“Butterfly Spirit Animal & Totem”

 

“The butterfly is one of the most emblematic totem animals symbolizing personal transformation. If you see the butterfly as your totem or spirit animal, pay attention to the areas in your life or personality that are in need of profound change or transformation. Perhaps, this animal totem guides you to be sensitive to your personal cycles of expansion and growth, as well as the beauty of life’s continuous unfolding. An important message carried by the spirit of the butterfly is about the ability to go through important changes with grace and lightness.

 

Butterfly Symbolism

What is the meaning of the butterfly? This animal totem is primarily associated with symbolism of change and transformation.

• Powerful transformation, metamorphosis in your life, personality
• Moving through different life cycles
• Renewal, rebirth
• Lightness of being, playfulness
• Elevation from earthly matters, tuning into emotional or spiritual
• The world of the soul, the psyche

A secondary meaning of the butterfly is about finding joy in life and lightness of being.

 

Butterfly totem and transformation

The butterfly is a symbol of powerful transformations. By analogy to the development of this animal, the meaning associated with the butterfly emphasizes the ability to move from one state, perspective, lifestyle to another.

When the butterfly comes into your life as spirit guide, you may be going through or expect important changes in your life. More than changes in your environment, the transformation the butterfly totem points to are more internal: They could be related to your own perspective on a subject, aspects of your personality, or personal habits. Personal transformation is emblematic of the butterfly symbolism.

Butterfly totem symbol of joy and lightness of being

When the butterfly shows up in your life as a spirit animal or totem, it might indicate the need to look at a conflicting situation with more lightness and different perspective. This totem animal is symbolic of lightness of being and elevation from the heaviness of tensions.

This power animal invites those who have a connection with it to bring joy and bliss into their lives. Butterflies often have bright colors. By extension, they are associated with aliveness and brightness. The message of this totem animal is to lighten up and add more color to your life. Perhaps it’s time to express yourself more fully and show your colorful personality.

The Butterfly and the world of the Soul

In many traditions around the world, the butterfly is a symbol of the soul or soul world. For example, in Chinese symbology, it can represent immortality. For the Japanese, a white butterfly symbolizes the soul the departed ones.

In Ancient Greece, butterflies represent the psyche or soul, and its attribute of immortality.

Calling the butterfly totem for support

The butterfly is a powerful animal to call when you need support in times of transition, whether it’s at work, in a relationship, or when you’re doing inner work. Great ally during intense periods of personal transformation, it will add ease and lightness to the process.

This power animal is a good inspiration for adding more color into your life and self-expression. Those who have the butterfly as a totem animal may be naturally inclined to express themselves openly, to reflect their colors into their environment.”

 

By Elena Harris, SpiritAnimal.com Editor

 

Look for more articles here on the same subjects. I hope to gather as many articles on various and same subjects from amazing websites and blogs as I can find in time. If there is nothing else at the moment, check back later. It just means I hadn’t gotten to it yet.  😀 

 

Check out the website where this comes from and take the quiz… find out your spirit guide. :3

Original source: http://www.spiritanimal.info/butterfly-spirit-animal/

 

Moro

 

Stock Photo title: “Butterfly‘ by artist: shahar12 @ http://shahar12.deviantart.com/art/Butterfly-255298739

 

 

“Bear Spirit Animal”

 

“In the kingdom of  the bear is emblematic of grounding forces and strength. This animal has been worshiped throughout time as a powerful totem, inspiring those who need it the courage to stand up against adversity. As a spirit animal in touch with the earth and the cycles of nature, it is a powerful guide to support physical and emotional healing.

Bear Meaning

The bear has several meanings that will inspire those who have this animal as totem:

• The primary meaning of the bear spirit animalis strength and confidence
• Standing against adversity; taking action and leadership
• The spirit of the the bear indicates it’s time for healing or using healing abilities to help self or others
• The bear medicine emphasizes the importance of solitude, quiet time, rest
• The spirit of the bear provides strong grounding forces

The bear, an ancient spirit animal worshiped in many traditions

The bear as a spirit animal or totem is one of the most ancient worshiped animals. Remains of bears have been found in many archeological sites in Europe especially, where bear bones and skulls were found together with human bones dating back to the Neanderthals.

It is said that the Vikings would wear bear skins in times of war to scare off their enemies. They would appear as powerful as these wild animals. Bears symbolize warrior spirit and courage to fight. The bear’s spirit would be invoked to help the warriors in the battle.

In ancient Greece and Rom, the bear was a totem animal associated with the Goddess Artemis and Diana, goddesses of fertility. In contrast, for the Celts, the bear would represent the sun.

The spirit of the bear as healer and teacher

Interestingly, in Siberia, the name used to designate women shaman is the same as the word “bear”. In Northern America, in the Inuit tradition, the bear spirit animal is also connected to the shamanic tradition and women.

For the Inuit people, the bear is a strong power or totem animal. In some beliefs, it is said that if an Inuit hunter accepts to be eaten by a bear, he may reincarnate as a shaman and carry the spirit of this animal. The polar bear is considered as the “Wise Teacher” as it shows how to survive in harsh conditions.

The bear, a spirit animal symbolic of strength and courage

The spirit of the bear is a strong source of support in times of difficulty. It provides courage and a stable foundation to face challenges. When the bear shows up as a spirit guide in your life, it’s perhaps time to stand for your beliefs or your truth. This power animal will provide for support and strength.

The bear is also a guide to take leadership in your life or in other people’s lives. This animal is feared and admired for its strength. Its presence inspires respect. Its strength and powerful stature will inspire you to step into a leadership role in your life and take action without fear.

When you invoke the power of the bear totem, reflect on the qualities of inner strength, fearlessness, and confidence in yourself and how you can project them in your world.

The spirit of the bear and healing

Since the bear is often associated with shamans in many traditions, this spirit animal can symbolize healing abilities and stepping into the role of the healer. If the bear shows up in your life, it may also be time to take care of your own needs for healing, whether it’s at the physical, emotional or spiritual level.

Be sensitive to where you are at and reflect on where you would most need healing. You can call on the bear spirit guidance to direct your energy in a more conservative or focused way.

Bear spirit animal and grounding forces

The bear is an animal that lives a solitary life. Having a bear as a spirit animal can mean that you find balance and comfort in solitude. The presence of this power animal could point to the need to “regroup” and set up boundaries, so you feel comfortable in your own space. It may be a call to find time away from the crowd or busyness and favor quiet time and rest.

The bear spirit can also be a great helper to dedicate time and energy to more introspective practices, such as self-inquiry or meditation. Call on the spirit of the bear to help you find your center and ground yourself in a strong foundation that will support you in more busy and noisy times.”

 

Author of this article is unlisted at this time, that I can see but others of the same content type are by By Elena Harris, SpiritAnimal.com Editor

 

Look for more articles here on the same subjects. I hope to gather as many articles on various and same subjects from amazing websites and blogs as I can find in time. If there is nothing else at the moment, check back later. It just means I hadn’t gotten to it yet.  😀 

 

Check out the website where this comes from and take the quiz… find out your spirit guide. :3

Original source: http://www.spiritanimal.info/bear-spirit-animal/

 

Moro

 

 

Though I can not find the original source for the pic, it is also an amazing and popular wallpaper now. It can be found here: http://animalspirits.wikia.com/wiki/File:Free_Grizzly_Bear_Pictures.jpg

 

 

 

Spirit/power animal: The Owl…

 

Spirit/power animal:  The Owl…

The most striking animal meaning for the owl is its deep connection with wisdom and intuitive knowledge. If you have the owl as a totem or spirit animal, you’re likely to have the ability to see what’s usually hidden to most. When the owl guides you, you can count on the power of this spirit animal to see beyond illusion and deceit to access the true reality. Owl spirit animals also offer wisdom about the unknown and life’s magic.

What is the owl spirit animal meaning?

Common meanings for the owl are:

Intuition, ability to see what other do not see

The presence of the owl announces change

Capacity to see beyond deceit and masks

Wisdom

Owl spirit animals are associated with curiosity for the unknown, life mysteries

The traditional meaning of the owl spirit animal is the announcer of death, most likely symbolic like a life transition, change

The owl spirit animal and the power to see in the dark

The owl sees in the dark: As a spirit animal, the owl guides you to see beyond the veil of deception and illusion; it helps see what’s kept hidden. It also symbolizes the ability to cut through illusions and see the real meaning of someone’s action or state of mind.

When the owl is one of your power animals, you have a strong intuition and can access information and wisdom that’s usually hidden to most. The spirit of this animal encourages you to look beyond deceiving appearances into the true reality of a situation or a person’s motives.

The owl is a strong spirit guide for discernment and making decision based solid foundations. Call on the owl totem when you have to assess a situation or are going through confusing times.

The unknown and the owl power animal

If you have an owl as a totem or spirit animal, you probably like to explore the unknown. The mysteries of life are a fascinating field of interest. As the owl guides your steps, you are likely to develop an appreciation for life’s magic.

When the owl shows up in your life, listen and look out for the subtle signs that are around you. Your animal spirit guide is a great helper to be attentive to what usually goes below your radar, but is now of particular importance.

The owl is also a guide to uncover your hidden potential and abilities. Check whether you need to reveal more of your intuitive nature.

Night time is particularly auspicious for your creativity, so take the time to focus your creative energy then.

Owl spirit animals as messengers of change

Owl spirit animals are symbolic of death in many traditions. In most cases however, it should not be taken literally: If the owl is associated with death, it can be viewed a symbolic death, meaning a transition in life, important changes that are taking place or about to happen.

When the owl shows up in your life, pay attention to the winds of change. Perhaps you are about to leave some old habits, a situation that no longer serve you or bring something new in your life.

Dream interpretation of the owl

When you dream about an owl, your spirit animal may be contacting you to warn you about a danger or threat hat you need to pay attention to. It can bring a wise insight about important matters that you should not ignore.

When an owl appears in a dream, it could also mean that the intuitive part of you is calling for attention: Pay attention and listen to the subtle signs in your life, to what is important, but not necessarily obviously so.

The owl could also be a animal spirit guide offering you insight about a moment of transition. Since this totem animal is often associated with death, when an owl shows up in a dream, it could mean that you are receiving guidance regarding personal transformation, change.

In many dream interpretations, the owl can represent a deceased friend or family member who comes back in the dream in the shape of a spirit animal.

The owl spirit animal & superstition

Birds, especially birds of the night, are often associated with departed souls. The owl is no exception. In some popular believes, they are considered as bad omen signifying the imminent death of a close relative or someone important. Romans even believed that an owl hooting from the top of a public building announces the death of an important public figure. It could also represent the spirit of a deceased family of close friend.

The night owl was the animal associated with the Lord of Death in the Aztec tradition. There’s a similar meaning for the Celts who associated the owl’s spirit with an animal announcing death, especially if it flies into someone’s window while a sick person is inside the house. It was viewed as the spirit animal that would carry the souls of the departed to the underworld.

Other traditional meanings for the owl spirit animal

In some Native American traditions, the owl is called the Night Eagle. The owl totem has a special connection with the night and the moon, while the eagle is connected to the sun.

The owl is associated with witchcraft in a number of European and some American Indian traditions. Witches would often take the owl as an animal spirit guide.

In Greek mythology, the Goddess Athena, goddess of the wisdom and war, was represented as an owl. It is said that the Romans believed that someone would reveal all their secrets during their sleep if an owl feather was placed near their pillow. What is the owl spirit animal revealing about your secrets?

Moro
I think this page was my original source for the post, if memory serves me correct: http://www.spiritanimal.info/owl-spirit-animal/

The picture I chose for the post back then was from an animal conservation page but I am unable to track it down now. Instead, it seams it has become a very popular wallpaper many many sites.

“What is the difference between a Spirit Animal, a Totem Animal and an animal ‘Familiar’?” ” What is a Totem Pole?”

“What is the difference between a Spirit Animal, a Totem Animal and an animal ‘Familiar’?

” What is a Totem Pole?”

A “Spirit Animal” is the one who will present life’s lessons. The Spirit Animal is the one who comes to you in order to show you, through its own unique nature and skills, how to deal with the manifestations of your Spiritual Journey. Spirit Animals do not necessarily guide you, but they come to teach you that which you need to learn, in order to know how meet the challenges of your Spirit Walk.

Each Spirit Animal has certain powers and skills to teach and certain knowledge to share, for each Spirit Animal has its own methods of overcoming the many challenges it must meet in order to survive.

The Spirit Animal’s appearance signals a time to connect with your true Self and your life’s purpose. Pay attention to the repeated appearance of this animal and of repeated patterns or themes. Awakening to the recognition of these seemingly synchronistic occurrences teaches you to be aware of the hidden messages in everyday experiences.

There are many ways by which your Spirit Animal may make itself known to you and many ways by which by which it may pass on its message. Do not let your perceived image of the animal prejudice you as to the significance of its message. You will meet with the Spirit Animal whose lesson you need to learn.

You do not choose your Spirit Animal, it chooses you. Do not try to “compel” your Spirit Animal to manifest itself just because you want it to. True Spirit Animals will appear only at the time and place in your life when you are ready to accept them and the wisdom the come to offer.

And … they always turn up at exactly the right moment.

A “Totem Animal” is an animal spirit that you call upon or invoke, as an individual or a tribe, for its special powers and survival skills, to serve as a guardian or protector when facing adversity.

It is customary for many Native American tribes (as well as others) to be made up of smaller groups or “Clans” united by actual or perceived kinship and descent and formed around a founding member or “ancestor”. Often this ancestor is an animal spirit which becomes the Clan Totem. The clan totems are often the animals that inhabit the local area, (The wolf, bear, turtle, and deer are common clans of the Great Lakes area.), and which have a unique relationship to the tribe and its heritage.

Some of the clans of the Six Nations are the turtle, bear, wolf and the heron and often within these clans there are different “sub-clans” represented by such animals as the Snapping Turtle and the Painted Turtle in the example of the Turtle Clan.

The “spiritual powers” of the various totems help each clan to carry out its own special duties and responsibilities within the tribe in accordance with the attributes of that totem. (The Turtle Clan usually being the tribes “Keepers of Wisdom”, the guardians of the legends and mysteries mysteries within the tribes ceremonies and practices.)

Again, never let your perceived image of an animal effect how you see its ability to serve as a “Totem”. Though it may seem incongruous to invoke a rabbit as a totem for battle, remember the wisdom shown by “Bre’r Rabbit” in defeating an enemy.

Totem Poles

The Totem Pole is an arrangement of symbols representing animal totems from the tribe’s ancestral past. Totems were a form of communication for the Pacific Northwest Coast Native Americans as they had no written language and thus the Story Poles were used to convey their legends, stories and events. Totem poles may also be messages passed on by those that carve them. The pole’s symbols may often tell a very personal story of the carver himself, as well as that of his own family, clan or tribe.

Totem Poles

The Totem Pole is an arrangement of symbols representing animal totems from the tribe’s ancestral past. Totems were a form of communication for the Pacific Northwest Coast Native Americans as they had no written language and thus the Story Poles were used to convey their legends, stories and events. Totem poles may also be messages passed on by those that carve them. The pole’s symbols may often tell a very personal story of the carver himself, as well as that of his own family, clan or tribe.

“The Familiar”

A third type of Animal Spirit, little heard of outside of Shamanism and Witchcraft is called a “familiar”. The familiar is a spiritual entity that will appear as a facilitator in the communion of the human, animal and spirit realms.

The true shaman or witch does not just decide to walk the “Path”. They must first be chosen by and then accept a spirit being or deity as their mentor. Usually, this mentor will send forth an animal spirit to guide the initiate to them, or in many cases, they themselves may take the form of an animal spirit, only later revealing their true nature.

One example, in the case of shamans and witches who come from the background of the European Celtic traditions, the Goddess Morrigan will often appear to the initiate in the form of a raven or crow as their familiar and she will reveal her true self only after the initiate has actualized as an “enlightened being”.”

http://www.spiritwalkministry.com/spirit_guides

Moro

Photo/art from: http://www.crystalinks.com/totemanimals.html