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Realm of the Mystic Griffin * DISCOVER THE MAGIC WITHIN; Fine Art, Wicca, Magick, Education & Articles
List of Totem Animal Meanings
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| About Spiritual Animal Helpers & Totems | List of Totem Animal Meanings | Spiritkeepers Main Page |
The articles and information below, including list of totem animal meanings, is mostly unique original content not compiled from previously published metaphysical materials, and is not to be used for profit or republication in ANY form without prior written consent by the author. The material is offered here ONLY as personal reference. This material is being written for future compilation in book format. Tree (Theresa) Pruitt, ©2006/08. If you feel you have important material to add to this body of work, contact the webmaster/author for review, and possible compensation. Questions and comments are invited as well.
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At the end of the individual animal symbol descriptions below, the reader will find helpful phrases and topics for further contemplation. Titled as, "Points to Ponder", each section offers both positive and negative aspects of the animal at a quick glance. Not just opposites, the aspects can reveal what characteristics one may personally share with the animal, and also what qualities one may need to be rid of, avoid, or even acquire for the best personal growth. Discovering the prey animal of ones totem can also reveal a great deal to seekers because a predator always reflects aspects of what it hunts and consumes. The elemental association of an animal may also be included to show its place within the Sacred Five Elements; Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit.
TABLE of CONTENTS
* Discover original totem animal spirit art by the webmaster
* Symbolic Meaning of the Badger
* The Bear
* Learn about the Hero's Journey; suggested references
* Otter
* Meaning of Raven, or Crow, in Alchemy
* Suggested Alchemy Resource books; personal transformation
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~ Discover Original Totem Animal Spirit Art by the Webmaster~
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About Spiritkeepers™ 1997-2008 -- One of a kind, hand painted stones & shells from artist Tree Pruitt. Keep the spirit of your favorite totem or spirit animal, symbol, or deity a part of your daily life with these treasures that are mini paintings! Stones are generally pocket sized & many are naturally holed -- the witches' amulet or dream shield. Shells are perfect for desk top or altar display. Images are often one of a kind, found within the natural surfaces. Those Spiritkeepers seen in my portfolio and blog may or may not be available for sale -- most there are already sold. If you want to be sure, check the Spiritkeepers pages here at Mystic Griffin Arts. You can learn more, keep up with new additions, and learn about how this artist shares her animal spirit with the world at the Spiritkeepers Blog link above.
Badger
Symbolic Meaning of the Badger
The loose skin and cuddly look of badger is a bit deceptive because powerful muscles lay beneath that fluff. Illusion is one of the gifts of badger medicine. Though an unsociable animal, badger hangs loose in its skin and can take bites from others without much danger to itself. This protective quality can often slow things from getting through to badger people. They may need a bit more patience from loved ones who share the family den, as they often have difficulty relating to others. Not being fans of authority, expressing themselves in a clear balanced manner and staying out of conflict is often a great challenge. Badger people may also need more time to absorb changes and learn concepts new to them. But when they decide they are ready no knowledge on the Earth can stay buried for long. As with any animal messenger, badger can be a temporary power animal or life long totem. If badger has entered your life in some way you might also take a look at the weasel family as a whole, and the prey of the badger, to discover other important aspects. The dachshund, known as the badger dog, was bred just for hunting this fierce member of the weasel family, so examining what preys upon badger can also reveal much to the spiritual seeker.
Points to Ponder: Positive Aspects - illusion, expression, strength, Earth knowledge, durability, focus, ability to dig to the core of the problem swiftly, caring for the self, positive self image
Negative Aspects - aggressiveness, poor adaptability, rushing to conclusions without assessing the entire situation, anti-social behaviors, difficulty relating to others, pretense or arrogance
©Tree Pruitt, 2007
*Some concepts may be referenced from information supplied through, "Animal Speak", by Ted Andrews, Llewellyn Publications, without direct reference.
Bear
THE BEAR
The bear abounds in symbolism throughout the ages. Humankind's early connection to bear may have been as a physical representation of the process of death and hope of rebirth, because bear passed in and out through mysterious caves. Bear skulls found in caves are some of the earliest ritual artifacts of mankind. Because of the connection to Earth, bear is sometimes thought of as the alchemical symbol for the nigredo of prime matter, the Prima Materia. However, the raven or crow is actually the symbol for nigredo in alchemy, and not the bear.
Bears often represent the Primordial Mother energy. Mother bears are fierce to protect offspring. The bear is a symbol for Earth energy and dreaming, as they tend to travel the depths of caves, into the womb of the earth, burrowing deep in the ground to hibernate. In spiritual art and Jungian studies the curious bear represents the deepest parts of the inner self consciousness, revealed through introspection; self discovery. She is a guide to lure the seeker deeper into the portion of "The Hero's Journey", (see Joseph Campbell), that requires the Hero to look within.
To face what may hide in the darkness of dreams or the inner self, a person working with bear medicine must have the wisdom, strength, and endurance to travel within and heal the past. Because of this bear medicine is often used by shamans and mystics. However, a bear knows that it cannot digest an entire meal at once, and so will bury half eaten prey to consume later, which teaches us that we must not push self discovery and inner healing too hard at once. The seeker must nurture the self by allowing time for new concepts to be absorbed into personal understanding, and also know that the healing of inner hurts requires more than acknowledgment, it takes time to heal. With healing comes the regeneration of personal power, just as the bear emerges from its den in Spring; the same but re-born anew!
Points to Ponder: ~ Positive Aspects - Wisdom, earth, Strength, Endurance, healing, Survival, spirit realm messenger, Regeneration of Powers, balanced feminine energy, nurturing, protection, introspection, imagination,
~ Negative Aspects - poor vision or lack of insight, quick tempered, refusal to back down, being nosey; Curiosity may have killed the cat then brought it back, but curiosity with a lack of wisdom gets bear stuck in a trap!
©Tree Pruitt
Horse
HORSE
The horse travels through all time and most all locations as a potent symbol to humanity. Motion, action, leadership, and freedom are all some of the qualities that belong to the totem or power animal of horse. The reader is encouraged to search the varied resources available on the Net to learn more about the symbolic meaning of the horse, as it is simply too much information to consider without writing an entire book on the subject alone.
In the United States the meaning of the horse follows the traditions of the Native Americans who mastered this imported creature and made it their own. The horse pounds the ground with thunderous hooves, so is associated with the Earth, but the Element connected most often with motion is Air; thus the horse is seen as a creature of both Elements. In some Native languages the word for horse and dog are the same. Indeed, horse and dog do share many of the same qualities such as great loyalty, the ability to partner with humans, emotionalism and intelligence. The horse was also thought to be able to tell the People of changes about to come or the arrival of messages from the spirit realm. This could happen either in waking daily life or while dreaming .
If a horse shows up in a dream, it can mean you are either on an important journey or are about to undertake one. In his studies on dreams, Carl Jung noted the arrival of horse in sleep as a symbol of the intuition within human nature; a primal knowledge of sorts. It's your common sense -- horse sense -- telling you something is going on inside you. An enjoyable dream where one happily takes an equine ride could likely be telling the dreamer of success or balance in life. But if the dreamer has a fear of the large, powerful horse, that same dream could have very different meanings; such as being carried away by fear or the need to overcome a phobia. Human body parts and actions involving a horse within a dream were also considered by Jung, based upon human interaction with the animal in waking life. Those particular meanings may not be relevant for us today, however, because they way we live with and use the horse has changed over time. When deciding what anything in a dream might mean, it's important to examine what the thing means to you personally.
Points to Ponder: Positive Aspects - Earth, Air, loyalty, dreaming, intuition, journey, motion, action, leadership, freedom, common sense, family harmony, success, balance, entering a path of right action
Negative Aspects - mistrust, phobia, following "the herd" rather than being an individual, being carried away by fear, rash behavior being quick to excite or startle, the ability to cut rivals in the herd with sharp hooves just as harsh words can cut deep wounds into loved ones
* An excellent charm or amulet to ensure a good safe journey could be created from horse hair, mugwort, two (found) pennies or other small coins, and white sage. Wrapped inside a medicine bag, this journey amulet can also be used for shamanic journeys or a safe venture into the realm of dreams.
©Tree Pruitt
Horse Goddess & NIGHTMARES
Horse Goddess & NIGHTMARES
In Gallo-Roman religion, the fertility Goddess Epona, or Eponia, was a protector of horses. Her name, from Roman contexts, basically means "Divine Mare", and Her feast day in the Roman calendar was December 18; "the sole Celtic divinity ultimately worshipped in Rome itself" rather than within a specific locality alone. She and her steeds were thought to lead souls on the journey into the afterlife. Being that sleep and death were observed to be similar states of being, Epona is thought by some to have given rise to the nightmare. In more modern (Irish) Celtic folk lore, dreams are brought on the backs of horses. A white horse is thought to bring pure dreams of playful joy. The whimsy of the white horse, or daymare, can appear at any time, causing daydreams. A black horse is thought to bring dark dreams that expose fear and anxiety. The power of the dark horse generally comes only at night because that is when we are at our most vulnerable and our fears can be accessed; hence the nightmare. However, in Old English, the being who brought bad dreams was a demon incubi called a mare or m¿re (from a proto-Germanic *marôn, related to Old High German and Old Norse mara), whence comes the mare part in nightmare. It is uncertain if the association of the horse with bad dreams pre-dates the Old English demonology or is a modern reassignment of meaning based on language misunderstanding. Because of Her association with sleep, death, and horses it becomes easy to understand why the Goddess Epona might hold the reins of our nightmares and daydreams alike.
©Tree Pruitt
References:
* Epona Wikipedia * Nightmare Wikipedia
Otter
Otter (basic for both river & sea otter)
The playful otter is filled with curious energy. Each of us, regardless of gender, has both a feminine and masculine side. One of the lessons of otter is the balance of femininity; to avoid catty, jealous behavior and delight in sharing with others. The otter can help awaken your inner child, and show you how to release yourself from the things in life that may be a burden or bind. Be comfortable in your own environment. Stop clinging to the rocks, and go with the flow of the river of life in joy, as does the otter. Points to Ponder: Positive Aspects - playful, feminine energy, curiosity, balance, wisdom to use knowledge learned, energetic, good grooming habits
Negative Aspects - lack of focus, hyperactivity, jealousy, nosey, homophobia, chaotic, diving into something before fully understanding the situation or "biting off more than you can chew, mischief, poor grooming habits or self neglect
©Tree Pruitt
Polar Bear
POLAR BEAR
Being the most outstanding hunter of the bear family also makes the polar bear the most aggressive of the bears. They have very keen hearing, listening for sounds under the ice from above. When polar bear hears a seal bubbling to the surface of an air hole, it patiently waits for the favorite prey to come up. Then polar bear gives a swift pounce on the seal to drag it from the water, to be consumed. This indicates that polar bear knows when to wait and when to act on an opportunity. Being the only aquatic bear, the sacred Element of Water is represented in Polar Bear. These white bears have a playful side too, sliding on ice and playing with cubs, indicating that though they're serious about the task at hand they know when to relax and nourish the soul. If you think that polar bear is a totem animal for you then be sure to also examine the animals it chooses as prey; there'll likely be a second totem in there for you.
Points to Ponder: *See also "The Bear"
Positive Aspects - knowing when to take action, good listener, ability to find what's needed, nurturing parental skills, ability to get the most out one's native environment, patience, self-restraint, Water, ability to discern and hold on to that which is most important, emotional balance and stability
Negative Aspects - ignoring signs and omens (not listening), jumping to wrong conclusions, anger, poor or abusive parental skills (male polar bears are known to kill off-spring, even those they fathered themselves), being "cold hearted", not being able to adapt to new situations or understandings, lack of personality, stubborn, refusal to let go, emotional outbursts
©Tree Pruitt
Raccoon
Points to Ponder: Positive Aspects - transformation, awareness, exploration, wisdom to use knowledge learned, perseverance, dexterity
Negative Aspects - hiding, masking a problem rather than dealing with it, dishonesty, obsessive compulsive behavior, stealing (real things or stealing someones time, attention, or love)
©Tree Pruitt
Meaning of RAVEN or CROW in Alchemy
"You should know that the head of art is the raven ... from which a blackness and all manner of colors will be seen."
In the ancient practice of alchemy the raven, or black crow, stands as symbol for a vital step in the process of discovering the secret of Golden Enlightenment; the start of the "Great Work" in alchemy of the soul, (an alchemy of metaphor rather than chemistry). Raven is called the deaths head, or caput mortuum, because it describes a process of dying; transformation of the old self to the new. The soul leaves the old body, as in astral travel or meditation, entering the stage of blackness (nigredo), which is represented in illustrations by the raven and sometimes by the alchemist dying within a flask, his flesh rotting away from the process of distillation. The human soul must be transformed, changed for the highest good, in order to reach the final stage of Gold, or enlightenment. The destruction of the original elements involved begins a change to something entirely new. Destruction always facilitates construction; for example, a human egg must loose its original form in order to later become a child. This nigredo, or putrefaction, is the key moment of transformation of the elements because the soul must die before it can be reborn. From the bottom of the alchemists vial, it is said, the potential for creation lay as a black soot from which a blackness and all manner of colors will be seen! The raven, thus, stands to remind us that very often when we are in our darkest of perceived darks, we discover the light of our greatest endeavors.
St. Benedict, in early prayer medals, was depicted with a raven on his shoulder in a mysterious group of symbols thought to have been an amulet against witchcraft. It was said that St. Benedict was indeed often helped by a raven in life. On one side of the St Benedict medal is an image of the Saint with a raven on one side of him and a cup on the other. Around the medal's outer margin is the phrase, "Eius in obitu nostro praesentia muniamur", meaning, "May we, at our death, be fortified by His presence". Since Benedict was a studied occultist, this phrase could imply the presence of alchemical putrefaction, the nigredo where the soul dies to later be born again, refreshed. The cup, or any empty vessel for that matter, is often a symbol for the unfulfilled potential of the human soul awaiting to be filled by the essence of the Divine. It is possible that the raven, then, was present within the St Benedict medal to remind the spiritual seeker that the goal in seeking is one of enlightenment and attunement with God, and the seeker should not to wander into a place of desire for personal power alone.
Buddha is an excellent example, from outside of the realm of alchemy, of the process of the Great Work.
Points to Ponder: Positive Aspects - personal transformation, messenger from the Divine, or Great Spirit, potential, resourcefulness, creativity, decomposition of old ways of being in order to fertilize the growth of new and better ways.
Negative Aspects - trickster, lies, seeing death without hope, desire, hoarding or coveting what others may have, despair, degradation or rotting of the soul
©Tree Pruitt, 2006/08
Personal Alchemy Quiz: Find Out Where You Stand in the Alchemy of Personal Transformation
The Hermetic Museum Alchemy & Mysticism, Alexander Roob, 2001 TASCHAN
*pg. 227 "You should know that the head of art is the raven ..." - attributed to D. Stolcius von Stolcenburg, Viridarium chymicum, Frankfurt 1624.
* pg. 360 "And know this, that the summit of art is the raven ..." - Rosarium philosophorum, Ed. J. Telle, Weinheim, 1992
Viridarium chymicum, Frankfurt 1624
* pg. 309 "... to protect him on his journey through decay and the underworld. The good end is in sight, for according to Trismosin the raven's head has turned white." - attributed to S. Trismosin, Splendor solis, London, 16th century.
* pg. xxi
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