Spirit Animals, are said to be animals with very similar characteristics as you.
Meditation is one of the best techniques for finding your spirit animal and building a relationship with the animal.
Think about an animal you believe in your spirit animal or an animal that you always seem to see and it does not act the same way to you as it does to another human. And see what happens.
There are many misconceptions as to the Native American beliefs on spirit animals.
Many believe spirit animals, power animals or animal medicine, and totem animals to be the same thing.
Not exactly.
A spirit animal is a spirit passenger that comes along one's path often by way of dream or in waking life, meditation.
These are spirit messengers and we each can have many of these throughout our lives. Animals are our teachers.
Power animals or medicine is much more personal than this. The way to find these is usually by vision questing.
Totems are tribal animals or group animals. Animals which represent a family or tribe.
It is difficult to explain my feelings on these issues.
That's at least what I've come to learn regarding these things.
Try meditation. Are there animals in your life which show up for you time and time again? Perhaps you come across elephants a lot at the shops? Or often dream of frogs. Pay attention to these things.
The concept of Spirit Animals is widely debated among the pagan/occult community, as well as cultural groups like Native Americans/First Nation Peoples. Regardless, it is important to note that there not all Native tribes used Spirit Animals as part of their spirituality. Some tribes, such as the Ojibwe (Chippewa) , used animals as a way to organize tribal members into clans which had different roles in the tribe. For example, the Bear clan consisted of warriors and the Eagle clan consisted of medicine men and scholars. This is what we could call Totem animals.
It's also important to note that your Spirit Animal is subject to change. Just as you grow and change over time, so too will your Spirit Animal. Your Spirit Animal serves to teach you life lessons and provide wisdom when called upon or may represent where you are at a certain point in time. For instance, I remember two summers ago when I was going through a lot of changes and life was very difficult for me then. The Snake made his appearance several times to reassure me that change and transformation is necessary for growth.
You may find your lifelong Spirit Animal, or Power Animal, through deep meditation or self hypnosis, however, this animal is mostly used for self reflection and in some cases can become a companion in the astral realm. Not to say it's like a pet, more like a parental figure to guide you through your experience. It should be mentioned that if you are going to call upon and communicate with your Power Animal, that you better have a good reason. They won't appear just because , they'll have or need a reason.
