Totems

Did you know that you can have more than one totem?
Did you know that totems could be plants or rocks and not just animals?

Here is a little about totems, spirit animals, guides and familiars.

Familiar:
Familiars are animals of the living world that work with you magically. They help with meditations, ritual work and protect your home. Familiars are usually pets that are very intelligent and have a deep connection to you. Common familiars include: cat, dog, certain birds, rats or ferrets. Yes, fish and reptiles can be familiars too. Skinks, snakes and betta fish rank among familiars. There are plenty of others as well.

Guide:
This is a being/entity who is like a spiritual teacher guiding you through life. This guide might be human or not. You may have more than one guide or teacher at a single time. Also, your guide may change as your life changes and new lessons are to be learned.

Spirit Animal:
This is what your spirit becomes on the astral plane. If you were to become a plant, animal or other entity, what would it be? At your core, what are you? This may also be a mystical creature like a dragon or griffon.

Totem:
A totem is a power creature. It represents something to you and you can call upon it to protect you, guide you, lend you its strength. We have many of these. There are Totems of Place (country and city). For example, Canada has the totem of the Maple Tree as well as the animals of Moose, Beaver, Loon. Montreal has four plant totems: rose, clover, thistle and fleur de lys. Next are family totems (tribe, family, household). The Quebec French peoples have the plant totem of the fleur to lys. Someone's family might show a badger on their family crest. A household might have the totem of the turtle. Lastly is your personal totem. The power animal that is your protector on the astral can be anything.

Meeting your Guides and Totems:
Do some research on the place that you live to find out about the totems of your environment and those of your family.

There are many methods of meditation to meet your guides and totems or to understand what the message is behind an animal that recurs in your life.

I kept dreaming of the raven and saw raven images all over. Every time I entered a shop, there was a raven or crow on a t-shirt, in a poster, as a pendant. It kept catching my eye. Ravens and crows seemed to always fly by as well. I now know that the raven is one of my totems and so I did some research on them. RAVEN: teacher, trickster, mystery, magic, bringer of light.

You can learn more about your totems and guides in workshops here at our shop!

Here is a list of books that are staples in anyone's research on understanding animals and totems:

• Animal Speak by Ted Andrews
• Animal Speak Pocket Guide by Ted Andrews
• Totems by Brad Steiger
• Power Animal Meditations by Nicki Scully

New in from Ted Andrews is the book Animal Wise (10 anniversary edition). You can email us or call us for your copy. It contains a collection of animals not features in Ted Andrews' other books.

And here is a sneak peak to October!

In October, we will have a book on plant totems (The Plant Spirit Familiar) by Christopher Penczak. He will also be visiting us the first weekend of October to offer a workshop on plant totems as well! Stay tuned for more information on this event.