i believe i may have a lot of invisible friends, and it might be a bit of an oversimplification to limit them to life forms that have shown themselves to me under unintentional spirit quest conditions, or otherwise special circumstances as a child. though this also did happen.
The Great Blue Heron is the first totem I recognized as such. I'll always think of him as my primary totem. But I also have a kinship with crow/raven, chickadee and trout. I hope, and more or less expect, more to come.
I think certain Mayan astrology points me to cosmic eagle (blue i think =/) On DMT I had ears with tufts like a lynx.. in short i don't know
amazing stuff!! some cool animals here, you guys. mine is a brown bear. did any of you guys do a vision quest to find your guide animal? that is what my buddy Danny and i did. pretty nuts! we went for 4 days, such a experience!
I believe mine to be a Raven or Crow. I didnt realize this until recently. I dreamed one night...of a Raven...a large beautiful Raven. Then, that morning, I was awoken by a Common Raven outside my window, on a tree "caw....cawing." Needless to say I as kind of annoyed, but then when I woke up and realized what was happening..I just thought it was SO weird. Now, I live in Tennessee, and while we do have Ravens, we dont have many. We do have tons of large Crows, though. It is sometimes easy to tell between the two, and I see both Raven and Crow. Later on that day...as I was driving home on the interstate..I happened to look up..and sitting atop an interstate sign was a HUGE Raven. This is when I began to take complete notice of the presence of Ravens and Crows in my life. They seem to be all around me now...and I draw a lot of comfort from them. I believe they are my "spirit animal." Or totem, or medicine..as some others would say
The Black Bear. Strong, resourceful and usually solitary, The Black Bear guides with wisdom, careful consideration and love. Strong yet gentle he provides with great compassion and understanding.
Otter~I decided it must be my spirit animal because I often dream that I am an Otter swimming and an Otter medicine pipe appeared in one of my homes mysteriously. I have 3 native american tribes in my blood line but I am also a mutt with blood lines of many cultures in my family tree. One Blackfoot ancestor on my Grandma's side was a medicine woman.
in many traditions its not something people talk openly about, who has come to be their spirit guide, what species they are. because its kind of an intimate thing and i mean here is something very powerful, offering to help us, who have done so little to deserve that help. it seems kind of an irreverence to go around talking about who they are. i've always felt it might not be entirely considerate to them to do so. i will just say there were two who chose me, to reveal themselves, to say hi, on the same day, in almost the same place at almost the same time, and they were species humans don't often see, each for different reasons, possibly of their own.
I find the elephants to be like that too, though I'd also add they have a very "airy" essence (yeah I know, it sounds odd at first). I once watched a National Geographic report showing elephants in the wild and I was surprised to see how they moved around. They were so fast when running all over the place, they looked like they were light as feathers or something! Plus their big ears caress the wind, making them litterally in touch with the Air element. Thinking of that I'm not surprised anymore by stories such as Disney's Dumbo, it must be the echo of an old myth, the flying elephant, the all powerful and gracious Ganesh. I tend to believe we have 4 animal guides, one for each element. Mine go as such: my Fire guide is the Panther, my Water guide the Alligator, my Earth guide the Bear and my Air guide is the Elephant.