Identify your animal spirit guides and totems.

SOUL EPISODE 206

Identify your animal spirit guides and totems. Do you always see the same animal in your dreams, in meditation? Do you feel connected to a particular type of animal? Our experts share how to identify and work with your animal spirit guides. Watch 8pm Thurs 3 Sept www.soultv.com.au

We all have access to the animal spirit realm and therefore can have animal guides and totems. Identifying your particular guide or totem is the second step to connection the first is being aware that you can connect. You can also go to someone who knows how to connect you to and identify your particular spirit animal guide. We have a CD that connects you directly with both your guides and spirit animals. “Winds Of Change” http://www.ancientpathways.com.au/#!mp3s/c209b one of our best selling CDs.

The key is to look at what animals you are drawn to, what animals have been a theme in your life. Do you have pictures of animals on your wall or in a diary or book you keep? These are the animals you naturally draw strength from whether you realise it or not. This includes all animals and birds. All four leggeds, winged ones, creepy crawlies etc. They do have meanings in a tribal situation but in this day and age they mean what they mean to you. Why you think you are drawn to them.

All people are descendants of ancient tribes and we are naturally drawn to the totems or “kaitiaki” (guardians) of that tribe. Such as water, trees, stone, fire, birds, dogs and so forth. It is a natural part of our lineage and ancient memory. In the same way we have spirit helpers we have animal helpers in the spirit world and the living world. Your spirit animal totem may not be the biggest and shiniest one but it does have one aspect that shines for you and will assist you on your journey. Yes you can have more than one animal and you would draw on the different strengths of each one depending on what is needed at the time.

I Phoebe have mice on my list of animal spirits. They are all about attention to detail, about the little things in life and in their own way are incredibly brave. For both Paul and I birds are our guardians and guides. Whenever we set off on a spiritual journey we notice that hawks or eagles will open the way for us by flying across our path or with us for part of the way. Whenever we have gone to look at a place to live if an eagle flies over the land then we know it is right for us.

The Original peoples of Australia place great store in their animal totems and guides as the different ones represent not only their tribe but their country, their “skin” and who they are. When in a tribal situation they all ”know” who each other is because of their particular animal guide. They know they are on the right track if a bird appears when they are doing something new or participating in a ceremony of some kind.

When Paul was working with a young original man from a local tribe, after the session two eagles appeared and flew over the house as he left. To him and his elders this meant that the ancestors were with him and us. The same thing happened the next time he came in.

Each species represents something different; for example in New Zealand/ Aotearoa the fantail is the messenger for Tane (the god of the forest) and he will tell Tane (pronounced Taa ney) who is in the forest and what they are there for. The willy wag tail of Australia is seen as the same thing. Carrier of messages. They all bring us messages. If a bird is seen in the house it can be bringing a message of someone or something passing. Especially if it is an owl.

One day I Phoebe heard a noise in the kitchen which was upstairs from the room in which I was working with a client. The whole of the house was closed, windows and all so I was expecting to see that someone had broken in. You can imagine my surprise when I saw a Braminy Kite (sea eagle) with wings spread out, sitting on our dining room table watching me with intent as I walked towards it. There were no windows or doors open anywhere. It did not panic as I drew closer but send a strong message to my unconscious self. I knew instinctively that it had brought a message. I walked over to the nearest sliding door and opened it to let the bird out. I have always know that the direction a bird flies once it leaves your house is very important. I noticed it flew out to the east and over the ocean before disappearing from sight. A few days later our very special cat Freddie who had not been himself since being bitten by a tick, passed to spirit. He had come to us from Paul’s Mum who lived in NZ……East and over the Ocean from our home, the same direction the Kite had flown when he left. We then knew he had come to take Freddie’s spirit home.

Animal totems, spirit guides or however you wish to describe them have been used since the beginning of time. When you look at the ancient buildings they are covered in carvings of the creatures that they felt held power. They were created for protection of the building and the people who came there. To protect the tribes from outside attack. To bring good luck and ward off evil energies and attacks. All the ancient cultures have embraced the dragon of some kind. The original meaning of the word means large worm and was actually called a Worm. For the ancients that included snakes and lizards. There are the Garuda of India and Asian cultures. A mythical flying part human, part bird creature that was the mount of Lord Krishna. There is also the Manaia of the Maori which is part bird, part human, part fish. Also the rainbow serpent of not only Australia but the Americas as well. All over the ruined Temples of South America and Mexico you have the Puma and the Jaguar. Symbols of strength and stealth. Again you have the combination of part human part Puma. These are the shapeshifters. Are we shifting to the animal or is the animal shifting to us. We know the rainbow serpent is real, we have seen it with our own eyes. There is the Centaur of Greek origin, part horse part human, the Minotaur, part human part bull. And therein lies a tale or a tail. Were they really mythical? What these cross species beings mean to us is that we are not separated we are all connected, especially in the realm of spirit. Our journeys with the ancient wisdom keepers of this planet have shown us that within the stories lies a greater truth. So we never dismiss a myth as a myth. So much of this knowledge has been disparaged by the over importance of the logical modern mind placed on us by science, churches and the establishment in general. It has been relegated to the realm of myth and imagination and downplayed as not being real.

So how do you find your power animals and what would you use them for? To find them you would go into meditation or an altered state of being. In that state you can literally fly with your eagle by merging with them and seeing through their eyes and their thought processes. You would call on them for wisdom or protection, to be able to tap into their particular strengths. It is best to be out in a forest or in nature to begin with so that you are not distracted and can perceive them more clearly.

In the medicine wheel of many cultures each direction has an animal associated with it that has a special meaning, even in Australia. In NZ the Tuatara is the gate keeper of knowledge and wisdom and so was the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Why was eating from the tree of knowledge such a crime when it was offered to us by the keeper of that knowing? Just a question to ponder on.

Animal guides like all other guides be they angels, ET’s, fairies or elementals are all here to help us they just come from their own frequency and other parts of being. We deal with the elementals all the time when we are singing up our land and what we want. During ceremony we call in all our guides from all levels to be with us as we set our intent for the year to come or whatever we are doing ceremony for.

The more you welcome and work with these realms by suspending your logical mind, the more they will come and be accessible. Trust what comes and don’t try and change it just because it is not what you think it will be. Remember an ant size for size, has more strength than a lion. So see what comes to you and see what it has to teach you. Begin to dialogue with it and trust the answers that you get. The first ones that come to you as the second ones are your conscious mind trying to change what is.

Get excited about stepping out into the world of animal spirits and allow them to walk beside you as a friend and guide.

Phoebe and Paul Hoogendyk.