Totem Animals

People each have an animal that is destined to be their spiritual guide, and it is up to each of us if we want to find them. These animals have the ability to guide us to different spiritual planes and to teach us important lessons. My Totem animal is the Bear, it suits me really well. I live just at the edge of their habitat.. and I have many personality traits that are atributed to it. Similar builds and all. This much I know. but I have a few questions, one of which was asked in my introductory thread by Cassanra.

1. If you have a totem animal, is it possible for it to eventually leave you, or do they just move into a background role when their lesson has been taught and another animal shows up?
2. What is the easiest way that you have found to Communicate with your animal? I know there are probably As many different Methods as their are animals.
3. What is your Totem animal, and how did you find him/Her?

Hopefully this will become a Q/A thread for everybody

Well personal my experience as yours it appears ...is t hey come to you when you need them . And the more you are awrare of the spirit world the you can see them. Sylvia Browne wrote some good stuff on the subject....food for thought. I will be interested to see the threads ....maybe we can both get some answers.

Interesting stuff this...

I remember learning once that, we do infact inherit new Animal Totems once we have learned the lesson or completed the "assignment" that the Totem was assisting us with.

For some, it could be small steps or "assignments" and one might regularly shift Totems, or in other cases one must (or has chosen) to work with one particluar Totem for a whole life

I got an "intuitive flash" that mine is a Cat...A regular "domestic" Feline

So I went here: http://www.sayahda.com/cyc1.html and read about Cats as animal totems.

It makes SO much sense to me, their energetic qualities and effects apply very accurately to the inner and outer journey I've been on for many years. Not to mention that I have been surrounded by them physically for years! I have 2 that live with me now, infact I haven't been without a Cat for about 17 years and I've never gone out and "acquired" myself a Cat, they have all "found" me by some means or another...hehe so intuitive flash or not, I could've guessed

Then I considered some of my natal chart factors: 5 placements of Virgo (rules over domestic animals) seems to resonate...

I also considered that Leo is on the 12th house cusp (12th house; amongst other things; hidden strengths) Funny Leo is the BIG CAT, the Ruler of the Cats, and he's there with the Stern teacher Saturn, who is in Virgo...

These are the little clues I've seen so far...

Anybody else interested in looking at their charts and sharing insights found?

Leo Virgo, what kind of astrological energies would you associate a Bear with? On the same site I read that Bears are associated with both Solar and Luner energies because of their nature of being active both day and night and therefore the recipient of the Bears energy is urged to develop the inner and outer equally: http://www.sayahda.com/cycle.htm

Can you see any of this in your chart?

Hey Cassanra, I wonder if in your chart you could see any significant indicators of when/why the shift from Bear to Couger to place?



A

Just an extra little thought...

I wonder if people with "Harder charts" inherit more "protective" Animal Totems to asborb some of the hard energy (Cats do that ) that has not been used constructively, so it doesn't affect the person as drastically...?

The powers I atribute to it Great Vision and a sense of right and wrong. I have a fairly strong virgo influence in my chart. it's my ascendant, my mercury is in Virgo, and so is my Venus. So Far, The bear has enabled me to See farther down the line to things that I can accomlish, at the same time making me more aware of what I am doing now, and how it affects things. I"ve felt a Peace within me that I hadn't felt for years. It's a warm comfort.
To the Bear I atribute some Capricorn Energy, it can be a strict task master. Capricorn (really any earth sign but I'm rather mad at saturn right now..)teaches Patience, and with the learning of Patience comes your reward. Being a fire sign.. I kind of wish that it would hurry up, But If I can wait it out the rocks in my path at the moment will be Behind me.

my totem is a bear

im big and slow moving. i hibernate. im fuzzy with my beard. and im kind papa bear like. dont mess with my cubs! (if i had any)

During the period that the Bear was showing itself most was around 1990 and as I look at the progressed chart at that time the sun and mars were in the process of changing signs. The cougar appeared this last year and the only thing I can see in prgressions is the suns progression to conjunct natal mars/venus in leo....it came to me in a dream and it was simply lying there close by and slightly above me just watching me...I did not know if I was going to get ppounced on your it was too full to move but I had a feeling of protection from it. But I thank A for turning me on to the site....that was interesting and helpful in interpretation. Interesting subject .

For anyone interested, you should get a copy of Animal Medicine Cards:

http://www.amazon.com/Medicine-Cards-Discovery-Through-Animals/dp/0312204914/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222449893&sr=8-1

It is a great tool, to see what is your totem animal for the time being/life lesson and what kind of medicine he is brining you.

I have two animal spirit guides. One is wolf/dog hybrid named Buro (he has the most striking blue eyes), and he is here to guide me in my animal communication and various spiritual growth. Another guide is Seneca - a bird. She looks sort of like macaw, but with a long, floaty tail, and extremely vibrant. She is helping me to communicate with birds.

I use medicine cards when I am in need of some kind of guidance, and then I end up meditating on that card. The totem animal of the card usually makes everything so cle

so clear. A great tool

My animal totem is the wolf, although I am in a transformational period and hawks/eagles are really starting to speak to me.

I have always had a very strong affinity for cats --LOOOVE the kitty-cats!
But I don't know if that is a sure sign of a totem animal or not.

On the communication side, believe it or not, the critters that I have had a little bit of success in really connecting with are birds! I have a strong affinity and admiration for birds ( but it is different than the kitty-cat thing)

I worked with a Shaman once, who told me that my totem animal was a horse. I can see how I'm definitely learning lessons regarding "horse" type energy ( and I'm a Sag Sun and Mercury, with 2 pre-natal eclipses in Sag), but I don't really "feel" horses, if you know what I mean.

freedomlover said:

I have always had a very strong affinity for cats --LOOOVE the kitty-cats!
But I don't know if that is a sure sign of a totem animal or not.

On the communication side, believe it or not, the critters that I have had a little bit of success in really connecting with are birds! I have a strong affinity and admiration for birds ( but it is different than the kitty-cat thing)

I worked with a Shaman once, who told me that my totem animal was a horse. I can see how I'm definitely learning lessons regarding "horse" type energy ( and I'm a Sag Sun and Mercury, with 2 pre-natal eclipses in Sag), but I don't really "feel" horses, if you know what I mean.

Click to expand...

There will be re-curring themes in your life that will point to a horse being one of your totem animals. Cats, and the fact that you are drawn to them, maybe it's natural atraction. I am sure that there are lessons to be learned from them that might benefit you in the long run. And Birds, and your affinity with them, might be a sign that you need to leave a burden behind and rise into the sky and new things. Their music that they make is a thing of joyous beauty.. maybe you have a creative desire that you've never realized..?

I have a strong connection with alligators. I tend to dream about a lot of the animals that live in water and land like turtles and frogs, but I resonate the most with alligators. For a while, I was having the most peaceful dreams about this alligator swimming through the lilly pads and snapping its mouth shut. Around that same time as I was having the dreams, I had an encounter with an alligator in real life. I was standing on a bridge in the middle of a swamp in South Carolina and an alligator swam up under the bridge really fast. He was probally only four feet away from me. He sat there for a while yelling back and forth with another alligator. It was really cool and scary. I didn't think about it untill several years later how profound it was that the alligator managed to enter my dreams and make a visit to me in my waking hours. I don't know if the alligator is my totem animal for life, or if she only appears when I'm going through a dying phase.
Some months back, when things were going a little rough for me, the alligator visited me in a dream again. It was comforting.

Here recently I came across a picture of a girl that looks like me hugging an aligator. It really touched me. I just went and tried to find the picture again, but I couldn't find it. Instead I came across this story: http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/psyberinn/alana.html It's pretty neat.