Animals as Spiritual Teachers and Guides – The Wisdom Animals Offer and How they can Help Regenerate our Societies
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Animals have a lot to teach humans. Most of this has to do with animals being in much greater balance and harmony with the planet and that us humans have forgotten that we too are animals. As our societies and global world confront greater chaos, heightened levels of complexity and more adversity – we will look to guides living in amplified harmony with the earth and physical and spiritual animals represent one of these such chaperones for us humans in regenerating the world.
There’s varied ways animals show up for people in the spiritual realm that I’d like to differentiate as well as share an animal folklore story to give you greater context around why seeking the support of animals at this time has so much to offer and is becoming more crucial.
First off, some definitions:
Animal Spirit – spirit beings that surface to teach (but not direct or lead). These beings bring important lessons at certain times with their unique skills and talents. It’s never a forced process, but rather an invitation for a person to learn from these animal spirits.
Animal Dodem – a “clan,” usually represented by an animal.
Animal Totem - spirit being, sacred object, or symbol of a tribe, clan, family or individual. Animal totems come to teach us life lessons in a way of being guided or directed. They can be called upon or invoked by an individual or group to support from an energetic plane to guide, protect and utilize their skills and talents to support and serve on a deeper level than animal spirits.
Animal Spirits
It’s common for us to have many animal spirits in our lives (if these animals choose to play with us) or we may have a limited number. Much like the diversity of plants and environments on earth, we humans also exemplify a resonance with certain kinds of teachers and guides and it may not be your cup of tea to work with animals in a spiritual way; which is totally valued and supported and/or our connection with certain guides can change over the course of our lives. Other types of spirit guides include: plants, ancestors, god’s, angels, ascended masters, etc… and I’d encourage you all to give this some deep thought and make a concerted effort to connect with that certain spirit guide that keeps knocking on your door (and don’t be surprised if it’s a different kind than you had anticipated!).
Animal spirits may show up to you in dreams, meditations, daydreams or you may even see, smell or simply feel their presence around you. These spirits come to you in order to support or teach you something, which may be as simple as lighten up, explore your creativity, or have fun. I remember an experience swimming with dolphins where I simply received the message to play more in life, which was exactly the teaching I needed to digest at the time. Depending on what’s happening in your life, different animals will appear to show or teach you a lesson.
Animal Dodems
The notion of dodem or animal clan signifies an entirely different concept from the more common term animal totem and should be revered as so. I recently learned the root of the word dodem that originates from the Ojibway or Ojibwe tribe who lived mainly in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Ontario from the more standard term totem that people use more often. According to this tribe: “dodem or dodaim was adopted from the Anishinabe Ojibwa language. It originally meant a “clan,” usually represented by an animal. The word was eventually Anglicized into the English “totem,” referring to an animal carrying a symbolic, spiritual, or religious meaning.” This speaks to the fact that many North American Native cultures hold the belief that certain animal clans (typically native to the region) are associated with family units that are passed along through ancestral lines and inform the social, political and economic order within a tribe. These family clans share characteristics with a certain animal and therefore form a spiritual kinship, which protects, guides and leads the clan.
I believe that as Modern American society moves away from an extremist position on individualism and exemplifies a greater balance with socialistic practices – as well as a deepened connection with our animalistic nature – that the notion of animal clans will again be woven into our society and that we will understand and appreciate our bonds with others based off animal clans. Albeit to say, we must consider and explore these practices and belief systems in a careful and respectful manner.
Animal Totems
Some Native American tribes believe nine different animal spirits influence us throughout our life at different stages (this reminds me of the Vedic astrological wisdom that explains we have 9 planets that influence us at different points in our life). Animal totems more specifically, appear as principle guides or teachers in one’s life and in general we have just one per lifetime. It’s also important to note that the concept of animal spiritual guides in varied forms comes from many different cultures in addition to Native American including Greek, Pagan, Chinese, Aboriginal, Shamanic, etc…
You do not pick an animal totem yourself, but rather the animal chooses you and can show up to you either physically that you begin seeing everywhere, in dreams, as objects or even that you just get a sense of it’s presence with you. I’ve experienced many wonderful insights and understandings from paying a lot closer attention to birds of prey, which I consider my animal totem (specifically eagles and hawks). I’d very much recommend that you study any animal that invites you to learn from it and read up on or study it’s diet, activities, how it sleeps, it’s primary senses, how it’s behaviors change with age and season, the types of vegetation it is attracted to when healthy or sick, etc… Metaphorically, we stand to gain much wisdom from an animal’s way of being in its varied forms. It can be a powerful experience to mirror an animals behavior in a way that feels comfortable or that you feel called to in order to resonate at their frequency so that they can more fully channel their wisdom and lessons to you (and not to say that this learning does not come through from merely paying greater attention to them). I’ve learned from birds of prey for example the potency of being completely still in understanding a new environment and the benefit of augmented tracking abilities in assessing what's happening and how I can hold and carry myself through different scenarios. I've also come to appreciate their ability to hold a big picture perspective as well as hone in from far distances to minute details, which has proven an invaluable lesson for me in the work I’m doing in the world. I honestly say that harmonizing myself with birds of prey in a greater way has helped me become an even clearer channel and expand upon a heightened intelligence in augmenting my instinctual intuition that I've found allows me to both listen and hear more deeply what's happening within energetic fields wherever I go and I believe this capability is available to everyone! There’s more intelligence I’ve experienced from paying greater attention to these amazing creatures, but this gives you a bit of the taste for what kind of learning is available from these animals that serve as teachers to us if we are willing to show up as students.
Animals as Guides to Regenerate our World
To provide further ground for why developing a connection to an animal proves to be powerful beyond one’s own individual learning can be unearthed from Ojibway or Ojibwe tribe folklore. This is especially apt in considering the societal challenges we currently face and how learning from animals is helpful not only for individuals, but for communities and societies.
It seems quite remarkable and noteworthy that according to Ojibway or Ojibwe tribe folklore, the animal clan system originated after a time of social chaos and cultural deterioration. It was said that things had gotten so out of balance that the creator himself began questioning whether to continue to allow human existence. He called a council of seven animals to solicit their thoughts on the matter. The seven animals: Crane, Loon, Fish, Martin, Bear, Deer, and Bird all testified that humans enabled their own natures to be further felt and expressed out in the world beyond their own ability. Such instances as: humans enjoying the song of the birds and making flutes and other musical instruments to augment and expand their voice in ways that the birds themselves could not orchestrate. Or deers expressing that their hides are used to produce drums, which allows for beautiful music and dancing. After hearing from all the animals the creator agreed that humans make the world more beautiful and exciting and decided that for humans to continue to exist, each animal would need to select human beings that were similar in nature to adopt into their families. These animals would teach humans in dreams about ways to live in harmony with the earth and teach them survival skills to navigate through the world in greater harmony. All of these skills and knowledge would be passed along through families and would inform and guide tribes socially, economically and politically. It is believed that the Clan System was one of the Great Laws of Creation.
There’s many resources, information and beautiful stories out there from different cultures and cosmologies as well as lessons pertaining to specific animals. I cannot urge you all enough that animals teach individuals and groups differently, depending on what’s playing out and the context for each situation - this is to say that the lessons are not always archetypical according to the animal or lessons prescribed from a certain cosmology. Therefore, I’d suggest that you listen and pay attention very carefully and draw your own conclusions about what the animals are teaching you or groups of people, as you will respond to the messages much more powerfully if you intuit these lessons for yourselves.
Tying it Altogether
We humans have a lot to gain in tuning into the frequency that animals offer us as teachers and guides in restoring and rejuvenating our lives and the earth in a myriad of ways. We have been shown that we have been living out of balance with ourselves and the land for a long time, and that the creator, in whatever form or fashion speaks to you, I believe is instructing us that we must shift our behaviors and learn from our actions to come back into right relationship with living on this planet again. Although we have our minds and intellect, we do not have the same instinctual, sensory or type of intelligence that many wild animals demonstrate. We stand to benefit greatly learning from the intelligence of other animals in order to re-regulate our existence on this earth plane and we must heed to the teachings of these amazing guides to pull us through and catapult us to an expanded level of being through these crazy times.
Reference: Ojibway or Ojibwe tribe dodem definition & folklore comes from Anishinabe Dodems Article by Herbalist, Matthew Wood.