appear quickly and only stay with you for a moment.
Message totem: A message totem brings you a spiritual message or a warning. Usually, it is an experience that is very impressive at the time. A message totem is only there for a short time, a day or a week at the most, but often only a few hours. Sometimes the message totem doesn’t deliver a message, but somehow causes a distraction or diversion in your life.
In retrospect you can see that you were lucky, for example because you were not in that particular car that you wanted to leave in, and later found out it got into an accident.
Shadow totem: The shadow totem is a totem that scares us. We experience a shadow totem as very powerful but we prefer not to deal with it. Your shadow totem reflects your own inner fears. By delving into your shadow totem and overcoming your fear of this animal, you can experience spiritual growth. Just think of spiders and snakes which frighten many of us and which we like to avoid.
To discover your own Totem Animals, it is best to start by first thinking about which animals you have always had a lot of interest in and in which periods of your life you were most interested.
You may ask yourself:
- Which animal has always interested you? (Life Totem)
- Which animal do you like to see most when you are at the zoo? (Life Totem)
- Which animal do you currently encounter most when you are out in nature? (Travel Totem)
- Which animal do you feel most strongly attracted to at the moment? (Travel Totem)
- Do animals ever appear in your dreams? (Life or Journey Totem)
- Which animal gives you anxiety? (Shadow Totem)
- Has an animal ever bit or attacked you? (Shadow Totem)
There is much more to say about these guides, helpers and companions from the animal kingdom that we all carry with us. Everything on this earth and the universe is connected in some way.
Love and Light,
Ernst
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