About Animal Totems

About Animal Totems In earlier days we understood that we were simply a part of the earth. We knew we were only one small part. Now many think humans are the greatest and most important part. But still, we are only a part of the earth, only a part of nature, only a child of Mother, only a part of Spirit. We used to know respect of Nature and killed only what we ate and used only the skins of what we killed and ate. We did not waste life nor disrespect spirits but honored and thanked them for providing us with life, nourishment, and comfort. In earlier days we gave recognition to the power of the animal spirits by wearing skins, masks, mimicking, singing praise, and prayers to specific animals. We painted the animals on our homes, caves, death chambers, and asked the Spirit to guide us to the animal that we consumed and bless the spirit of the animal we kill for we are a predator in the part of Nature and we honored the spirit of our prey. These acts allowed us to remain linked to the animal guides and to accept the power they offer us in lessons, in life, and in death. It reminded us that all animals were our sisters, brothers, and cousins and most importantly our teachers and our friends. It reminded us that we too are animals with spirit. The Natural Power of animal totems has not been lost. They stillhold the power and the knowledge we can use. Only we must remember how to be One with Nature and all that is, has been, and will be. Cultures of the past understood the connections. We must not lose this connection now that we are ‘cultured’. For what was will always be and all those cultures could not have been wrong. There is a reason that Spirit has put all of us together, has given us so many healing stones, and has given us medicine, for the body and the spirit. We are all one. Using Animal Totems will allow you to see and love the earth better, to know life better, to know yourself better, and to commune better with Mother and Spirit. You can be healthier and happier physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in understanding and honoring your animal totems. Animals come to us because they have a lesson we need to learn a power they are willing to share with a friend. They seek to give us a gift of understanding, universal love, energy, and knowledge (ULEK). In general, animals remind us that we are part of the earth; that each creature has a place; that each creature has a skill of its own; that we have instincts given to us from Mother, wisdom born to us that we must awaken. The Animal Totem that comes to you offers you power and wisdom if you will learn to communicate with it, with respect, trust, and understanding. Developing a relationship with a live animal totem takes time, practice, patience and could be very dangerous. Having an animal totem does not mean that you are to pet the animal or even be with it physically. Having an animal totem means that you have lessons to learn and a powerful spiritual friend. Each animal has it’s own special power and message, for each animal has a powerful spirit and an inherent skill. Animal Spirits choose a person to be a companion to, a friend to, not the other way around. You can not think, ‘gee a bear is cute or powerful and I like what it represents so the Bear will be my Animal Totem’. No, the animal will choose you and make itself known to you. You will only need to pay attention to discover what your totems are. After you define the types of animal totems you can go to a questionnaire to learn what animals are your totems. Mistakenly people often think of animals as non-spiritual, uncultured, and less intelligent than humans. Some people do not even think animals have Spirit. Not so – an animal is close to Spirit, is Spirit because they have never been taught differently. They know the truth of ULEK for they are ULEK. Animals are wondrous happy creatures – think of these things to remind you. Could you, for your whole life without tools or weapons, even survive in the wild? Could you weave a bird’s nest or spider’s web? Could you catch a fish with your hands? Would you know how to migrate without a compass? Or even when it was time to migrate? Can you carry things ten times your own body weight? Do you know what you can and can’t eat in the wild? Can you go through life happy like animals do? Can you experience the moment like an animal does? Could you get along with five to twenty other beings for your entire life and remain in the herd? Could you for hours simply resting and in contemplate (meditate perhaps, perhaps talk directly with Spirit)? Do you take hours a day to just be with your family and to simply play and hug like most mammals? Types of Animal Totems When discovering totems you must first understand if the totem is a Life Totem, A Journey Totem, Shadow Totem, or a Message Totem. All totems are powerful but the meaning that the totem brings will vary on your action depending on what type of totem has come to you. Your Life Long Animal Totem works with you throughout your entire life or until such time that you no longer need that animal totem. It is always there when you need it’s powers, always reminding you of your power and connectivity. You may have only one or a few Life totems. They may become your Life totem at any time. But the primary Life Totem will be our focus at this time. The messages that your Life Totem brings are a hard reminder from Mother. Your Life Totem is always there for you and generally reflects your inner spiritual nature. Many call your Life Long animal totem your Spirit totem. For example if your Life Totem was a Penguin you would be a person who should be very spiritual since the penguin moves better in water (the symbol of the astral plane – which is were we go when we dream) than it does on land. Being able to leap out of the water (up to six feet) represents the ability of out of body experiences. It is also important to understand which type of penguin is your animal totem since some have additional characteristics that are important to consider, like most penguins life in tropical conditions not arctic ones. A Journey Animal Totem reflects a period of time. Not just a day but weeks, months, or maybe year s- the time it takes you to walk the path that the Animal Totem is reminding or guiding you on. During this journey you will find that this animal is always showing up in your life or that several animal totems will appear in your life all to guide you on the path. When you find one, two or three animals all of a sudden making an appearance and their nature all has the same basis then you have found the basis of your path. The difference between the Journey Animal Totem and the Message Animal Totem is a period of time. A Message animal Totem will bring itself to you quickly and impartially where a Journey Animal Totem will slip in and out of your life over the course of a period. Looking into the cycle of the animal also can give insight to the length of the journey. A Message Animal Totem usually is bringing you a self growth,spiritual message, or a cautionary warning. It is often a wake up call or slap in the face. It will usually be a very unusual experience making it very powerful at that time and very impartial. A Message Totem is a brief period of time, a day, a week, and occasionally as much as a couple of months but can be immediate for just a few hours. Sometimes a Message totem is not bringing you a message but causing a delay in your life. This delay, such as when you are trying to leave to go somewhere, is often in assistance for you; to be sure you are not in a place at a certain time so that you avoid an accident or can catch a phone call or meet someone you are supposed to run into. A Shadow Animal Totem are those totems that test us. They have great power for us but will put us through tests before they will let their power work with and for us, instead of against us. In all of nature there is prey and predator. In the spiritual or Shadow World there is the same. A Shadow Animal Totem is one that initially you fear. The Shadow Totem often represents inner fears that you must overcome. You may have even been attracted by the animal; a very vivid test to see if you are ready to accept the power of the animal totem. Until you face the fears of the Shadow Animal Totem it’s powers will work against you, not letting you soar high. When you overcome the fear of the Shadow Animal Totem you bring it into the Light World as a Spirit animal totem and they become one of your most powerful Animal Totems. Your goal with a Shadow Totem is to learn the lessons and incorporate that animal into your life. If you are scared by something over and over then you still have not accepted the lesson that animal has for you. Source: Spiritual Network

The Daily Feast

Remembering can be painful and sometimes without any real benefit. But much of the time it helps us move ahead like a spur that tells us not to tarry but to go on and do what we have to do. It is far too easy to carry around a u s ga nv tsv, a false guilt, a wrong idea, to override our good memories. We lose sight of the positive things we have done and the happiness we have shared by recalling a thousand impossible wishes we wanted to come true. But it does no good to dwarf the present time because the past was not what we hoped it would be. We cannot help but recall things and times and people dear to us – but to remember them with pleasure does them more honor than to focus on what we did or couldn’t do in the past. ~ Our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch of our ancestors as we walk over this earth. ~ SEATTLE ‘A Cherokee Feast of Days’, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Elder’s Meditation Of The Day

Elder’s Meditation “People and nations who understand the Natural Law are self-governing, following the principles of love and respect that insure freedom and peace.” –Traditional Circle of Elders, NAVAJO-HOPI Joint Use Area The Natural Laws work hand-in-hand with the circle. Each part of a circle will look to the center and will see something different. For example, if you put an irregular shaped object in the center of a circle and you have people standing in a circle around the object, each one will describe it differently. Everyone in the circle will be right. Only by honoring and respecting everyone’s input, can the truth about the object be revealed. We need to learn to honor differences. My Creator, let me honor all differences.

Think Of These Things

We know without being told when we have acted unkindly or behaved unjustly toward another. Intolerance, whether it is personal superiority or religious bigotry, serves only to isolate us from the greatest joy in life the sharing of ideals and happiness and friendship. We must be patient and fair toward anyone whose opinions differ from our own. There is a much better chance of convincing those whom we hope to influence bybeing an example rather than a voice. It is much easier to be led than to be pushed, and not so hard to be tolerantwhen we recognize within ourselves the reasons we are not always tolerant. It sometimes becomes habitual to be dissatisfied with everything we see others do. We don’t take time to understand and know the basis of their actions. We often fall short of listening to them long enough to understand, and their next words or actions may explain it. We cannot afford to be intolerant, because no matter how good our ideas are, there is always a better one. Author: Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Today’s Positive Thought-Affirmation And Visualization

Today’s Positive Thought Recognizing who you TRULY are is the first step towards manifesting your True Identity! Today’s Positive Thought Your inner beauty is beyond measure. Today’s Positive Affirmation I am a being filled with beauty, light, and love. Today’s Positive Visualization In my mind’s eye I imagine myself filled with beauty, light and love. I imagine myself going through my day radiating love, light, and beauty with every thought, word, and deed. I imagine others telling me they can see and feel my inner beauty. I combine these images with joy and let them go, knowing that they will create the good things I am visualizing and thinking.

Remembrance Day-Veterans Day Honor, Reflection, Celebration And Remembering All Soldiers That Served Our Countries.

Remembrance Day /Veterans Day is reflection of the past, celebration of life and those that provided the freedom enjoyed , and to look toward a better and brighter future in honor of those that made the greatest of sacrifices their very lives. It’s a time to give thanks for those who have given their lives to ensure all life, liberties and freedoms are maintained. It is a time of honor and great pride to those soldiers that came back and to celebrate the fruit of their sacrifice. ~ John McCrae (1872-1918)~Flanders Field was written on May 3, 1915 by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, as he  bore witness the death of his friend who was 22 year old Alex Helmer on May 2, 1915. Helmer was killed by a shell burst.  McCrae wrote this poem out of grief and anguish as he just finished  performing the funeral ceremony for his friend. With a calmness and reflective stature as he looked from a distance at his friends grave and surrounded in the environment and ambiance of poppies springing up from the ground, gave McCrae the idea to write this poem in honor of his friend and all fallen soldiers. Native Veterans From the Battle at Queenston Heights in the War of 1812 up through World War I (1914-1918), World War II (1939-1945), and the Korean War (1950-1953), native peoples have fought long and hard. Volunteering en masse for active duty, despite being exempt from Canadian conscription laws, it is estimated that 4,000 men gave of themselves to fight in the Great War of 1914. Many natives, living in some of Canada’s most remote areas, enlisted with great personal effort. One man by the name of William Semice walked from Lake St. Joseph to Port Arthur in order to enlist. This was a distance of over 500 miles. John Campbell, another patriotic native, travelled three thousand miles by trail, canoe, and river steamer to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Vancouver (The Indian News, 1970, Vol. 13, No. 8, p. 3). Native VeteransNatives volunteered to fight in the air, on land, or on the high seas. During the first three years of the war enlistment was made difficult by racism. The air force had stipulated that recruits be of “pure European descent” and the Royal Canadian Navy required applicants to “be a British born subject, of a White Race” (Gaffen, 1985, p. 64). Max Basque, an Indian from Whycocomagh, experienced this racism. As a former merchant marine Max travelled to Montreal to enlist in the Canadian Navy:For more on this article on Native Veterans please click on link The First Two Minute Silence in London: The first stroke of eleven produced a magical effect. The tram cars glided into stillness, motors ceased to cough and fume, and stopped dead, and the mighty-limbed dray horses hunched back upon their loads and stopped also, seeming to do it of their own volition. Someone took off his hat, and with a nervous hesitancy the rest of the men bowed their heads also. Here and there an old soldier could be detected slipping unconsciously into the posture of ‘attention’. An elderly woman, not far away, wiped her eyes, and the man beside her looked white and stern. Everyone stood very still … The hush deepened. It had spread over the whole city and become so pronounced as to impress one with a sense of audibility. It was a silence which was almost pain … And the spirit of memory brooded over it all. ~From the Manchester Guardian, 12th November 1919.~ As we stand here looking At the flags upon these graves Know these flags represent A few of the true American brave They fought for their Country As man has through all of time Except that these soldiers lying here Fought for your country and mine As we all are gathered here To pay them our respect Let’s pass this word to others It’s what they would expect I’m sure that they would do it If it were me or you To show we did not die in vein But for the red, white and blue. Let’s pass on to our children And to those who never knew What these soldiers died for It’s the least we can do Let’s not forget their families Great pain they had to bear Losing a son, father or husband They need to know we still care No matter which war was fought On the day that they died I stand here looking at these flags Filled with American pride. So as the bugler plays out Taps With its sweet and eerie sound Pray for these soldiers lying here In this sacred, hallowed ground. Take home with you a sense of pride You were here Memorial Day. Celebrating the way Americans should On this solemnest of days. ~by Michelle Keim~ Commander of Royersford VFW Post 6341 in PA.

Good Morning Friends

THE TEN INDIAN COMMANDMENTS 1 TREAT THE EARTH AND ALL THAT DWELL THEREON WITH RESPECT. 2 REMAIN CLOSE TO THE GREAT SPIRIT. 3 SHOW GREAT RESPECT FOR ALL YOUR FELLOW BEINGS. 4 WORK TOGETHER FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL MANKIND. 5 GIVE ASSISTANCE AND KINDNESS WHEREVER NEEDED. 6 DO WHAT YOU KNOW TO BE RIGHT. 7 LOOK AFTER THE WELL-BEING OF MIND AND BODY. 8 DEDICATE A SHARE OF YOUR EFFORT TO THE GREATER GOOD. 9 BE TRUTHFUL AND HONEST AT ALL TIMES. 10 TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS. Have a wonderful blissful peaceful day and friends 😀 ~~~~Hugs~~~

Happy Memorial Day Friends

Memorial Day

Angel Wisdom

The angels teach us to find beauty and worth in all our earthly activities. – Terry Lynn Taylor, “Angel Days” Angel Whispers Have you ever truly heard An Angel whisper in your ear? Their voices are soft and comforting Letting you know you have nothing to fear. If you listen very carefully You just might hear their sweet voice Whispering to you of God’s perfect love And all things that make you rejoice. They do their very best To always watch over you To keep you safe and happy In everything you do. So, next time you feel lonely Kinda scared and feeling blue Just whisper to your Angel… … And listen … For they’ll whisper back to you. ~ And You’ll Feel Their Love ~ ~ AngelWinks~

Wisdom From Around The World

Do not follow the ideas of others, but learn to listen to the voice within yourself. Your body and mind will become clear and you will realize the unity of all things. The Buddha meditated for six years, Bodhidharma for nine. The practice of meditation is not a method for the attainment of realization—it is enlightenment itself. Zen Master Dogen Virtue yields heaven’s honor and earth’s wealth. What is there then that is more fruitful for a man? There is nothing more rewarding than virtue, Nor anything more ruinous than its neglect. – Tirukkural 4:31-32 A man’s faith is not perfected till his mind is perfected. Ibn Gabirol, Mibhar HaPeninim A Treasury of Jewish Quotations His burdens have made him double over, his moans before you are loud and clear. “Show me a prayer, a benediction,” he cries, “that I may be delivered from these hidden chains.” Rumi, “Mathnawi” From “The Bounty of Allah “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” -Proverbs 24:3-4 “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.” ~ Bishop Desmond Tutu~ ~ Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you Tao Te Chi Doing good to others is not a duty, it is a joy, for it increases our own health and happiness.” Zoroaster quote The virtue of paganism was strength; the virtue of Christianity is obedience. Pagan Quote~ Augustus W. Hare ~Every minute of your life is a promise made at birth and the spiritual adventure of a lifetime.~