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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in power animal
Sacred Aztec Totems: Animal Magic in Your Life

In Central Mexico, the Nahuatl Indians believe we all have at least one “animal soul.” Like your natal chart, the animal soul, or nagual, is born exactly when you are. It is tied to your destiny. Legend tells us that our soul animals are kept and cared for in the underworld by the Aztec Lord of Animals. If you care for your nagual, you will also be under the safekeeping of the Lord of the Underworld. One excellent way to take care of your nagual is to create and altar to honor and work with it. Place photos and mementos of living loved ones and pets on an altar table in a circle to represent the world in which you live. Hang symbols or illustrations of protective presences on the wall behind your nagual altar—gods, goddesses, saints, orishas, or whoever you feel is benevolent. These deities connect you to the realm of the sky. Beneath your altar, place a treasure box of photos, gifts, or keepsakes in honor of your ancestors to please the spirits of the underworld and their realm, known as Talocan.

 

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Calling Upon the Animals

When you are feeling aimless, you might want to call upon Beaver to fill you with a sense of purpose.  If you are frightened, invite a courageous animal like Lion to fill you with courage.  Calling on animals for their gifts is a part of understanding the animals of whom you work with.  Remember to always thank them when you are done. 

The following examples of calling upon the animals come from “Shamanism Vol. III: Animal Medicine Powers” by Dolfyn.

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Orca (Killer Whale): Unbroken Traditions

In January 2017, two notable orcas died – Granny (also known as J2) and Tilikum. Both lived tragic lives in different ways. Granny, captured and released because of her age, saw the gradual extinction of her pod due to pollution and overfishing. Tilikum, captured as a calf, killed three people arising from his torment at being a performing killer whale. Both animals were the impetus for humans to reconsider the ethics of using animals for entertainment. The result was an ending of orca shows at major marine parks.


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Discovering Your Animals of the Heart

Animals of the Heart are the animals who want to share their lives with you. Offering their friendship, these animals want to be a part of you. I prefer calling animals who bond with you as “Animals of the Heart.” For me, the terms of “totem,” “power,” and “familiar” are specific to their religious traditions. I know that people use these words interchangeably to mean the same thing. “Animals of the Heart” is a general term that I use to denote the type of animal that people feel a deep connection with.

Animals of the Heart come in all forms. Some of them have been with you since childhood. I have met people who have been happy with Goldfish as their Animal of the Heart because they had them as pets. Meanwhile, other people have been fascinated by unicorns or dragons as children. As adults, they look to these mythical animals for wisdom.

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  • Lizann Bassham
    Lizann Bassham says #
    Thank you - a lovely and helpful post. I appreciate your acknowledgment of how often wider culture appropriates spiritual traditi

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
The Teachings of the Lion (for Cecil)

Known as the King of the Jungle, Lion actually lives on the open African grasslands. Originally, He ranged from the Mediterranean Sea to Asia and south to Africa. Hunted by Romans for their Games, Lion first disappeared from Europe and Asia Minor. As Lion hunting increased, his range shrank to where now Lion lives only in Africa.

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

Sometimes I forget that Samhain is not the Halloween to All Souls celebrations that include my birthday. Samhain also can get swallowed up in the midwinter Yule/Hanukkah/Christmas/Kwanza celebrations that grip the globe. This year of the Horse has galloped; often it has felt like a bucking bronco.  As we approach the end of 2014 I feel myself praying for solitude. Samhain is a season not just a hyper celebration of Celtic New Year. Which is what Halloween feels like in Ireland. We even have fireworks!

Samhain is the turning in time. Last year I spent a lot of time staring out the window. You could say I was busy doing nothing.  As I look at the calendar with all the commitments marked for November I declared a moratorium for December. I have a three week window with nothing and that is the way I intend to keep it.

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  • Lizann Bassham
    Lizann Bassham says #
    Lovely reminder, thank you.

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Drum Journeys

Credit for the above image:  "Шаман Ташоол Кунга" by Alexey Gaponov - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Beneath the oculus of the yurt

My "cough" signals spirits are waiting

To come through.

The mirror opens doorways, portals

To other dimensions of non-ordinary reality.

My third eye opens

And the drumming begins.

--(c) Catt Foy, 2014

 

For years, I searched for inner peace through meditation.  And after long hours of practice, I actually did manage to reach a meditative state—once in a while. Then I discovered drum journeying.  Shamanism had found me.

Traveling in my mind’s eye through fanciful spaces seemed at first an exercise in imagination—something my writer’s soul reveled in. But more than simple imagination was going on here.  The more I journeyed, the more real it seemed; indeed, the more real it became.

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  • Catt Foy
    Catt Foy says #
    I have had nothing but positive encounters. Snake, who embodies healing medicine and the ability to transmute and neutralize toxi
  • Me
    Me says #
    Hi, Catt. :-) I'm always glad to see shamanism getting more attention in the online pagan community. I've been a practitioner for

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