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

Mark Anjuu wrote: 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.

That would be fantastic, Mark. Thank you. I've already got an idea of my totems but the animal guide is what I really wanted to discover from the beginning.

Wescli Wardest wrote: 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...

That sounds like one hell of a story you have there, Wescli.

Williamkaede wrote:

Wescli Wardest wrote: 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...

That sounds like one hell of a story you have there, Wescli.

If you feel like sharing it, maybe a journal entry?



Anyway, Ive never felt I needed one, but I must admit, there are certain animals I have found I like... And at times, I think of the qualities of these animals...

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.

Gm Mark, would you also send me those files?

MAybe I have one and dont even realize it... lol..

OK, if anyone wants the file (and also to hear my voice again! lol), it can be downloaded here: http://www.markbarwell.co.uk/extras/spirit_animal_journey.mp3

I just did this exercise. Wow.

Williamkaede wrote: I just did this exercise. Wow.

What? No results? lol...

No solid ones. Too many distractions. But when my mind snapped out of the distraction and re-focused I saw a grey fox. As I went further into the meditation it blurred and I'm not sure if I saw a wolf or a fox.

Personally I did a meditation exercise to find my Spirit Guides/Spirit Animals. It was simple but I did it a few years ago so I'm not sure how well I remember it. If I recall correctly the first step is to get into a moderate meditative state without going too deep to where you can't guide your consciousness. Then, imagine yourself walking into an open meadow from out of a cave or dark forest. There is a beautiful tree in the center next to a pond. You sit down or stand against the tree and simply wait enjoying the scenery. When an animal appears (after any given length of time) this is your spirit animal/guide.

Mine, in case you were wondering, are two. The Wolf (who is a totem and spirit animal for me) and the Raven.

I've already posted it in my journal, so, sorry for the double post but I didn't notice there was a dedicated topic :

Last week, I met Kohadre on the chat of TotJO and we talked about totem animals.
I told him that an internet site told me that mine was the bear. He was kind not to laugh at me and explained to me that one have to find it and it's not given (especially by an internet site).
He told me that the way to find it is to go meditating in a forest, see yourself sitting on a log into a clearing and wait for it to come to you.
So I did.
I went to an ancient sacred Celt forest, I sat and started to picture myself sitting on my log in a clearing. There was running water near me, so I also pictured a waterfall to integrate the noise of the water in my vision. I started to wait for it to come, and a bear came ! But it just acted like I was not there. It came into the clearing, sat for a while and leaved. shortly thereafter, a beaver came and leaved too. then my vision focused to the pond at the foot of the waterfall, and I saw the was a trout in there.
Unfortunately, there was people around, and the noise they made just broke my concentration and my vision.

I think, the bear was there to tell me that my old idea was wrong. It was a goodbye. After that, I'm not sure, but I think the beaver was here because these days, I'm chopping wood for the winter, so, it's in my mind because it's a tiring job. And I can't explain the trout. Maybe that's the one, but the end of my vision didn't allowed me to explore this way.
I will try again.
To be continued...

A Shaman friend of mine did a spirit animal retrieval for me several years ago, and the animal I got was not at all what I expected, but exactly what I needed.

Let me guess... :dry:
A coyote ?
:laugh: