Animal Totem/Spirit Animal exercises

Back in April I started studying the Asatru ways but so far have been unable to find a decent exercise on the discovery of my animal totem.

I performed one I found on a random, poorly-HTML'd webpage and came up with two animals. Sometimes separate, sometimes together. What exercises could the Order recommend?

Are you trying to find a totem animal or a spirit animal? A totem animal can be any animal you feel a strong affinity for. Your spirit animal may take time to find, you have to be patient. I would recommend thinking about meeting it every night before you go to bed. It may come to you in your dreams or you may find a certain animal appearing often throughout your days. Remember, it could be anything so don't rule anything out, but seeing as you have two then maybe they both are. You can have more than one spirit guide.

Another thing you could try is to take ten minutes - a half hour or more to meditate or journey. You could have some luck with that.

(Also, these are just my opinions and may or may not be correct for you.)

Thank you Wendaline. I'll reflect on these and see where they take me.

The exercise I did went thus;

"Take your mind to nature, an environment of your own. Once at peace there, ask for help and your animal spirit will appear."

My "animal Totem" was given me by a Sioux Chieftain once I passed the gauntlet. And this knowledge was afforded him by the tribal Shaman or medicine-man. It is a long story... but I have carried this with me for over twenty years and it has served me well.

I wish it was for me to give advice on this topic, but it is one in which I have very limited knowledge.

I work a lot with animal guides and helping people to find them. I'm happy to send you an audio file of a guided journey if you think it would help.

I had two different times when I met my journey guides. First time around, I had 2- a cat and a dolphin- these two just found me. Before they left my side, they told me in time I would meet my next one, but it would not be long.

About a year later, I found myself in a class on totems and spirit animals...wait... (thinks back)... I was teaching that class...Anyways, we separated into teams. Before I had gotten there, I had asked my best friend Isaac if he wanted to be an over-watch/guide or if he would rather take his own journey. He made the comment that he could do the journey on his own at a later date and wanted to help someone else find their guide. He agreed to help get me under because of my pregnancy.

I met my guide that night, an Orca that goes by the name "Tide" (took some pressure to get him to give me a name, and I doubt that's even the real name, lol). Tide comes into my life off and on, and sometimes I find myself seeking him out rather than him seeking me out. He is much more hands off than my first two though, and I find that kind of refreshing.

My suggestion: If you cannot get yourself into a deep enough meditation to find your guide yourself, you might want to enlist the help of someone who is skilled at guided meditations to be beside you to help you connect. But even then, your spirit guide may not need to connect with you just yet-so don't get discouraged if it doesn't happen.

What purpose do those totems serve?
I know in some african traditions they define lineage (you inherit your father's totem), and because people can't marry if they have the same totem, it prevents inbreeding. They're just like a last name really.

ren,

In some cultures they serve as a “spiritual” guide of sorts and in some they are almost like a “guardian angel.” There are a few cultures where the “totem spirit” serves as a kind of guide to the soul or a reference map for others to observe.

I think that it really depends on what the individual sees the spirit as and in which context or cultural reference they are associating it to.

Here is a link to a page which tells one of the views of them... Spirit Totems

Well I knew the animal guide from Star Trek (I suspect it's accurate native-american folk belief?), I'm asking what people are talking about right now because apparently there's a difference between totem animal and spirit animal?

Believe it or not… I actually found a site which has a pretty decent answer to your question!

A "Spirit Animal" is the one who will present life's lessons. The Spirit Animal is the one who comes to you in order to show you, through its own unique nature and skills, how to deal with the manifestations of your Spiritual Journey. Spirit Animals do not necessarily guide you, but they come to teach you that which you need to learn, in order to know how meet the challenges of your Spirit Walk.


A "Totem Animal" is an animal spirit that you call upon or invoke, as an individual or a tribe, for its special powers and survival skills, to serve as a guardian or protector when facing adversity

But I would suggest that people read the whole article on the site! Here is the link to it…
Spirit Walk Ministry