Most people when they think of animals and magic, they jump strait to things like farmiliars or mystical properties. What i find personally is better for me, and usually better for other people, is to start out with mental dicipline such as meditation, reading up on books about magick, etc. So while thinking on animals, i thought i might make a small posting on how animals can teach us many things mentally, and physically instead of just in magick. These are simple examples below, i have found numerous other lessons from other animals, but as you can imagine, i cant write a billion of examples on one page of course. So without further adu, legs start.
The crocodile - Sometimes the most vicious animals can give us more suble lessons. The crocodile can hold its breath for about an hour or more, it uses this as well as tiny receptors in its snout to hunt. The crocodile submerges itself and lowers its heart rate down to just 4-2 beats per minute, making the most of its oxygen, it then waits till its snouts receptors to detect disturbances in the water, it then whips its tail with blinding speed and can leap out of the water as far as the length of its body. ( which can be up to 16+ ft. ) So what lesson can we take from this? Patience, and knowing the oppertune moment when it comes around. This is, as any business man will tell you im sure, is a wise strategy, but it is not the only one we can take from this amazing animal. When the crocodile slows its heart rate and waits, it always reminds me of meditation. With training and patience, a human can lower their heart rate as low as 25bpm.
The Big Cat family - Big cats are famous for many many things, speed, power, climbing, all admirable traits and can certainly be applied to humans, but one often overlooked is their focus. When you watch any type of cat hunt, weather it be common bobcats, or mighty tigers, their eyes are completely and utterly focused on their target. All motor functions, accuracy, and everything else seems to come in a strait second. Focus being a honed skill by both martial artists, experienced shooters, magick practicioners, and most other techniques. When used properly, it becomes second nature, and all other thigns fall in line behind it. This skill i will admit, eludes me even after i have tried to hone it, Out of all things i could reccomend practicing, such as meditation, flexability, memory, strength, it all pales in comparison to focus. Basic exercises include selecting an object in the room and simply watching it, not thinking about anything other than that object, this can be especially difficult if you get bored easily (trust me on that) but eventually it will get a little easier.
Finally, The Spider - Now i know your thinking "really? his big closer is a spider?" but it has one of the most valuable lessons an animal can give. Spiders as we all know, arent inherrently considered pretty, in fact most are called disgusting or creepy. Spiders however are extremely adept at both killing, and creating webs. The web on its own is impressive, as many can be quite beautiful. Their venom is also a feat, capable of killing and eating snakes, spiders are not something to be reaconed with. So whats the lesson here? you dont have to be pretty or amazing to have amazing abilities, which roughly translates to, humility. Typically most fluff people you come across cant wait to announce any feats they have accomplished, if any. Even people who have endless accomplishments and are brilliant could take the lesson of humility. With humility comes a strange form of wisdom which is rather hard to put into words. I suppose if i were to put it into a few words. "Forget about everyone, and just work on weaving your web."
I hope you found this interesting, or at least not boring. If anybody would like to read any more animal lessons ive observed or thought of, post in the comments below, if you have some constructive critisism then id love to hear that as well. Thanks for reading you guys. (and Gals.)
The wolf - The wolves complex social structure operates not unlike that of a pride of lions. Moving, thinking, without a single sound spoken. Movements learned, watched. No need to give a signal, no need for noise, they simply are aware of eachother, and they use that amazing ability to achieve their own ends. this is but one of many traits of the wolf. From that we should learn to work with our fellow man, without having a single word spoken, to strive to achieve that perfect unity, a bond which needs no words.
Re: wisdom of animals By: Brysing Moderator / Adept
Post # 4 Jan 09, 2015
Your post is interesting, up to a point. First of all, not all spiders spin webs. Secondly, of course we have an affinity with other animals! We ARE animals!
that is a good point, i should point out that this post uses animals in a generalized form. For example, when i say crocodiles, i use it as a generalization of the species, a saltwater crocodile does behave differently than a freshwater one, and the size does vary. as with the point about spiders. There are of course thousands of species, varieties of animals, and exceptions to any behavior.
