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I hope this doesn’t sound too snarky: There are several kinds of books out where you can look up your power animal. They tell you what they “mean” and what powers they have. This is useful, but I frequently caution my students to remember that spirit guides have their own life. They are Spirit dressed up as, say, a wolverine, in order to work with you. They might choose that form for their own reasons. But their powers are not limited to the material realm’s wolverine limits. The core of working with your guides is to build the relationship, which means be open, and not be biased. I frequently compare this to how we work in “real” world relationships. If there was a book on what powers a 39 year-old Hispanic woman brings to you in relationship, you’d likely say, yeah, but you can’t shrink a whole human down to a definition in a book. She has a whole life and her own personality. Exactly. So, please don’t misunderstand, I’m not all “against” these books, I just encourage you think of them as a very basic starting place for relationship building.
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Jaime, thank you for sharing. There seems to be a large community of people who are in search of spiritual practice that is unconventional and shamanism appears to be gaining popularity as a result. There are a lot of books and tarot cards coming out with spirit animals and guides as you have described. The best piece of advice I was given on my journey is to follow my own path and my guides will reveal their message and form to me if I ask. Sometimes I am compelled to look online for interpretation of dreams and messages before I journey or meditate for answers, which I have found is the wrong way to go approach this practice. One must learn patience and realize that things may not be revealed to you immediately. The newer generations (millennial, which I am) have a difficult time with this… of course that is one thing I am learning as well! When people ask me where I obtain my guidance, I always tell them to “look within”.
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Being and author of a couple of “those books,” as stated in them they are merely guidelines and suggestions and encourage whoever comes across them to go direct to the spirit animal that presents itself to receive guidance. For many these have opened the door and were never intended to be definitive re: any particular spirit animal. And those who stick around become active spiritual allies in the shamanic path, providing guidance that goes beyond any intellectualized interpretation.
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I am on board with those who point out correctly that the power animals will explain themselves; the answers aren’t in books.
THe emphasis is on healing power. In authentic shamanic work, the healing power is unmistakable and produces results. Only you can decide whether you have seen evidence of results. You’ll know it by a sense of wonder and awe and a kind of tingling: it is electrifying. It may manifest to you as synchronicity, as an out-and-out healing, as a seeming miracle (such as an accurate precognitive dream) or in some other way. Once you know the healing power is there with a particular guide, then you can and should trust the guide to provide all necessary information.
Books do not have power in themselves. They may be the conduit of power if you are guided to a particular book.
That sense of the presence of Spirit is the only reliable guide, and its reliability is absolute. This comes with experience, not books.
This is not to say that books can’t be helpful–go where you are drawn and where you find healing power. That is what matters.
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I smile and humble agree. Follow the treads which goes deep within you and let you be guided by what feels tingling and sparks true to you.
My journey has led me to find different kind of power animals for my clients or other people who ask. Q:What is my animal for today? A:Raven
Still remember with amusement when I saw a zebra and the person said: ‘Have I come to a crossroad?’
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