“In shamanism it is not the jaguar or the crow that has meaning, it is what follows from whatever you view as an energetic transfer.”
Lujan Matus, Shadows in the twilight: conversations with a shaman
Background
Consider: our hunter-gatherer ancestors - and we’re all descended from them – had to really understand nature intimately in order to successfully navigate the plant and animal kingdoms to collect and hunt. This included what to avoid, and how - in order to survive and thrive. Their detailed knowledge of their abundant natural surroundings has all but disappeared in our modern day living.
Power animals prehistory
We know our ancestors came to revere the animal kingdom through cave paintings that have been dated up to 40,000 years old. Along with hand paintings, the wide variety of animal paintings across the world include bison, horses, aurochs, deer, stags, buffalo, oxen, ibex, lions, argali sheep, antelopes, camels, elephants, ostriches, kangaroo, camels, mule and mountain goats. There are at least two theories about this cave art. At a practical level, the power of anticipation is expressed - the forward-looking imagination of the hunter. These paintings allowed the hunter to become familiar with dangers which he knew he had to face but to which he may not have yet come into contact. A second theory, which may be complementary, is that they were painted by palaeolithic shamans who would retreat into the darkness of the caves, enter into a trance state, then paint images of their visions and journeys to other realms, perhaps with some notion of drawing power from the cave walls and paintings themselves in future ceremonies.
It doesn’t need much imagination, given either theory, that hunters and tribes-people began to bestow meaning onto each animal, each of which had their own unique characteristics in the wild. As they became more spiritually sophisticated, shamans could also identify with particular animals who they saw as spirit guides to accompany and protect them on their journeying into other realms; during healing; while divining; and leading other tribal ceremonies.
Power animals today
“What we believe spirit visitors to be influences how they affect our lives. What we believe ourselves to be dictates how we react to them.”
S. Kelly Harrell, Life Betwixt: Essays on allies in the everyday.
Hence, power animals form an important part of the shamanic belief system: for shamans in the same way as traditionally; for shamanic healers, who work with power animals in various ways to assist in the healing process of others; and for individual practitioners, who work with their unique and personal power animals in self-healing, deeper understanding of nature and the universe, and clues and directions in their own development.
Personal experience
I was introduced to this concept through the first year of the programme I attended in 2013/14 when participants were invited to become aware of which animals we were drawn to or which made themselves known to us. Below are the four which, over time, have come to fulfill this role in my own practice, how they presented, some of their key characteristics and how I relate to them. I’m not a wildlife photographer! Each has relevant images that I have spontaneously taken over the years, conscious their quality is less than optimal, but knowing they have this deeper meaning...
Owl: Appeared a number of times in my dreams over 7-10 days. I’m not someone who has graphic or symbolic dreams. It was also unusual for me to consistently dream of something unrelated to day-to-day life, so a number of dreams of the same subject seemed significant. Spiritual qualities owl is known for include wisdom, being a guide, an independent seeker of truth, protection and intuition. Feedback from others over the years and my deepening self-knowledge tend to reflect these qualities, hence owl became my first power animal.
Snail: Snails appeared a number of times in a short period of time when in the garden or walking out and about. It might reasonably be argued that this was just coincidence and nothing out of the ordinary. However, the regularity within a single week of this happening, the unexpected places that they manifested, and their initial apparent lack of power - for other people often lions, bears, bison, wolves, eagles etc. are significant - caused me to think. After researching its spiritual symbolism, I realised it closely matched some of the recurring features of my personality and life history: slow but definite progress, an exploratory nature, loving a secure home-life, a spiral shell symbolising expanding consciousness, the value of leaving a trail, and patience.
Deer: Deer started intuitively to appear in my consciousness over time: no major or frequent experience, no dreams, no obvious prompt: just a subtle, gentle, but persistent awareness of itself sufficient for me to further explore its symbolism: creativity, peace, generosity, watchfulness, humility, re-growth, and intuition are among its valued qualities. Again, I could identify pretty closely with this different set of characteristics.
Dragonfly: A couple of years later during a long hot summer, and after the second years’ shamanic course, I was sitting in a local church yard in the shade of a yew tree reputed to be more than 1700 years old. I became aware of a swarm of dragonflies dancing in the sunlight over some nearby gravestones. I’d never seen so many together and they stayed for many minutes before disappearing as quickly as they’d arrived. Over the next few days, I was conscious of seeing more than usual in the garden and when out on walks. Its symbolism includes: transformation, rebirth, the realm of the emotions, authenticity, joy, living in the moment, seeing beyond human limitations, and understanding the deeper meaning of life. Again, I was able to identify with much of this meaning and sensed that this should be a fourth source of support and guidance.
Integration
“We are all but symbols of some greater thing – totems of ourselves – subject to change and growth. When we forget that metaphoric sense of ourselves, we lose sight of the overall path.”
S. Kelly Harrell, Engaging the Spirit World
After ten years’ pracatice, these four symbols of personal power have now become integrated into my regular meditations and other rituals and reflections. In the early days, I came across a stone-painting artist in Ikaria who had already painted an owl and deer. I commissioned the snail, and this collection has added to their deeper meaning, becoming a physical representation of each for various practices. I have known for a long time that dragonfly is missing from this set. The writing of this blog has prompted me (at last!) to find a stone painter in Lulworth Cove and commision the final piece.
More recently, I have also linked each one to the seasons in turn: Snail in Spring – it usually takes me time to become re-energised after the long dark nights of Winter; Dragonfly in Summer – the season I am most energised; Deer in the Autumn – reflecting on the years’ activities and reaping the benefits of work and development during the year; and Owl in Winter – representing the darkness of the short days and long nights, my hibernation period:
While this is yet another concept foreign to modern day thinking and experience, the more I have worked with each in turn, the more I appreciate the added perspective of their presence in my imagination. They have served me well during past years…
“The reality is, it takes daily cultivation of the spiritual path, preferably with spiritual kin in proximity, to sustain not the feeling of elation, but the focused mindful path of steady growth.”
S. Kelly Harrell, Engaging the Spirit World