Animal Totems: Discover the Animal In You

Animal Totems

by Naomi McDonald

When we enter into a lifetime, a part in each of us is connected to a certain animal or animals. If you notice, cat people seem to be really cat people, horse people, really horse people and so on. A real bird person will love birds with all their being. When you observe these lovers of a specific species you start to see similarities in personality and behavior, often even in appearance. This is something I’ve noticed over the many years of being an animal communicator and it was through this observation that I became interested in learning about animal totems.

We can work with the nature of animals in many ways. Some people have animal totems: spirit animals as guides or protectors. We might call on the essence of wolf when we need to power-up or the cunning of fox to get out of a sticky situation. These essences can be called upon whenever needed. Our animal totems though are with us for life and weave in and out of our lives in a complete and intimate manner. These are our animal totems, the ones that are part of who we are down to our very core.

Learning our essential animal nature can better help us understand ourselves and our animal totems. When we discover our soul’s connection to one animal in particular, we can be on the lookout for those same attributes in ourselves and thereby work through what we perceive as faults and strengthen what we see as our advantages.

Irena’s story

In the fourth class of my animal communication program we learn to communicate with the wild animal kingdom along with nature spirits and the plant world. On the first day of class we go to a wild animal habitat to observe and connect with our animal totems. The last time I taught this class we went to the G W Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma. Prior to going we all drew a card from the Jamie Sams Animal Medicine Cards that represent each of the animals at the park. That day the spirit of mountain lion awakened in my heart when I drew that card.

After our guided tour of the park each person spends time with the animal on their card. Our guide, Reiki took me to the enclosure that was the new home of two recently acquired mountain lions. One male that had been declawed and neutered and a female who was intact and still had her claws. It was my intention to just observe and connect with this animal species but the mountain lion had a different agenda that I discovered days later.

As I watched the female I could sense her total acceptance of whom and what she was, even the circumstances of her being at the park. My eyes took in every detail of her physical appearance. Her ears were back, her eyes very alert, a low guttural growl vibrating through her body, nothing moved, not a paw, not her tail, not even her head. Then Reiki ever so slowly reached out and touched her. A moment in time, each one holding their breath ready to react; this moment, the shaping of a relationship between a magnificent mountain lion and a kind reassuring human I watched all of this in fascination and left admiring her but did not feel a deep spiritual connection.

The following week I thought of the female mountain lion again, she seemed so vivid in my mind that I sat down to connect with her as I would in an animal communication session. But something very different happened. Part of my spirit jumped out of my body with one great fluid motion with such force I was startled. It was like I finally let loose of something that I had been forever holding back. My joints were free and rotated to a greater degree. There was no forethought to my actions, everything was instinctual. I was alive and part of all of the forest around me. All of my senses were heightened, hearing, seeing, and feeling the earth under my paws as I sped over the ground. I slowed down and effortlessly climbed a tree, walked to a horizontal limb and laid down to survey my surroundings. It didn’t feel like I was observing a mountain lion, this felt like my experience. Following my own instincts not someone else’s. I was comfortable being alone. I was powerful and had no doubt in myself. I roamed great expanses of land knowing I was one with everything.

When I finally found myself back in my chair I knew that a vital part of me had been awakened, and understood what it was to truly know my animal totem. I started thinking about the parts of the mountain lion’s personality I already utilized and the parts that were there for me to integrate into my life. I felt a wholeness and completeness that I never had before, a better understanding of myself.

I wanted to give something back to this magnificent animal. Then the female mountain lion from the park popped back into my head and said, “My name is Irena.” I got goose bumps all over my body and tears began to flow as my connection to her intensified. It was then that I called the park and signed up to donate money every month for the care of Irena.

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