Power Animals

A couple weeks ago before I became ill and seemed to drop off the planet I was twittering with a person or two regarding power animals. I received an inquiry from someone asking what is a power animal. I shall attempt to answer that in a very simplistic way.

In pre-christian shamanistic cultures people were more in touch with nature, animals and the blessings of the earth. Animals were often seen as guides to be learned from. Each type of animal had its own lessons to impart based on their instinctive behaviors and the benefits or advantages inherent in them. When an animal crossed a person's path at an auspicious moment, or began to show up in one's life repeatedly over a period of time, it was paid attention to. This is a temporary lesson giver or spirit guide.

In addition to the above examples, however, something more was important early in life. A young person during one of many rites of passage would deliberately search for that one (or sometimes two) animal that would be a life-long totem or spirit guide. This was known as the power animal. Once discovered, a very special bond developed between the person and the animal that deepened over the course of a lifetime with its trials, accomplishments, sadnesses and joys.

Just how did this process take place, you might ask. The world we consciously live in on a day to day basis is called the middle world. This implies that there are other worlds if this is a "middle world" and indeed that is the case. In traditional Native American spiritual cosmology there is also the lower world and the upper world. The Hopi have a myth that Kokopelli led the people out from the lower world to the middle world at the beginning of this present age. It is the lower world that a person journeys to in order to find a power animal. The seeker journeys to the lower world in a trance like state to the sound of the drum. The drum is considered the horse that carries the soul on its journey.

It is imperative that the seeker have a clear picture in mind of the place in the middle world through which to descend and enter the lower world. Without a firm point to act as a compass the seeker might become lost and not re-enter the middle world creating a vacancy or what western medicine would call mental illness in this world.

Upon entering the lower world, the seeker waits patiently for the power animal to reveal itself. It is usually always the first animal that speaks to the seeker. Power animals are NEVER insects. Certain insects do have meaning when they cross our paths in the middle world. For instance, the spider represents creativity, dragonflys joy, ladybugs luck. However, they do not ever become power animals which have much deeper, more substantial teaching and guiding roles to play.

A power animal is respected and honored all of one's life. They are not to be ignored. Many dances were developed to honor the spirit of prominent animal guides. Over a lifetime a person forged a familiarity and oneness with the power animal with its intrinsic body of natural wisdom and folklore, suvival skills and cunning. They were never worshipped or considered "gods", but they were revered and respected as all great teachers should be.

Namaste/Blessed Be July 16, 2009