Pagans, what animals are associated with the deities that you are closest to?

Question

Are these animals associated with your deities through mythology, statuary, or personal gnosis? Do you feel a special bond with some of these animals?

Answer 1

The Raven is associated with the Morrigan.

This is through mythology, and you know? never thought about it, but I DO have a bit of a connection with Ravens!

Answer 2

Not that it has anything to do with deities for me, this is more of a personal thing that I've come upon. I have always felt a deep kinship with rabbits. In Tarot, the Queen of Pentacles is always my significator because 1. I am an Earth sign (Virgo), and 2. She is often shown with rabbits at her feet or holding one in her arms.

I also fell in love with the Asian tales of The Rabbit in the Moon:

"The rabbit is central to the Zodiac having helped the Buddha's passage into the afterlife. In Buddhism the rabbit does this by sacrificing himself into a fire as a last meal. Taoism, however, having taken wisdom from over 4000 years ago, believes in sacrifice without injury to the Self, and developed the idea of the rabbit in the moon (also an important myth in Japan). This rabbit, called the Jade Rabbit, grinds the Jade Elixir, an herbal source of immortality, in the moon. The Jade Rabbit embodies much of what the Tao preaches; The lagomorpha conserves its energy until it truly needs to leap away, leaving time and energy for racing and circling and other fun activities."

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Labyrinth/6100/hist.html

Answer 3

Actually, for me, it's the reverse. I feel close to certain deities because I feel close to the animals mythologically associated to them. Bast because I love cats, Epona and Rhiannon because I love horses, owls and Athena and Lakshmi, crocodiles and Sobek, Anubis and dogs, and scorpions and Selkhet.
I'd never thought about it before, but it is interesting how when I am thinking about animals I usually end up talking to an Egyptian deity.

Answer 4

I actually work primarily with animal totems. I do work with a few deities who are associated with animals, most notably my matron goddess Artemis, but my main focus is on the totems themselves. Totems are archetypal beings that represent all the lore (including natural history and human mythos) surrounding a species. They're similar to the concept of the Animal Master that Joseph Campbell talks about.

(If you really want to know more about this aspect of my spirituality, go to http://www.thegreenwolf.com/lupaliturgy.html and download the free ebooklet there; it has more details.)

Answer 5

Horses, ravens, and wolves, for the most part. I do like those three animals, but I tend to like most animals, so...

Special bond with corvids? Nah, why do you ask? ;)

Answer 6

Freyr, to whom I'm oathed, is associated with boars especially---hence my handle---and also horses.

I don't think I'll go into why horses *here* though.

Answer 7

Egyptian is very tied with animals. Anubis (jackal) Thoth (ibis)Horus (falcon)

Boar, you are so wrong it's funny.....

I can't spell today..

Answer 8

I have not looked that deeply into this area yet, but i have discovered that i have a closeness to snakes!
~A~