We get a large number of emails asking about power animals. Some people want a definition of a particular animal's qualities; others want a dream about an animal interpreted; but most want to know how to discover their animal guides and how to work with them, once they've identified them.
I have revised and expanded this article (which will appear in two sections) to answer the last category of question.
For those who seek definitions, I've provided a link to my descriptions of animal guides on the Beyond the Rainbow site and some other urls I've found helpful.
For those seeking dream interpretation, I can't accurately interpret your dream. However, I do provide some suggestions to help you interpret them in this article.
You can learn more from watching the animals than you can from a guru or a minister - or from reading my book. Seth (as channeled by Jane Roberts) in The Nature of Personal Reality
Once, I set up a small pyramid on the living room floor. My cat, Binx, showed immediate interest in it. Although she was too large to fulfill her obvious desire to sit inside it, she marked it as hers by rubbing against it, and sat as close to it as possible.
One night. I programmed a large citrine for prosperity and put it inside the pyramid. I discovered the next morning that Binx had put a catnip mouse next to the stone. The following morning, I found two feathers on the other side of the stone.
I don't know whether Binx wanted to charge up the energy of her favorite toys, if she was assisting me in materializing abundance, or if she was performing a ritual beyond my limited human comprehension, but her actions once again reminded me that the world of spirit is part of the normal reality of animals' lives.
More and more of us are awakening to the idea that our bodies, minds, and spirits are one; this is a principal theme of alternative and vibrational healing. In the same sense, the physical world merges with a world of spirit, one whose powers and gifts are available to us when we open ourselves to it.
One way to make the world of spirit part of our normal reality is to create and deepen our connection to the animals. Many cultures believe that animals can bring us messages from the spiritual plane and can guide us during our explorations in that dimension. Simply to open ourselves to the energies of a different kind of being expands the dimensions of consciousness.
As we expand inwardly to a deepened awareness of animals, we become more able to appreciate how the physical and spiritual worlds are one. Spirit has never gifted me with a more profound vision than the sight of a young fawn emerging from the shadows of the forest into my back yard or that of a wild turkey carefully guiding her tiny chicks through the tall grass. Such scenes help me to be thankful that I, like the animals, am a spiritual being in a physical body.
Working with animal energies, either directly, or through imagery and symbolism, also serves to bring us in touch with our own animal natures - an aspect of ourselves which is so often repressed. When we discover the animals that most strongly call to us we discover important elements of ourselves.
Sometimes it is a strength. I first realized a deep connection to frogs when I was expected to dissect one in college biology. Instead, I tucked the frog into my pocket and later released it by a stream.
By the time I discovered that frogs relate to healing (especially in terms of releasing blockages) I had begun my work with crystals and Bach Flower Remedies. I then began to call on Frog consciously as my ally in healing work and continued to do so as I practiced and taught Reiki. Surely this power animal guided me to my present home, surrounded by streams and abandoned quarries where frog songs fill the night.
Sometimes our animal tells us what we need to learn. Bear is another of my power animals. As a teenager in Yellowstone Park, I was chased by one, and since them I regularly have bear dreams. While I thought I appreciated Bear's theme of going within for wisdom through dreams and contemplation (as symbolized by hibernation) I didn't want it in my life in physical form.
Bear wisely guided me to upstate New York where, during my first summer, the bear population suddenly became visible, as it had not been for many years. I was (quite unwillingly) one of the first to see one of the new neighbors, a 500 pound male who strolled past my glass door, knocked down the bird feeder, and had a sunflower seed orgy. I didn't say, "Greetings, power animal, what do you want to teach me today?" I screamed and called the police. I was, after all, a former New Yorker.
Bear was determined to teach me, though, and every summer I've seen at least one in my back yard. I recently realized that it was time to go within more deeply.
Below, I suggest a mixture of intuitive and rational methods for discovering your animal.
Beyond the Rainbow has two sets of resources for learning about power animals.
Go here for some short descriptions of animal qualities, with links to longer articles.
You can read about Wild Earth Animal Essences\ by going to the main page of this section.
Above all, be patient. You may be just opening up to the idea that animals have something to teach you. Your relationship with one will flower in its time, and you may find as you grow and evolve that your power animals change.
The second part of this article is on working with one's power animals or with any animal that flies, leaps, or slithers into your life.
| Home | To Order |
| Angels | Feng Shui | Goddesses | Power Animals |