Spirit Lodge - Totem Animals - Page 178 - UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF TOTEMS

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Totem Animals

Page 178

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Bear Medicine	Birth Totems	Coyote Medicine	Dragon Ranks	Dragonfly Medicine	Eagle Medicine	Four Animal Helpers	Grey Wolf Medicine	Hawk
Heron Medicine	Horse	Magpie	Raccoon	Salmon Medicine	Spider Medicine	Swan Medicine	Thunder Being Medicine	Totem Loss Disc

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF TOTEMS
© CinnamonMoon

I thought it an important portion of the Totem Library to address how we understand the nature
of the creature-teachers and helpers we work with. In this way perhaps you will be able to see for
yourself the greater depths to their aspects. Issues such as mating, gestation, birthing, rearing,
hunting (predator/prey) are all important things to take note of.

The method of mating tells you how the masculine and feminine nature and partnering are
conducted. The nature of the animal, it's primal forces that motivate, the passion or dispassion,
the wild and the tame.

Gestation periods tell you how long a learning or achieving process is going to take from the
onset of conception to its birthing process within the context of working with that particular
animal.

How the animal gives birth teaches you how things develop and come into being when working
with that particular creature. Is it a live birth, something that you just step into? Or is it a
hatching, something you sit on while it develops? Who cares for the young, is it one or both
parents? Which is the dominant nurturing force of the young...the feminine or the masculine?
That tells you how aggressively you must approach your goals, or how passively if the young are
being reared quietly and away from others...and how long is it until they are introduced fully into
the world or society...learn your time frames.

The period the young remain with the mother or both parents tells you how long it will take for
your goal to be fully sustained on its own, where it can carry its own weight in the world and the
lesson or the project is able to be mature.

The way the animal hunts teaches you the process and technique by which you are to seek it's
insights and lessons in life, how do you digest it, where do apply it? How often must you feed in
this way to sustain yourself? Is it a creature that eats daily, weekly, bi-monthly? What feeding
habits does it have that will indicate to you how long it takes for the lessons and work you are
doing to be fully digested or assimilated?

What the animal hunts is the Medicine Teachings of those creatures, in essence, and those
creatures can help you strengthen your abilities in nourishing ways, they will compliment your
needs and you'll need to learn to call on them from time to time. Those creatures that hunt the
animal will teach you what to be wary of in others or life, they point out your vulnerabilities and
weaknesses so you can apply your strengths to bring balance and learn to defend yourself if need
be. You may have to call on those creatures to learn those lessons.

Does the animal become active by day, night, or twilight hours of dusk and dawn? When does it
move through life to its best advantage? When will it be upset if disturbed? These are the times
we need to think about calling on it or waiting for. Is it a seasonal creature or is it active yearround
in its habitat or does it migrate? Why? What is is seeking that it needs to sustain itself in
that environment? Warm weather or cold? Social or antisocial? All these things are important to know.

These patterns and cycles are all vital pieces of information to study. The habits and nature of the
animal will tell you much about animals you are working with as Totems and Guides, as
Teachers and Spirit Helpers. Learn who will be supportive and cooperative and who would be in
conflict should you need to work with more than one at a time. What is the gender of your Spirit
Helper? You will sense it and have an inner knowing if it's not visually apparent. That gender
tells you if you are to use the feminine nature or the masculine nature as a dominating factor.
Either way it is there to bring you a sense of balance within your own masculine and feminine
aspects of your personal nature.

When you start to see them through these eyes rather than just the beauty or repulsive appearance
of the creature you begin to really understand it. You understand its moods, its movements and
what they mean, why it acts or reacts, what excites it, or makes it defensive or perhaps eases its
nature to calm and soothe it. All these things are a part of the understanding and comprehension
needed to really delve deeply into the Medicine and assimilate it from the inside out. Learning
about them in their natural habitat will tell you where you are going to find yourself best suited
to applying these attributes yourself, and how to do so. It's vital information so please do not stop
with the universals on the Medicine itself, or the superstitions or the magic they are noted for.
That's just the beginning, go a few steps further and know for yourself *why* those attributes are
connected to that creature-teacher. Know the animal for all that it is and all that it has to offer so
when you do interact you can do so courteously and respectfully gaining the most from those
encounters...so that when you wield your own Medicine you wield it impeccably (meaning to the
very best of your ability) with integrity and good intentions.