Animal Totems by Bonnie McMillan

ANIMAL TOTEMS - PART 1
By Bonnie McMillan, owner of New Age Concepts
in Yucca Valley, CA.
New Age Concepts offers Gifts for your Body, Mind and Spirit.
For more information, click here.

We used to know and respect Nature, and killed only what we ate, and used only the skins of what we killed and ate. We did not waste life nor disrespect spirits but honored and thanked them for providing us with life, nourishment, and comfort. In earlier days we gave recognition to the power of the animal spirits by wearing skins, masks, mimicking, singing praise, and prayers to specific animals. We painted the animals on our homes, caves, death chambers, and asked the Spirit to guide us to the animal that we consumed and bless the spirit of the animal we kill for we are a predator in the part of Nature and we honored the spirit of our prey. These acts allowed us to remain linked to the animal guides and to accept the power they offer us in lessons, in life and in death. It reminded us that all animals, were our sisters, brothers and cousins and most importantly, our teachers and our friends. It reminded us that we too are animals with spirit.

The natural power of animal totems has not been lost. They still hold the power and the knowledge we can use. Only we must remember how to be One with Nature and all that is, has been, and will be. Cultures of the past understood the connections. There is a reason that Spirit has put all of us together, has given us so many healing stones, and has given us medicine, for the body and the spirit. We are all one. Using animal totems will allow you to see and love the earth better, to know life better, to know yourself better, and to commune better with Mother and Spirit. You can be healthier and happier physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in understanding and honoring your animal totems. Animals come to us because they have a lesson we need to learn a power they are willing to share with a friend. They seek to give us a gift of understanding, universal love, energy, and knowledge. In general, animals remind us that we are part of the earth; that each creature has a place; that each creature has a skill of it's own; that we have instincts given to us from Mother, wisdom born to us that we must awaken. The animal totem that comes to you offers you power and wisdom if you will learn to communicate with it, with respect, trust and understanding. Developing a relationship with a live animal totem takes time, practice, patience and could be very dangerous. Having an animal totem does not mean that you are to pet the animal or even be with it physically. Having an animal totem means that you have lessons to learn and a powerful spiritual friend.

Each animal has it's own special power and message, for each animal has a powerful spirit and an inherent skill. Animal spirits choose a person to be a companion to, a friend to, not the other way around. You can not think 'gee a bear is cute or powerful and I like what it represents so the bear will be my animal totem'. No, the animal will choose you and make itself known to you. You will only need to pay attention to discover what your totems are. Mistakenly, people often think of animals as non-spiritual, uncultured, and less intelligent than humans. Some people do not even think animals have Spirit, NOT SO - an animal is close to Spirit, is Spirit because they have never been taught differently. They know the truth of universal love, energy, and knowledge. Animals are wondrous happy creatures.

In the Part 2, I will tell you types of animal totems. I would like to thank 'Holding Rainbow Warrior Woman' for her information on Animal Totems.

New Age Concepts is located in Yucca Valley, located in California's Hi Desert region, adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park.
For more information about New Age Concepts, visit www.southwestblend.com/newage and for more about Yucca Valley, visit http://www.southwestblend.com/Yucca_Valley/index.htm