Finding your power animal

My message animal is the hawk. When I am at a point in my life when I need to make a critical decision, but am unsure of my choice, I see an extraordinary amount of hawks about. On the morning that I was moving away from home for the first time, I was a bit distraught. I'd never been away for so long and was going to a new place with people I'd never met. I was comfortable with my decision to move, but it didn't help make that actual transition very easy. On the drive, I saw no less than 38 hawks. It helped relax me immensely.

Another time my best friend and I were dealing with something we had both seen in a dream and were trying to accept it/find the meaning/etc. I was walking to work one early morning and it was weighing quite heavily on me. Bear in mind that while my animal is the hawk, my best friend's is the crow. As I turned onto the street on which she lives, I heard a screech and looked up. There was a hawk flying above my head. I smiled and continued to watch it, and as I did, a crow flew over and joined it. They didn't fight or argue; they just flew in slow circles together. I stood there gawking at them until I heard a voice; it was my best friend's and she had incidentally decided to check her mailbox at right that moment. She walked over and stood where I did, and we watched the two birds as they flew out of sight. She later revealed to me that she had also been thinking a lot that morning about the event we'd seen. It was eerie, but in a good way...if that's possible.

Currently I'm living in an area where hawks are rare. Interestingly, the raven seems to have taken over. Here's one incident that stands out due to its freshness...haha. Just this afternoon I was out in the desert making note of a grove of junipers that have suddenly taken ill. I heard a clap of thunder -- I ignored it because I had just gotten there and was irritated at the prospect of having to turn back so soon. But the thunder continued and I finally decided that it's not good to tempt nature for my own convenience. A hillside blocked out my view of the horizon, so I couldn't see the storm, but it was loud. I had three ways out -- one was down a dry streambed from which I'd come, another along a trail from which direction I could hear the sound of shotgun fire from the shooting range, and then finally the longest one and most unfamiliar one that went around the hills and cut through old ranch territory. I chose the last one, because I didn't want to have to go around the shooting range, and I'd seen water in yet another dry streambed earlier that afternoon.

I started up the path, but slowly. A raven flew right in front of me, squawking very loudly, louder than I've ever heard one because I could even hear it over a new clash of thunder. I came around the hillside right about then and saw the storm black against the horizon and I suddenly realized that I was dealing with a monster and had to get out of there QUICK. I was over a mile from the city edge and I'd walked out here. I bolted, not quite running but close. The storm finally reached me when I was about twenty feet away from the first city street; the water reached me as a visible wave across the valley. I still have welts from the hailstones on my arms. I've always been deathly afraid of lightning (unless I'm inside behind a window!), and I experienced more of it today than I ever have. Even with the benefit of curbs and stormdrains, the streets were flooded over. By the time I got back home, I didn't have a dry spot on me, quite literally. I can't imagine what it would have been like if I'd still been out in the desert.

I don't think I have one. Why is it so great to have a "power animal" anyways?

reply to post by cancerian42


I don't think ' great' has anything to do with it, it just ' is' I have never 'seen' my panther and was totally unaware of it, it was my friends who saw it guarding me, this was when I was quite ill with years of stress, I am afraid I dont profess to know any more than my own experience, I would hazard a guess and say whatever you have a great attraction /and love for in Nature would be your' totem'...you have at your fingertips the magical world of Super nature, glittering with millions of tiny points of bright energy, we & the Universe are all connected by a web of glittering blue pulsing invisible energy, we are all part of the One......

Why is it when someone talks about their power animal or spirit guide it’s never a slug, or an amoeba or some kind of animal that person has never heard of? It’s always something majestic like a horse or an eagle; I’ve yet to hear about Chief wriggly worm going off to have a chat with his spirit guide “Geoff the tape worm”.

reply to post by Mike_A


Well I said mine was a vulture.

Hardly majestic in most people's eyes.

Originally posted by Mike_A
Why is it when someone talks about their power animal or spirit guide it’s never a slug, or an amoeba or some kind of animal that person has never heard of? It’s always something majestic like a horse or an eagle; I’ve yet to hear about Chief wriggly worm going off to have a chat with his spirit guide “Geoff the tape worm”.

well... i bet mine is a slug. that would figure.

Originally posted by calihan123 In many cases, power animals arent the persons favorite animal. Many times its an animal that disgusts the person.

Why is that?

...because we are disgusted/repulsed, that means we've some obstacle to work past whereby we might learn something more from the animal?


On a side note: I had something pounce my leg a few nights ago. My cat was upstairs (for such tiny paws, he sure sounds like an elephant!), and I felt something walking alongside my leg, back and forth, back and forth. Then it pounced my leg (like a kitten would, if a fuzz made a wrong move).
I waited a few moments, then asked if it'd do that again... tried really hard to think happy thoughts, or at least not needy ones, and just as I was about to give up and go to sleep, I got pounced again!

...any thoughts?

Edited to fix my quote and spelling.

[edit on 2-11-2008 by Diseria]

lol Sorry, that really was a genuine question, I didn’t mean that to be quite as cynical as it came across ; I’m certainly not looking to knock anyone for their beliefs. I just like discussing things with people on the opposite side.

I guess this is why I’ve never bought into these (or any) belief systems; this point just jumps out at me straight away. I mean even something like a vulture or a spider, while not majestic, is powerful and formidable and brings up emotions; you might not like to be described as one but it has its virtues. Whereas a tick or a maggot has nothing going for it; is it really a coincidence that these types of animals also don’t turn up in conversions about spirit animals? Do these thoughts never pop into any of your minds?

I realise this is going a bit off topic so I apologise, no worries if you just want to skip this post .

Well, power animales are just that... more powerful and well known and mystical animals. So if someones animal spirit was a maggot or bacteria... that wouldnt say a whole lot for the person. We wouldnt look at a maggot for strength or guidance.

reply to post by Mike_A


My guess is that they are much less visible.

Your tapeworm for example, is almost never seen by the human eyes, since it is an intestinal parasite. So there's much less reason to ascribe character traits to it.

Then my other guess... the whole point of adopting a spirit animal is to try to take on some of its strengths, so I would think that natrually it is the most "majestic" animals, the ones that really make an impression with their physical presence, that are also seen as especially spiritual.

Originally posted by asmeone2
reply to post by Mike_A

 

My guess is that they are much less visible.

Your tapeworm for example, is almost never seen by the human eyes, since it is an intestinal parasite. So there's much less reason to ascribe character traits to it.

Then my other guess... the whole point of adopting a spirit animal is to try to take on some of its strengths, so I would think that natrually it is the most "majestic" animals, the ones that really make an impression with their physical presence, that are also seen as especially spiritual.

yes exactly. they wouldnt be the smaller animals, or the least well-known animals. they would be the more powerful ones that have presence.

Originally posted by calihan123
Well, power animales are just that... more powerful and well known and mystical animals. So if someones animal spirit was a maggot or bacteria... that wouldnt say a whole lot for the person. We wouldnt look at a maggot for strength or guidance.

A bacteria/virus is powerful in its own way.... Black Death, anyone?

hah yes but, we want positive power animals.. not ones that create diseases and death!

Originally posted by Mike_A Whereas a tick or a maggot has nothing going for it

Not necessarily true... Maggots are actually very necessary to properly heal a wound if there's dead/dying skin. Otherwise, you risk losing a limb or, if simply sealed under, a very serious infection.

Ticks... um... culling the herd by spreading disease? same with misquitoes...

Perhaps there is a necessary level of cognitive function? Not that an eagle debates the life of a fish it catches, but we can reasonably argue that it is at least somewhat self-aware....


There's many a creature I don't care for, but understand its function in the micro/macro scheme of things. But if I find out that my totem is a cockroach or a fruit fly, me and some universal somebody is gonna hafta have a serious sit down...

haha. yeah. id be rather dissapointed to find out my magical spirit animal was a mosquito or ant or fly. :-/

Interesting explanations, pretty much the same I came to. But to me that suggests these are more a psychological rather mystical phenomenon. I mean it would certainly suggest a level of choice is involved, either conscious or unconscious and that ultimately it is a construct of the human mind; a coping mechanism. Surely if you take a mystical stance the species is immaterial (no pun intended) isn’t it? And as you said a bacteria or virus can be very powerful.


Diseria

Ok fair enough I appologise to maggot kind . But I was speaking more in terms of how the average person would instinctively see a certain animal. Everything does something that can be described as useful of course, but those functions wouldn’t necessarily be what comes to mind. I mean I wouldn’t want to identify with a maggot no matter how many wounds it’s helped clean!

Originally posted by Mike_A
Interesting explanations, pretty much the same I came to. But to me that suggests these are more a psychological rather mystical phenomenon. I mean it would certainly suggest a level of choice is involved, either conscious or unconscious and that ultimately it is a construct of the human mind; a coping mechanism. Surely if you take a mystical stance the species is immaterial (no pun intended) isn’t it? And as you said a bacteria or virus can be very powerful.


Diseria

Ok fair enough I appologise to maggot kind

. But I was speaking more in terms of how the average person would instinctively see a certain animal. Everything does something that can be described as useful of course, but those functions wouldn’t necessarily be what comes to mind. I mean I wouldn’t want to identify with a maggot no matter how many wounds it’s helped clean!

Haha. exactly.

reply to post by Mike_A


In the end I don't think it matters.

The point is to identify with the animal and help you get past a certain stumbling block or put a talent to use.

So really it doesn't matter what the animal is, so long as you get something out of it.

Whether you are choosing the animal or it chooses you is up for debate. It could just be a subconscious thing, but why is that bad? why knock on a placebo effect if it helps you?


Edit: That's why in my first post I was saying I don't like the animal cards. I think they create a mindset that only certain animals can be totemic when really, anything has a lesson to teach.

[edit on 2-11-2008 by asmeone2]

yes true.

the whole point of power animals is to call upon them for strength, or for healing , or for wisdom. Shamans believe that every living thing carries with it wisdom and power.


so from whatever animal is your spirit animal, it will show you the way of it. The power of it, the wisdom of it.

It just would seem strange if it was a maggot showing you those things.

however at the same time, they do say that any living thing can be your spirit guide. It can even be a plant or tree. And any animal even insects or sea creatures can be them.

It just depends on you i suppose.