From:    Marisa Broughton
To:      All                                    Msg #65, Jan-26-94 15:12 PM
Subject: Shamanism: animal totems.1

Animal Totems.1  Quote: Animal Speak by Ted Andrews

Animal totems go by a variety of names. They are called spirit
animals, power animals, totem helpers and others. Regardless of
how people refer to them, certain beliefs are common:

Every animal has a powerful spirit.

This spirit may be its own, or that of a being who uses the
animal image to communicate messages of the world to humans.

Every animal has its own talents. A study of its talents will
reveal the kind of medicine, magic and power it can help you to
develop within your own life. Remember, every animal has a
speciality.

Lifelong power animals are usually wild, not domesticated,
animals. There are a few exceptions, but even these exceptions
are often just links to the true power animal. For example,
people may have dogs or cats as totems. These have their own
medicine or power, but the domesticated animal may only be a
softened form of it's wild counterpart. A dog may be a link to
the wolf, coyote, or any of the wild canine family. A cat may be
a link to a member of the wild feline family, such as panthers,
lions, tigers and such. For many, beginnng with a domesticated
form of the totem is a way of laying a foundation so that some
day they will be able to handle and work more effectively with
its true power form.

The animal choses the person, not the other way around. Many
believe that they can just choose an animal and start
communicating with it. Usually ego gets in the way at these
times. The individual choosess the animal he or she believes to
be the most glamorous and powerful, rather then what is
harmonious to the individual. The results are ineffectual and
often frustrating. no animal is better or worse than any other.
Every animal's medicine is unique. It is always much better to be
powrful in mouse medicine than to be clumsy and ineffectual in
eagle medicine. You will find your greatest success in the animal
that comes to you.

You must develop a relationship with your totem. To communicate
with them demands respect. You must learn their point of view.
Animals won't just warm up to you immediately. They must learn to
trust you and your lilmitations, and you must learn to trust them
and their limitations. This takes time and practice.

You must honor your totem for its medicine to be effective in
your life. The more you honor them--the more significance you
give them within your life--the more powerful and effective they
become. Some of the ways you can honor them and draw them closer
into your life is by:

Hanging pictures of them, drawing pictures of them; reading and
learning as much about them as possible; buying figurines of your
totme for yourself or purchasing small tokens and images of your
totem and giving them to friends as gifts. These fetishes are a
reminder of the power and spirit of your animal totem.

...to be continued

--- Blue Wave/Max v2.12 [NR]
 * Origin: SECRET C::The C Source*HST DS*(403)256-7019,Calgary,Ab (1:134/21)


From:    Marisa Broughton
To:      All                                    Msg #66, Jan-26-94 15:13 PM
Subject: Shamanism: animal totems.2

Continued  (quote from: Animal Speak by Ted Andrews)

Re: honoring your totem cont...

Donating to wildlife organizations with time and/or money.

Dancing to honor your totem is a powerful link. Learn to mimic
its behaviours. If it's a turtle, learn to creep like a turtle.
If it's a lion, learn to crouch like a lion. If it's a bird,
imitate it's hopping or flying. And most importantly, keeping the
animal alive within your imagination. See yourself as the animal
totem using its qualities in appropriate places within your life.
Remember that the imagination is a real link to you totem.

Once you learn to work with the medicine of your power animal, it
then becomes a doorway to connecting with the others of the
animal realm. You are not limited to just one totem. Each can
teach or add something to your life that the others can't.
Working with your power animal will help teach you how to align
with others. This way if you need greater strength, you can call
up the image and draw upon the strength of a bear. If you need
speed, you can connect with the energy of the cheetah. Through
your power animal, you learn to alilgn with and shapeshift to the
energies of animals and beings.

Although there are one or even several totems that are strongest
in your life and remain with you through most of it, others do
play a role. You may have a totem for a day. You may have a totem
that assists you through a particularly rough period in your
life.

One may come to you and stay with you through a cycle of several
years. Another may be present when you do creative work. You are
likely to have different totems for different areas of your life.
There's no limit to the totems you can work with. The key though
is to connect strongly and fully with at least one. This expands
the consciousness and opens the bridge to others more easily.

More than one person can have the same token. I know a number of
individuals who work with wolf medicine. There are common factors
in the way each works, but there are also differences. The
archetypal energies and spirit reflected in the wolf will
manifest for each uniquely, because each person is unique. The
role the totem plays will be specific in many ways to the
individual.

Individuals who are in close relationships may share a totem.
That totem becomes a guide to making the relationship stronger
and more productive. the totem may watch over the couple. Totem
sharing is not limited to couples. Healing and meditation groups
often share a totem animal, to oversee the activities.

--- Blue Wave/Max v2.12 [NR]
 * Origin: SECRET C::The C Source*HST DS*(403)256-7019,Calgary,Ab (1:134/21)