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Underworld Priestess Crew
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 Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 9:43 am
What are totem animals?
Your animal totems are animals that have choosen you to share their spirit power or messages with. - to put it simply.
Each animal has a specific power and message.
You can have four different types of totems: the lifelong companion, the journey guide, the messenger and the shadow totem.
The lifelong companion is one that will always be with you. The journey and messenger may come and go after they help you on your journey or deliver a message for you. The shadow totem deals with your fears that you must overcome in order to share it's power.
I posted two things by Ted Andrews from the book Animal Speak. It is useful but I plan on posting more by other people.
I would suggest viewing the following pages by The Spiritual Network, because I find the information quite interesting and useful.
http://www.spiritualnetwork.net/totems/
http://www.spiritualnetwork.net/totems/discover_your_animal_totems.htm
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 9:43 am
From the book "Animal Speak" by Ted Andrews
The Basics of Animal Totems
Animal totems go by a variety of names. The yare called spirit animals, power animals, totem helpers, and others. Regardless of how people refer to them , certainy beliefs are common.
1. Every animal has a powerful spirit.
2. This spirit may be its own, or that of a being who uses the animals image to communicate messages of the world to humans.
3. Every animal has its own talents. A study of its talents will reveal the kind of medcine, magic, and power it can help you to deelop wihtint your own life. Remember, every animal has a specialty.
4. Lifelong power animals are usually wild, no DOMESTICATED, animals. There are a few execeptions, but even these exceptions are often just links to that true power animal. For example, people may have dogs or chats as totems. These have their own medicine and power, but the domesticated animal may only be softend form of tis wild counterpart. A dog may be 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 a pather, lion, tigers ( and bears oh my).
5. The animal CHOOSES the person, not the other way around. Many believe that they can just chose an animal and start communicating. Usually EGO gets in the way these times. The individual choses the animal he or she belives is the most glamorous and powerful, rather that what is harmonious to the individual. The results are ineffectual and often frustrating. No animal is better or worse than any other. Every animals medicine is unique. It is always much better to be powerful in mouse medicine, than to be clumsy and infecectual in eagle medicine. You will find your greatest sucess in the animal that come to YOU.
6. 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 your immediately. They must learn to trust you and your limitations, and you must learn to trust them and their limitations. This takes time, patience and practice.
7. You must honor you totem for its medicine to be effective in your life. The more you honor them. the more signifcance you give them wihting 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:
A. Hanging pictures of them
B. Drawing pictures of them.
C. Buying figurines of you totem for yourself or purchasing small toekns and images of you totem and giving them to friends as gifts. These fetishes are a reminder of the power and spirt of your animal totem.
8. Once you learn to work with the medicine of your power animal, it then becomes a doorway to connecting with others of the animal relam. You are not limited to just one totem. Each can teach or add something to your life the others can't. Working with your power animal will teach you how to align with others.
9. 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 mahve a totem for a day. You may have a totem that assist you through a particularly rough period of your life.
10. More than one person can have the same totem.
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Underworld Priestess Crew
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Underworld Priestess Crew
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 9:47 am
Meeting your Animal Totem
By Ted Andrews "Animal Speak"
The exercise that follows is one that will assist you in meeting your animal totem. We will be using the creative imagination to help open the animal relam to you more effectiviely. Don't worry that you might be making it up. You will not be imagining it if it did not have some signifiance to you.
It is important to be relaxed and to not perform the exericse with any preconceived notions. Let the animal totem present itself to you. Let it choose you, rather you choose it. Keep in mind that the toem will have symbolic significane to you. The more you learn about it and meditate on how it might reflect your own life, the easier it will become to access its energies.
In exercises such as these, most people get into trouble with the interpretation of the images encountered. You nature totem may be bird, a mamal, or even an insect or reptile. REad, study, and learn about your nature totem to facilitae your being able to relate it to yourself. Don't just accept the totem without question. The imagination is a wonderful tool, but if not used prperly , it can mislead. Put your totem through a simple verification process:
* How does it feel?
* What emtions/sensations does it arouse in you?
* Is it an animal that interested you in the past?
* What does it make you think of?
* What is your heartfelt repsonse?
Do Not haphazardly discard it, simply because it is not as glamourous as what your ego may have wanted. The totem may be quiet appropriate to you, but you will not know untill you study and explore more closely the qualitites and characteristics of it. Keep in mind too that frightening images are more often than not projections of your own fears. They may also be expressions of resistance. It is amazing somethinges how prgrammed we are not to accept anything that can't be rationally explained in the moent. Moste peopel have some degree of programming of the idea " better the devil you know that the one you don't"
* Relaxtion
* Entering a cave or tree
* Leaving the cave or tree to enter a meadow or natural area.
* Experinceing peacefulness of nature
* Allowing the toem to enter the scene
* Allowing the animal to speak to you - its movement, sounds, form , color, etc will give you a message about its power. You may even hear its thoughs in your own. Allow it to tell yo u or show you how it has helped you in the past and how it will do so in the future.
* Give thanks to it for making itself know and ask it for some tangible confirmation in the next week or so that it is truely your animal totem. They may come in many ways. Dreams, pictures, figureins, television, nature.
* Move back to the cave or tree and step back through it to tis other entrance point. Then step out from it.
* Take four or five deep breaths ( slow) and allowe yourself to feel grounded and connected.
* Begin your verification process. Research and study the totem and its qualitives. Mediate and contemplate on its qualities as they apply to you and your life circumstances.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 3:41 pm
I have been willing to try it, as I tried a long time ago when I was younger. But I feel like I'm making things up on my own.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 4:00 pm
Do you use Totem, Spirit Animal, Animal Guide, Familiar and other terms interchangeably?
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 4:07 pm
What is the difference?
In my eyes they are all the same. But I get the feeling I am really wrong about that.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 4:44 pm
Dianda Panda What is the difference? In my eyes they are all the same. But I get the feeling I am really wrong about that. Familiar is shorthand for Familiar Spirit- it was a spirit that works with witches to accomplish their magical goals. Totem is an Ojibwe term that talks about a Family Mark- kind of like how the Europeans used family crests, they're tied to a whole family or clan. Animal Spirit and Animal Guide aren't as distinct- and sometimes they're confusing to me, but I think there's a difference between the overarching spirit of an Animal (and I would call that an Animal Spirit) and a specific animal. So like- there's the Spirit of Bear, or the Spirit of Crow, or the Spirit of Elk and then there are individual spirits that are bears, crows, elk and stuff- and sometimes those guide specific people, which is what most people call Totems, but I think that's a bit like calling all witches Wiccans. whee I think it's insult to injury to oppress a people militarily and culturally- then twist their language to mean something else and take it.
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 5:49 pm
Totem poles were used by Native peoples as a sign of family status but they were also used to connect the person, tribe or clan with its power animals. Totem poles are associated with a number of different Native American tribes mostly on the West coast.
Now when you talk about totems, power animals, spirit animals, animal guides, etc depending on who you ask depends on the definition. But there are modern day Shamans who use all those terms interchangably or have their own definitions for each term. Since it is believed that totem poles do connect to these animals. Now some people do seperate totem animals and spirit animals saying the spirit animals come to you and totem animals are the ones you call upon or that spirit animals are with since birth, power is given to you and totem protects you or your tribe. It all depends on who you ask, there are different ideas in the world; just like each Native American tribe had their own ideas and beliefs. Some may not agree with using the term totem others will agree with it. So to say that it is an insult to use the word totem is far from accurate because there is no one single defintion. Even some Native Americans will use the terms interchangeably.
Considering the different defintions of the words and the different people that use it, including Native Americans and those of Native American decent, don't assume insult. That is one thing that has always bugged me is people finding insult in something for those of us who are apart of that culture when it doesn't even bother us. If using the term totem was actually such a big deal and insult let those who have full or part Native American blood decide and deal with it.
Now a familiar is something else entirely.
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Underworld Priestess Crew
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 8:51 pm
Underworld Priestess Totem poles were used by Native peoples as a sign of family status but they were also used to connect the person, tribe or clan with its power animals. Totem poles are associated with a number of different Native American tribes mostly on the West coast. I think I read that this term was applied to other cultural traditions outside of the original tribes that used the term. Quote: But there are modern day Shamans who use all those terms interchangably or have their own definitions for each term. As a moderator of the guild- I noticed you come down on an anti-misappropriation stance for Wicca, is this a personal policy or a guild policy and is it the same for other cultural titles that are misappropriated like from Native American and Asian traditions? Quote: Since it is believed that totem poles do connect to these animals. Now some people do seperate totem animals and spirit animals saying the spirit animals come to you and totem animals are the ones you call upon or that spirit animals are with since birth, power is given to you and totem protects you or your tribe. It all depends on who you ask, there are different ideas in the world; just like each Native American tribe had their own ideas and beliefs. Is this stuff being pulled from a specific source or is it a mix of a bunch of different sources? I really hope I'm not coming across as rude- I'm just trying to get an idea of where you're coming from. Quote: So to say that it is an insult to use the word totem is far from accurate because there is no one single defintion. Oh- just to clarify, I said it was an insult to injury, basically there's a lot of politics and stuff when it comes to non-Natives taking and changing Native traditions. In Hoodoo it's a huge deal because there was a lot of cultural fusion that came about during the era of slavery and the oppression that Native people experienced as they were moved onto the reservations- so Hoodoo itself is in some ways changing so it doesn't abuse the cultural heritage it was given, and I know that some Native groups are having a similar struggle with their heritage and it's abuse by non-Natives, or even people who are Native but are trying to blend lots of different traditions together- mostly to make $$$. Quote: Considering the different defintions of the words and the different people that use it, including Native Americans and those of Native American decent, don't assume insult. That is one thing that has always bugged me is people finding insult in something for those of us who are apart of that culture when it doesn't even bother us. If using the term totem was actually such a big deal and insult let those who have full or part Native American blood decide and deal with it. But at the same time- I don't think that say, someone who is Lakota gets to make the decision for someone who is Ojibwe- or visa versa. Just in case it's of interest- the people who made the standing poles commonly called Totem Poles properly called them "gyáa' aang". The University of Washington has some excellent resources on them. Out of curiosity- which tribe are you a part of and what stance do/es your tribe's spiritual leader(s) take? Blackrose has a lot of information on tribal rights and politics- she grew up with it. 3nodding I guess I also think that just because someone isn't part of a group- if a group is struggling for it's rights allies should stand beside them and spread good information too. 3nodding
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Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 10:51 pm
My beliefs are my own. As for what I have learned it is not a matter of just books or websites. Where I live there are still Native Americans and people who practice Shamanism and they do have several gatherings during the summer and not all of them are out to make money. My heritage comes from my mother's side of the family who I rarely speak with since she died. Her family descended from mixed blood with the Susquehannock's which were nearly slaughtered out of existence. There are no spiritual leaders. My grandmother said there may also be Cherokee heritage in our blood but she would have to find the old family albums and history. She doesn't quite remember things anymore. No matter what my beliefs are or how much you want to argue points about terms that have no clear definition, my post were excerpts from a book by Kenneth Meadows, who was an internationally respected man. Usually I don't use the word totem because I think spirit animal is a better definition but I'm not going to let anyone tell me that I can't use it. The differences and debate between has gone on for years and no one person, no matter who they are is going to give the exact information and bring an end to it. A few websites and sources that you may search into if you are interested in it: 1. spiritualnetwork.net - the Animal Totems section by 'Holding Rainbow Warrior Woman' . 2. Shamanic Experience by Kenneth Meadows. 3. www.crystallinks.com 4. Animal Speak by Ted Andrews 5. Totem Magic by Yasmine Galenorn 6. http://wolfs_moon.tripod.com/contentsindex.htmlI am not willing to give out the names of the people I know personally.
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Underworld Priestess Crew
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:23 am
Underworld Priestess My beliefs are my own. As for what I have learned it is not a matter of just books or websites. Where I live there are still Native Americans and people who practice Shamanism and they do have several gatherings during the summer and not all of them are out to make money. That's interesting- I don't know of any of the local tribes that call what they do "Shamanism", all their religions have names- kind of like how Wicca is Wicca and not Reclaiming or Feri. Quote: My heritage comes from my mother's side of the family who I rarely speak with since she died. Her family descended from mixed blood with the Susquehannock's which were nearly slaughtered out of existence. There are no spiritual leaders. My grandmother said there may also be Cherokee heritage in our blood but she would have to find the old family albums and history. She doesn't quite remember things anymore. Weren't they assimilated by another tribe? I know it was common for that era- different tribes, sometimes even waring ones were forced to live together. Hell- some of their fights continue to this day. I want to say it was either the Mohawk or someone else- I can't remember. Quote: No matter what my beliefs are or how much you want to argue points about terms that have no clear definition, my post were excerpts from a book by Kenneth Meadows, who was an internationally respected man. Usually I don't use the word totem because I think spirit animal is a better definition but I'm not going to let anyone tell me that I can't use it. I didn't mean to offend- but just to let you know, Kenneth Meadows isn't really a good source- he's kind of held up as a perfect example of a "Plastic Shaman" and his books were largely what lead to the declaration of War from the Lakota. If I'm remembering it right- he and Harley Swiftdeer were thick as thieves and Harley Swiftdeer was kicked out of the Cherokee Nation for basically prostituting Cherokee beliefs. He also treats Native beliefs as a pick-n-choose style thing. I'm eclectic myself, don't get me wrong- but I think that there's an a "right way" to be eclectic, by being respectful of other's traditions and not taking something the culture isn't ok with, and a wrong way- which basically says "Eh, who's going to stop me?" and taking whatever people want. I know it's not common knowledge- but it's worth investigating. Here's the link on the Lakota Declaration of War. Quote: The differences and debate between has gone on for years and no one person, no matter who they are is going to give the exact information and bring an end to it. I think you're right- but I also think that finding a good source is important and that as a community the different tribes should be able to self-determine. Quote: A few websites and sources that you may search into if you are interested in it: 1. spiritualnetwork.net - the Animal Totems section by 'Holding Rainbow Warrior Woman' . 2. Shamanic Experience by Kenneth Meadows. 3. www.crystallinks.com 4. Animal Speak by Ted Andrews 5. Totem Magic by Yasmine Galenorn 6. http://wolfs_moon.tripod.com/contentsindex.html I like some of Yasmine's work- but I don't think she did enough research for that book, there are some really obvious problems- not the least of which she doesn't seem to know what a panther is. sweatdrop Its a little hard for me to take her book seriously when she doesn't understand what her own spirit guide is. Holding Rainbow Warrior Woman seems to be claiming a Hopi prophecy by way of Chickasaw and Cherokee line she isn't really tied to. confused www.crystallinks.com seems to be a broken link. Ted Andrews book might have been better if it was marketed more as a "This is a generic book on animal spirits", but it tries to borrow too much stuff from Native Tribes and he isn't actually a trained in any of the different Native religions or by any of their spiritual leaders. Root wrote this- and I think it's a good guide for learning how to distinguish source material's best from it's worst. Renkon Root One of the regualr posters in another guild of mine made a thread some time ago asking this question: Quote: It seems like every book I pick up is filled with misinformation [...]. They misuse names and things like that. And even the subject matter I don't know how much I agree with anymore. [...] I don't really feel comfortable taking other cultures deities and parading them off like my own, you know? If a book has so much wrong with it, how can I take anything as good true information? And how do you tell what's right and what's not? In short: How does one (especially someone new to witchcraft) tell a good book from a bad one?
To answer that question we have compiled this helpful list of ways to tell: How to Tell a Good Book from a Bad One: 1.) The Author's Name: If the author feels the need to write under their craft name, then I see no reason to take them seriously. Silver Ravenwolf is a prime example, anyone that sounds like that, Willow Peacedrinker or Rainbow Awesomepants or Vampyre McBadass are all examples of what a bad book's author sounds like. Joe Normalname and Susan Straightforward are good authors, by this simplified rule of thumb. 2.) Sometimes you CAN Judge a Book by Its Cover: If a book has art that would look appropriate on a horror novel or the DaVinci's Code 2: Pagan Boogaloo, then odds are its meant to make money, and nothing more. Books with very picturesque and scenic art aren't bad. The Last Sin Eater has some sunlight filtering through some trees, that kind of thing. The best ones usually have straightforward covers. On The Crystal Bible, there are pictures of stones just scattered about. Simple (and boring) usually tends to be the key (just remember that this is not always the case). 3.) Look At their Bibliographies: Look at the bibliographies in the back of the books to see where the author got their information. If the book's sources are reliable ones then chances are the book will be reliable. If you don't know or recognize any of the titles of authors listed in the bibliography then look at then general number of sources. Usually, the more sources an author takes their information from, the more likely that information will be reliable. However, that does not mean that the author wouldn't twist the information from their sources to support their own slanted opinions and views. Everyone is guilty of bias, whether we choose to admit it or not. 4.) Research the Author: Another really good thing to do, is actually research the author a bit. Do they actually have the credentials needed to be considered experts on the subject, if it says "self-taught" and the book is about something that you know requires some sort of certification, initiation, etc... then odds are they probably aren't the best person to be learning about it from. Being self-taught in general isn't always a bad thing (especially they aren't claiming to be a part of any specific tradition or path that has specific requirements), but it's still a good idea to look into what sort of experience they have, that makes them knowledgeable enough to teach it to others. 5. Agreeing With You =/= Good Book: Just because a books agrees with what you already believe and/or tells you what you want to hear does not make it a good book. Likewise, a book that implies that your previous ideas are wrong does not mean that it is a 'bad book'. As we all know, there is a great deal of misinformation out there about both witchcraft and paganism and chances are when your were first starting out you didn't automatically find the "right sort" of book right away. If you find that a book disagrees with what you've previously read/been taught, go back over suggestions one through four and ask yourself, "Does this author seem credible?" "Does this book look legitimate?" "Where is this book getting its information from? Is that a reliable source?" Quote: I am not willing to give out the names of the people I know personally. I wouldn't ask you to. 3nodding I'm coming from a place where I see a lot of this kind of stuff, and I see how upset it makes the people within the tribes. I'm not telling you you can't use the term- I'm just saying there's a lot of marginalization of minorities in paganism- and the rights of those minorities should be considered. I think a lot of this as a Civil Rights Issue.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:37 am
I though it was funny, being quoted in a thread I never posted in...
Yes, following the steps I listed there will definitely help discern a good source from a bad one. Have fun and good luck on your journey.
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Underworld Priestess Crew
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 10:43 am
I will agree with you on Ted Andrews, it has been a really long time since I have read his book and could not remember everything he wrote. I actually prefer the works of Nicki Scully and Linda Star Wolf, but they did not have any information that I could use for this particular topic. As for researching the bibliography, Kenneth Meadows actually has a good one. His books are well researched even if they are ecclectic.
Obviously personal sources on the best, but like I said, I can't give out names.
As for the Susquehannocks being taken in by another tribe, there was a truce with the Mohawks at one point, however, it wasn't exactly a strong truce. Plus, it certainly didn't stop the settlers from killing off several of the smaller tribes entirely. I don't think the nation as a whole was well thought of, the Powhatans' said they were cannibals.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 10:50 am
Underworld Priestess I will agree with you on Ted Andrews, it has been a really long time since I have read his book and could not remember everything he wrote. Obviously personal sources on the best, but like I said, I can't give out names. He did a lot of good work with animals. I think personal sources are best- but they're only as good as the person's qualifications. wink I know I couldn't teach their traditions- or astrophysics for that matter. Quote: As for the Susquehannocks being taken in by another tribe, there was a truce with the Mohawks at one point, however, it wasn't exactly a strong truce. Plus, it certainly didn't stop the settlers from killing off several of the smaller tribes entirely. I don't think the nation as a whole was well thought of, the Powhatans' said they were cannibals. Tribal politics make me dizzy some days- I live really close to the Res and have worked for the Tribe before. Not a bad job really.
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Underworld Priestess Crew
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 10:57 am
That is true, actually, if I remember correctly the truce was more of a matter of 'we are tired of fighting you so let's take a break'.
And I must apologize for coming off so rude, I tend to have a short temper at times. It's one of those, she may bring up good points but I'll be damned if anyone will change my mind until I change it for myself first. I will see what the locals have to say about this.
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