Here’s a guide to finding totem animals that a friend of mine wrote:
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Let’s Start at the Very Beginning
If you’re holding this missive, you’re likely not to be following a strictly traditional Native path. While you might be familiar with the idea of vision quests and totems, you’re more likely someone following a primitive shaman path, someone without a background in occultism or polytheism, or someone looking to integrate totems into their current work.
It’s best to know where totem work comes from, however, and the Native tribal traditions of North America are better documented than the shamanism of early Europe.
When a young adult reached a certain age, he or she would undertake a vision quest. The goal was to find themselves – searching for their identity and who they would become and to be chosen by their totem. The latter point is very important: a person does not choose their own totems. Instead, they are chosen by their totems. The young person would engage in one or a variety of shamanistic practices to achieve these visions: sweat lodges, ritual cleansing, isolation, challenging travel.
Most people don’t do vision quests anymore. Most people just don’t have the wilderness or survival training or time off work to go on a spirit quest. But they want to work with their totems! What, oh what, can they do?
It’s simple, young grasshopper. But it still takes patience and attention. Sometimes it’s almost like hard work.
Yeah, I know. Damn it.
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Like An Animal
STEP ONE:
Hey, this one’s the easiest! You have to get rid of your preconceived notions about animals. Animals are awesome. If you can’t think about them without being grossed out or only liking the small, fuzzy, big-eyed baby ones, you’re not going to get far. You’re allowed to dislike or fear some of them, so long as you realize animals are awesome.
Your goal at this point is to just relax, open your mind and alert the Universe that you’re alive and thinking and ready to be talked to.
STEP TWO:
This will appeal to the OCD list-making readers. Get a piece of paper and make a list of animals. This includes:
– Animals you’ve always loved or been drawn to
– Animals you hate with a burning, fiery passion
– Animals you were obsessed with as a child
– Animals with whom you have had strange encounters
– Animals that seem to show up a lot in your life
– Animals that you collect or seem to get a lot of
– Animals that show up in your dreams
– Animals that have been appearing lately
– Dead animals that you have seen lately
These are all animals that the Universe could be trying to alert you to, or that have already manifested in your life in ways you’re untrained to see. Making a list is often a good way to begin to identify relevant patterns.
As an addendum to this, you could also go through a book of totems (many if not all of them, especially including those in the ‘Recommended Books’ section of this booklet, include an encyclopaedia of totem animals) or websites which list animals and note any which immediately appeal to you.
Do include any animals which you especially or irrationally hate. They could have lessons you’re reluctant to think about or accept. Don’t limit yourself. Keep your mind open to what the Universe is saying.
STEP THREE:
Take thy list and prepare to do research.
Look up your animals. Check books on totem animals, websites with totem information, Google – but don’t neglect straight-up scientific information. For the animals which you can narrow down to a genus and species (and possibly even sub-species), you will be able to find even more specifically relevant information about the animal.
While totem books and websites will usually list varying symbolism, characteristics and common lessons for you, it’s possible to infer lessons or qualities from a certain animal’s behaviours, characteristics and colour/markings. Especially fertile animals could teach you about creativity and having a multiplicity of ideas. Animals that shed or moult regularly could teach you about transformation and regeneration. Animals that are particularly garrulous could teach you about the power of words and speech. Colouring such as white or silver could suggest lunar and/or feminine connotations.
Checking the habitat of the animal and if it’s local to your area can also be of value. Often people will have totems indigenous to or common in places that they have lived, or in lands that they are fascinated by. Having grown up in the US Pacific Northwest, many of my own totems are native to this region.
Also check the mythological connotations for any animal. In some tribes, Coyote has a long tradition of being a creator-trickster with a family of argumentative shit-babies. For the Celts, Salmon was a creature of wisdom, evidenced by the myth in which Fionn MacCumhail burnt his thumb cooking a legendary salmon and gleaned wisdom from sucking the wound. Raven was a powerful symbol of knowledge and insight to the Norse, as Huginn and Muninn were attendants to Odhinn.
Assessing which aspects of which animals seem ‘right’ can help narrow your list. Animals which you are bored or quickly turned off by – ones that just don’t feel ‘right’ – can probably be crossed off your list. Be critical with yourself; be sure that you’re not dismissing a possibility just because it teaches hard or challenging lessons, or is less ‘attractive’ or ‘strong’ by conventional standards. It can be as much of a bold stop to embrace and learn from small ‘wimpy’ creatures (Mouse, Rabbit, Squirrel) as it can be from bold or aggressive animals (Eagle, Wolf). Don’t dismiss ‘gross’ or ‘ugly’ creatures like Vulture, Spider or Cockroach either; their natural adaptations are remarkable and their lessons may surprise you.
NOTE:
I should say here that the totem animals you work with are not an animal, they are the Animal. That is, if Wolf is your totem, you are not working with or chosen by a wolf, you are working with the Wolf: the combined essence of Wolf, the primeval spirit of all things wolfy and the source from whence all other wolves spring.
Show some respect.
STEP FOUR:
Diagram time. Use the blank one at the centre of this booklet or draw your own with places for each of the totem positions. Over time, with a PENCIL – a pencil is crucial because things can and will change over time as you figure things out – you can fill in your totems as they come. Check the ‘Totem Positions’ section for descriptions of the symbolism of each position.
When I was filling in my own diagram for the first time, I immediately wrote Raven in the centre. Raven’s been with me since forever; even when I was seriously questioning my faith, I regarded Raven as an intimate and familiar expression of my inner self. The lessons Raven teaches have been driving forces throughout my life; descriptions of Raven totem characteristics, negative and positive, were familiar and described me as well.
Sometimes it’s not as clear, for some people, who their inner totem is. If this is you, relax: you’ll figure it out. In fact, your centre totem will probably be the first one you discover.
STEP FIVE:
Keep your mind open, your bestial inhibitions down and be patient, because this could take awhile. If you’re looking for fast answers, you’re undoubtedly going to be disappointed: you need to adopt a more mellow, nature-paced mindset and not try to rush things. Speaking personally, it has taken the better part of a year and a half, actively seeking, to discover and arrange all of my totems. I have heard of people uncovering all their totems at once, in a blinding flash of insight, but I don’t personally buy it. Everything worth getting is worth actually working for, totem knowledge included.
Once the Universe shows you someone – and they may or may not be on your list – think about it. So the Step Three research if you haven’t already. Creating pictures or looking at other people’s pictures of your potential totem can help you think about them. Journal about them. Meditate on them. Wear jewellery dedicated to them. Highlight phrases or information about the totem that makes sense to you or refers strongly to your personality and/or characteristics. Watch your dreams, if you recall them, for what animals appear and how.
It’s all about absorption and filtering of information, seeing what sounds ‘right’. I looked for coincidences in real life and animals that appeared outside, dreams that I had, books that fell off shelves around me, pictures in my mind or the media that I couldn’t shake. The day I was first visited by Vulture, I stumbled across candy ‘Buzzard Eggs’.
Once I knew how to look, what to look for, accepted the idea of nine totems and was open to receive them, they came more easily.
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Totem Positions
INNER/CENTRE
The deepest, most intimate and familiar expression of your inner self. The protector of your sacred space, the guide to your deepest joy and satisfaction, and the one who can teach you to be faithful to your personal truths. In many ways the inner/centre totem is an animal you.
LEFT
Your feminine side with yin and night correspondences. Male, female or otherwise, everyone has a masculine and feminine totem to their right and left. Your left totem helps you to learn to receive abundance as well as to nurture yourself and others.
RIGHT
Your masculine side with yang and day correspondences. Your right side is your spiritual ‘father-protector’ and carries your courage and warrior spirit.
NORTH
Your north totem gives you wise counsel and reminds you when to speak and when to listen. It represents the ‘you’ that you show in relationships and when dealing with other people. It reminds you to be grateful of your blessings every day.
SOUTH
Your south totem protects your inner child; often it will teach you about family. It reminds you when to be humble and when to trust. South balances between innocence and experience, seriousness and laughter.
EAST
Your east totem teaches you the hardest lessons you have to learn, the greatest spiritual challenges you will have to overcome. It guides you and guards the path to illumination.
WEST
Your west totem is a spiritual guide; it leads you to your personal truth and inner answers. It also shows you the path to your goals.
ABOVE
Your above totem connects you to the Universe – the higher powers and Creator. It reminds you where you’ve come from, in a cosmic sense, and where you’ll return to. Above is your guardian and guide to the Otherworld.
BELOW
Your below totem shows you how to get close to earth. It teaches you to stay grounded and on the path, to not get so caught up in spiritual matters that we neglect ‘real life’ and the world around us. Below reminds you to ‘keep it real’.
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Render Unto Me Examples
How this all ties in and actually works may be slightly sketchy to the people who aren’t used to any of this. For example, I will present the circumstances under which Snake (specifically Western Diamondback Rattlesnake) revealed itself to me.
After having opened my mind and relaxed, I basically said, “Okay, Universe, hit me,” and waited. I borrowed a few totem books from a friend, casually read them and waited for something to assert itself.
Within a few days, I had a strange sensation all day of a giant eight-foot snake wrapped around me. It wasn’t constricting, simply undulating and circling and moving all around my body. I found this more fascinating than alarming.
Thinking that perhaps this was the sign I had requested, I investigated everything I could find on Snake in general in the books I had borrowed. At the same time, I analysed mental impressions and the ‘energy’ I had gotten off the snake: a diamond pattern, dusty colours, dry heat. I eliminated any snakes from my potential list that didn’t fit with my observations and attempted to find which species of snakes did fit.
The diamond pattern impression I had gotten led me to believe that perhaps I had a flavour of diamondback rattlesnake; rattlesnakes had always been a creature of interest and fear as a child growing up in the West. The dry heat, the earth-fire energy I had felt, suggested desert climate, and the size – six to eight feet – was very large for a rattlesnake. In the end, I concluded it was probably Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, and it felt right.
I then thought about where it seemed to fit on my chart, based on the position symbolism and the lessons and powers of Snake medicine. West seemed most appropriate, as it fit the evidence I already had of Snake medicine in my life. I pencilled it in.
Not every totem shows up as dramatically. In the case of Snake, it was the second totem that had ever shown up for me and I was remarkably stubborn; I needed a dramatic wake-up call. My next totem to appear was Fox, which was somewhat easier.
I asked the Universe to give me another sign, since I had for the time finished processing the appearance of Snake. Within a week, I had a series of very vivid dreams spanning a fortnight, all of which prominently featured foxes. In the first dream, which was the most obvious, I met and played with a mated pair of rambunctious right-red foxes on a sunny day. The foxes were very friendly and affectionate to me in my dream with a playful element of nearly-parental vigilance. The dreams that followed were more often set at dusk or night; the foxes were more often serious, some with black colouring typical of red fox variations.
With a bit of dream recall and scientific research, I realised that every fox I had dreamt of was typical of the red fox, Vulpes vulpes. I looked up the red fox in every totem book I could get my hands on and noted the lessons Fox taught and the medicine it used.
I placed it South, because it seemed obvious. The contrast between playful red foxes on a sunny afternoon and more serious, survivalist darker-coloured foxes at night seemed to reflect South’s symbolism of balance. The protective, happy-family vibe I got off the pair made them seem highly-appropriate protectors of my inner child.
Thinking and sorting out each animal took a week or two, maybe more, depending on how busy I was with ‘real life’ like work and school, and how readily I was accepting the current totem I was working with.
Repeat ad nauseum.
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Relatively-Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What sort of cosmic signs should I be looking for?
A: Everything that seems like it could be a sign.
Living in a semi-rural city, I often see magpies, crows and seagulls in parking lots, scavenging. Once, driving home from work, I was surprised to see a coyote standing on the sidewalk watching cars. As my girlfriend began exploring her totems, she began noticing cats everywhere; I seemed to miss most of her sightings. She developed an eerie ability to look up just as the neighbour’s cat was walking past my apartment window.
Basically, if you’re having any Strange Animal Encounters, that might be Nature’s version of a blinking neon sign. Other things, like being constantly drawn to certain animals in books, TV or the internet without meaning to, can alert you. Don’t get paranoid, but keep your eyes open for a variety of back-channel communiation.
Q: Hey, one of my totems is leaving. What gives?
A: There’s a fair amount of debate on this, but the general consensus is that not all totems are permanent. The semantics vary, but some totems may stay with you your entire life, and some may only stay until you learn a certain lesson or get out of a certain situation. If one’s leaving, analyse the changes in your life that have occurred and the lessons that your leaving totem teaches. You might have finally gotten it. Other lessons – for the lifelong totems – are lessons that might take your entire life to learn, or powerful medicine that you’ll need throughout your life.
Q: No one’s talking to me.
A: Are you being stubborn and unwilling to accept a totem who is talking to you? Are you being closed-off mentally? Are you too busy to pay attention to spiritual matters right now? Are you trying to rush things? The question is, are you giving off mixed signals? Does your mouth say “I’m ready” but your heart say “I’m scared” or “Don’t give me a stupid one”?
Everyone has totems, whether or not they stop to work with them. It’s possible for everyone to meet their totems as well – as long as they’re genuine, open and patient.
