nativewisdom

When discovering totems you must first understand if the totem is a Life Totem, A Journey Totem, or a Message Totem. All totems are powerful but the meaning that the totem brings will vary on your action depending on what type of totem has come to you.

Life Long Animal Totem works with you throughout your entire life. Always there when you need it's powers. Always reminding you of your power and connectivity. You may have only one or a few Life totems. They may become your Life totem at any time. But the primary Life Totem will be our focus at this time. The messages that your Life Totem brings are a hard reminder from Mother. Your Life Totem is always there for you and generally reflects your inner spiritual nature. For example if your Life Totem was a Penguin you would be a person who should be very spiritual since the penguin moves better in water (the symbol of the astral plane - which is were we go when we dream) than it does on land. Being able to leap out of the water (up to six feet) represents the ability of out of body experiences. It is also important to understand which type of penguin is your animal totem since some have additional characteristics that are important to consider.

Journey Animal Totem Reflects a period of time. Not just a day but weeks, months, or maybe a year - the time it takes you to walk the path that the Animal Totem is reminding or guiding you on. During this journey you will find that this animal is always showing up in your life or that several animal totems will appear in your life all to guide you on the path. When you find two or three animals all of a sudden making an appearance and their nature all has the same basis then you have found the basis of your path. The difference between the Journey Animal Totem and the Message Animal Totem is a period of time. A Message animal Totem will bring itself to you quickly and impartially where a Journey Animal Totem will slip in and out of your life over the course of a period.

Message Animal Totem Usually is bringing you a self growth or spiritual message - like a wake up call or slap in the face. It will usually be a very unusual experience making it very powerful at that time and very impactual.

Shadow Animal Totem Are those totems that test us. They have great power ful us but will put us through tests before they will let their power work with and for us, instead of against us. In all of nature there is prey and predator. In the spiritual or Shadow World there is the same. A Shadow Animal Totem is one that initially you fear. The Shadow Totem often represents inner fears that you must overcome. You may have even been attracted by the animal; a very vivid test to see if you are ready to accept the power of the animal totem. Until you face the fears of the Shadow Animal Totem it's powers will work against you, not letting you soar high. When you overcome the fear of the Shadow Animal Totem you bring it into the Light World as your Spirit animal totem and they become one of your most powerful Animal Totems.

TOTEMS OF THE FOUR WINDS

THE EAST WINDS- THE EAGLE

The animal associated with the Power of the East and with the East Winds is the Eagle. The Eagle is a totem for people with Birthday's between 21 March and 20 June. The Eagle is a bird that flies higher than any other, so the indian considered to be 'Closer to the sky.' To the indian, the sky was synonymous with the realm of Spirit and with Spiritual thing's. So the Eagle was a symbolic of the importance of principles. A principle might be defined a fundamental truth, the essential spirit or intention, or a guide to action. The Eagle is associated with farsightedness and the ability to look ahead. Since Eagle is also able to look directly into the sun without being blinded by it's intensity, this ability indicates another attribution of the East - Illumination- Illumination which come's to the mind through spiritual vision (Remember, the Sun is also a 'living' symbol of divinity or spirituality) or symbol or the ability to see into the essence or spirit of thing's. The East winds emphasise spiritual considerations and principles, so the spirit of the East will help us to comprehend more of the spiritual nature of the human being rather than the physical, mental, or emotional nature. The principle function of the East is the power of determining- the power of making choices. It is the power of deciding the way we make use of the energies at our disposal.

THE SOUTH WINDS- THE MOUSE

The animal Associated with the Power of the South and with the South Winds is the Mouse. The Mouse is a totem for people with birthday's between 21 June and 21 september. Consider how the mouse perceives things. It is aware of it's surroundings by its closeness to them and by its sensitive feel of them. That is a special quality of the South Power and of people influenced by the South Winds- the perception of thing's by getting close to them. It is a special sor of awareness that comes through feelings. Touch, and closeness, and feelings, are vital quialities of the South which might be described as the direction of experience on the Medicine Wheel. The influence of the 'spirit' of the South can help us all to find our balance because it does stress the importance of not looking so far ahead that one over looks what lies directly within touch and perhaps we are all prone to making that mistake.The Mouse is one of the the smallest of animals and such expresses another important principle of the South: Never confuse size with true value. The South's special relationship is with the plant kingdom, the form of life which includes trees and plants, herbs, and flowers, and vegitation of all kinds. In the south the main function is of giving, and the plant kingdom contains the great givers of the Earth, giving entirely of themselves to provide for others. South people are also likely to feel dreawn towards herbal remedies for physical health problems, and to flower remedies in times of stress and when under psychological pressure. Of all people those most unfluenced byu the South are likely to derive the greatest benefit from these remedies. In the human world, the South's influence is on the emotions and feelings. So applying the principles we have already learned harmong with in our selves can be attained by giving with the emotions. Love is a giving of oneself. Emotion expresses love because emotion is love evergy in motion. By blocking up our emotions we lock up our hearts and suffer the consequences

THE WEST WINDS- THE GRIZZLY BEAR

An animal associated with the Power of the West and with the West Sinds is the Grizzly Bear. The Grizzly Bear is a totem for people whose birthday's are between 22 Sept. and 21 Dec. The grizzly is the strongest of all bears. Self- sufficient, it lives by its own strength, even healing itself of most illness and injuries thro its knowledge of herbs and its closeness to the Earth. The Power of the West is an influence that urges self-sufficiency and the development of the kind of strength of all. West people are generally endowed with a degree of inner strength with which to cope with all of life's difficulties, but often need to recognize that it is there for them to draw upon when needed. They may also feel drawn towards natural healing and complemaentary medicine. The West is the Power behind the need for preparation and for gathering in whether it be the fruits and rewards of past activity, or information and knowledge befor undergoing a period of refreshment or barrenness preceding a new direction or a fresh enterprise. The West is the direction for looking within to examine past actions and to learn frome them so that future decisions may be wise ones. It is also concerned with looking within the heart to examine true intention. The West Direction is likened to autumn, which is the season of consolidation when growth stops and when, in the natural scheme of things, hhumans held onto and stored th fruits of their endeavours and also examind themselves to discover what changes were needed to make progress when the time of renewal came.

THE NORTH WINDS-BUFFALO

The Animal associated with the Power of the North is the Buffalo. The buffalo is a totem animal for those born between 22 December and 20 March. It is associated with the mind and with the knowledge and its power was sometimes described as 'the power of sustenance that knowledge can bring.' A very rare animal was the white buffalo, which was regarded as a sacred messenger because, according to legend, it was the White Buffalo Woman who gave the sacred pipe to the American Indian people. The sacred pipe is the Indian's most treasured possession. The principal function of the North is receiving, and animals were regarded as the great receivers of energy which they were able to transmit to humans, thus becoming the great helpers of mankind. The human aspect of the North is the mind. The mind is not the brain. The brain is merely a tool of the mind. The braind emits energy that can be measured. The mind has energy which cannot be measured, only received as consciousness. The energy of the mind goes where the consciousness goes. The North is the direction of the mind and the things of the mind - of knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is only of value to the Inner Self when it is transformed into wisdom by love, whech means by balancing that is part of the prupose of life.North people are likely to be creative and innovative. The North Winds are associated with winter when the Earth is dormant, so they are seen as the bringers of purification and of refreshment and renewal. North people have an inner strength and the power to change uncertain situations into solid and more permanent arrangements, but must learn to do so not with cold practicability but with warmth and compassion by allowing their emotions to flow more freely so their spiritual development will not be frozen