The Companions Suit-
Your Animal Totems

There is an imaginary animal (also known as animal totems in Native American lore) who resides in each of your seven chakra energy centers.

The Companion Suit of your SoulCollage® deck contains one card for each of these animals.

Animal Energies

You can think of your Animal Totems as imaginary guides on your life journey. You might also think of them as Power Animals because each one imparts a special energy, or power, to your life.

By observing how each animal lived, found mates, located food and protected itself, Native Americans were able to define the animal's particular strengths and weaknesses. For example, bears hibernated during the winter, so it was said that they possessed the magic of dreams. They were also formidable foes, so Bear Energy was also about physical power and strength.

It's fascinating to note that different cultures (not just Native Americans) came up with similar interpretations for all individual animals.

Native Americans as well as other cultures used Shamans to help them connect with the Earth around them, and with the power of the animals. Using dreams and visions, these Shamen would connect with the "manitou" of the animals. The manitou of an animal is its primal spiritual energy- wolfness, deerness, foxness...etc.

It was believed that every human being had a particular manitou (or several) which they were especially attuned to. These were their personal animal totems.

They discovered their totems through vision quests, although sometimes the totem made themselves known in other ways. For example, if you were attacked by a wild animal, it was believed that that particular animal totem had chosen you itself.

Each animal that exists has several qualities, both physical and spiritual. The qualities in your personal Power Animals are qualities that you might connect with, feel a deep affinity towards, or simply need more of in your life.

Here are some brief descriptions of the qualities of a few animals. Read carefully. One of them just might be one of your Animal Totems.

• Skunk:
Self-confidence, self-esteem, self-respect, creative energy, paying attention to intuition and inner knowings
• Alligator:
Power to survive, keeper of ancient wisdom, clairvoyance
• Cat:
Magic, mystery, curiosity, independence, healing, unpredictability, inner balance, moving through fears
• Frog:
Seeing in all directions, physical and emotional cleansing, metamorphosis, creative power
• Shark:
Peace, solitude, emotional transformation, power of protection

Here is the best online resource I’ve found for finding detailed descriptions of many animals and their qualities:

Another good resource for learning more about the symbolic meanings of different animals is this deck of Animal Cards:

Also, at the end of this page there are some suggestions for books to read that will give you more information on Animal Totems.

Your Animal Totems/Guides instruct and protect you throughout your life’s journey. When you discover an animal that speaks strongly to you, an animal you feel you must draw more deeply into your life, try surrounding yourself with images of this animal. This will let the animal know it is welcome in your space.

How To Find One Of
Your Animal Guides

Imagination plays an important role in discovering each of your animals.

Seena Frost has created an excellent guided visualization and included it in her book, SoulCollage. You can also buy her CD (Introduction to SoulCollage), pop it in your recorder, close your eyes and let her soothing voice guide you.

Buy Seena's book
and/or audio tape
at the SoulCollage Shop now.

Are you excited about the possibilities, and do you want to know more? We've created the Wise and Wonderful 6 week e-course just for you! This e-course is a marvelous "souls-on" learning experience where you'll discover some of your own animal totems, become more familiar with your own body's chakras, and discover how your animal companions mesh with your chakras.

Please click here now to find out more!

Other ideas for getting in touch with your animal totems can be found on www.whats-your-sign.com.

Guided Imagery

Another way to “meet” one of your Animal Totems is to try some guided visualizations on your own.

You can use Seena's CD/tape Introduction To SoulCollage and listen to her own visualization (see link above) regarding animal totems.

Anne Marie has also written some wonderful Magical inner Journeys" that will assist you in meeting one of your Animal Companions. It is available now as a CD or in mp3 download format .

Surprises

You might be pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised by an animal that makes itself known to you. Try to accept the animal who wants to be with you rather than forcing a different one to be there.

Be still and trust the process.

It is generally believed that the animal totem chooses you, and not vice versa. The animals you love just might be your totems but then again, they might not! The animals which come to you when you are open and accepting are the ones you need to work with. They will have the strengths and weaknesses that you already posses, and they will have lessons for you to learn.

Click here to read an article by SoulCollage Facilitator Karen Mann. In this article she explains more specifically about how to access meaning from any animal that "appears" to you as a Companion or Guide.

My Summer of Skunks

A few years ago, I was continually seeing skunks in our yard, even in broad daylight. This is highly unusual skunk behavior, I assure you! A few times I actually also glimpsed a white skunk with a black stripe!

I wasn’t practicing SoulCollage at that time, but it did pique my curiosity.

Later, I learned that skunks are really about self-respect, self-esteem, and inner protection through intuition. And I was seeing them at a season of my life when I felt completely powerless and unprotected regarding some difficult family situations which directly affected my self-respect and self-esteem.

Coincidence? I think not! I haven’t seen them brazenly walk across my front yard since that summer several years ago. I believe that the totem animal Skunk had a message for me that year, and I believe that if I need him again, he will be there.

Creative Movement

An excellent way to explore animal energies is to pretend you are in the body of one of your animal totems and MOVE as they do. This is much more fun to do with music playing in the background. I recommend this CD for expressive movement as a means to get to know your power animals better:

Honoring Your Animal Totems

Once you have "met" one or two of your power animals, you will want to make a SoulCollage card for each one. In this way you honor the animal's energies in your life. It may take a while to find just the right images, but it is worth searching until you find the right ones.

Here are some other powerful ways to connect with your animal's energy, invite it into your life, and honor it:

• Surround yourself with photos, statues, or other representations of your totem.
• Wear clothing or jewelry depicting your totem.
• Pay attention to the emotional energies that come up in your visualizations and work with each totem. Give each one ample time and space. For example, Eagle is good at working with anger, and Frog's energy is beneficial for those in need of clearing and releasing negativity.
• If at all possible, visit a place where your totem lives. Observe it in its natural habitat if you can. Spend time quietly in its presence. If bears or whales come to you and you don't live near a zoo or the ocean, get a video or DVD from the library and be with the animal that way instead.
• Write a poem or story about your totem.
• Read books and learn more about the life and habits of your totem.
• Carry a stone that honors the lessons of your animal totem. If one of your totems is a frog, for example, you might want to carry jade or green tourmaline. If one of your totems is a dolphin, you might want to carry a piece of coral or aquamarine to symbolize the ocean.
• If your animal is endangered or in need of protection, you might contribute to charities that specifically help them.
• Spend time in meditation with your animal totem.
• Take action in a way that honors the lessons your animal brings you. For instance, a Bird Person might try "flying" into new adventures by testing their wings at a new hobby or something they've been longing to do. An Elk person might do something like weightlifting or biking to build stamina.
• Do something to heal that part of the Earth which houses your power animal. A Shark person might contribute money to help clean up an oil spill. A Fox person might spend time with a nature organization helping to replant a forest. Not sure what to do? Picking up litter or volunteering for recycling in your town is always helpful.





More Information

Here are a few more interesting articles that will give you some more information and ideas about animal totems:

Working With Your Animal Totems


Animal Spirit Guides and Totems

Getting to Know Your Animal Totems




Want to get make some awesome cards to honor your animal totems? You can learn SoulCollage® TODAY. It's so easy! Click here now to sign up for the complete online SoulCollage® workshop and save 40%!

Recommended Books
About Animal Totems