Totem animals: A.) How do I find what mine is? B.) Is Human a valid totem? C.) What do I do with my totem?

Answer 1

different beliefs have different methods of finding a totem.

in the Apache way, you go on a vision quest, which is to say 4 days on a mountain confined to a rather small circle with no food or water. a lot of preperation goes into this.

you have to make 400 prayer flags, which each require a prayer to be said over them, (these are ties to an un-broken string to create your circle) then there is an Inipi(sweat lodge) ceramony before and after the quest.

the idea being that you go to the mountain to sit still and listen to what the earth has to say to you.

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in other traditions you can find a totem on a Shamanic journey
which is a guided meditation..

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many times the totem will come to you, or will be an animal that you simply feel a connection with.

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Humans are not exactaly totem's, but spirit guides. they have a different puropse.

Answer 2

Totems and other animal spirits are not a trademark of the Native Americans. Tribal society's all over the world use them. Guided meditation is one of the most common ways in Wicca to meet your totem. Humans are not totems. For more information check out Ted Andrews' Animal Speak.

Answer 3

a) Totem animals or spirit guides are actually the realm of the Native American religions, although Wicca has obsconded part of that belief. I think you can have an affinity toward a certain animal or animals, and by studying the magical natures and correspondences related to that animal that they/it can guide you in certain things.

b) Humans are not totems. Sometimes they can be spirit guides, however.

c) Totems are supposed to be animals that express a part of you and also who protect you and with whom you feel a great connection. Find yourself a teacher and learn from them. He or she can help you much more in finding your totem spirit (if you have one) and how to interact with it property.

Answer 4

You can dream about your totem. One of mine came to me in a dream.

Answer 5

lol....well - in my humble opinion there is...so far at least... not ONE of you ******* who knows ANYTHING about shamanism!!!! a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing and, mr pumpkin head, i would be careful what you let into your...vegetable.
personally - i met what i think of as my power animals trying to do a visualisation/self-hypnosis exercise from transactional analysis and had NO idea what i was meeting. i REALLY liked a book i was given at the time called 'singing the soul back home' by caitlin matthews.... i would be VERY wary about people saying they can teach you ANYTHING about this but ms matthews seems to have her heart in the right place and the exercises in her book worked, for me at least.
and NO, NO, NO!!!! shamanism is NOT exclusively native american - you find shaman journeying and finding their power-animals from siberia to the south american rain-forests...what IS interesting is how different cultures seem to have come to the same conclusions about similar animals in terms of what they represent - and there are other 'cross-cultural' similarities which you can draw your own conclusions about.....this is clearly something real? there was an ancient, global system of communication? shamanism was the first religion and travelled around the globe as man came 'out of africa'? i'm sure you can think of other 'explanations'.
there are drug-using traditions and non-drug using traditions...my hunch is that not using drugs will get you higher, paradoxically(and i speak as someone who has got WAAAAY high in the past!) and i don't think being stoned in a place of real power is a good idea unless you've been really inducted into a culture that prepares you for that 'lack of control'...still - just my opinion.
what can you DO with your power animals? i think this is one of those - 'ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country'! (jeesh - i hope that wasn't Nixon!! as Baktin says - 'be careful what words you use, you never know whose mouth they've been in.) =P

Answer 6

a] google it or go to the library ask around be creative

b] no they're suppose 2 be animals

c] draw a picture of it n put it on ur refridgearator so u'll remember what it is