What Is An Animal Spirit Guide?

And how do I know what it’s trying to tell me?

It’s pretty common these days to hear someone refer to a person with an attitude that they admire as their “spirit animal.” It makes me smile every time that I hear it, particularly when the person being referenced is quirky or marches to the beat of their own drum. But in a traditional shamanic sense, a spirit animal, or animal spirit guide as it’s more commonly known, is not only just a source of inspiration. They are the way that some Universal energy is trying to communicate with you, using a physical image that helps you to better understand what it’s trying to convey.

In other words, if you’re out on a walk and a toad is sitting right in your path staring at you in a way that seems meaningful, it’s not a magic talking toad. In fact, the individual animal isn’t really that important at all. It’s simply the archetype of Toad energy, that is trying to make itself known to you so that you can use that as guidance in some way in your life.

In shamanic outlook, the entire world is hung together by the Web of Life, wherein everything is linked in some way to everything else. Because of this, signs and messages from one aspect of the Web to another are often expressed through the natural world. And because different animals have specific characteristics that we know a lot about, they are a prime way to help us make better sense of this information.

For example, most people know that bees work hard for their community, gather sweetness in the form of nectar to make honey, are strong for their size, sting when they feel threatened, etc. You don’t even have to know about the traditional archetypal meaning of Bee energy in order to get some sense of what a potent Bee encounter might be about.

There are books, such as Animal Speak, that can tell you a lot about the archetype of many different animals, or you can simply search the internet for “______ totem” to find a variety of interpretations and get a feel for the one that resonates best to you. But more important than other people’s interpretations is for you to try to figure out what message is being given to you individually.

This is easier than you might think. Not every single animal that comes into your field of vision is likely going to be a messenger, particularly if you live in a place where nature is quite robust, but most people have had some experience with an animal encounter that feels a bit special — the interesting looking insect that won’t get off your windshield or the crow that flies just ahead of your car for several hundred yards, or maybe the snake lying across your path.

It’s not always convenient or practical to stop what you’re doing and really think about the animal’s characteristics or try to tune into them more deeply. If you are driving a car or encountering something that might be potentially dangerous, it’s fine to try to get the medicine or the gift of that animal a bit later down the line by evoking the encounter again in your mind. But if you are able to stop where you are and tune in, that is ideal.

First, think about what you know about the animal. When is it most active; what does it like to eat or do; how does it behave in the wild? As you become more mentally connected with the essence of the animal, see if you can relax your mind a bit and connect in other, more primal ways as well. The trick is to relax and surrender, rather than attempting to somehow try harder. This is definitely a place where cognitive processes aren’t going to help you much.

What feelings does this animal inspire? Does it have any prior associations for you? If you are really feeling adventurous, try asking it (with your inner voice) what it wants you to know. You may be too much in your head and not enough in your body to be able to hear the answer, but you also might be surprised at what you can perceive.

Because insects go from egg to larva to pupa to adult, their medicine is quite often about change and transformation. If your meeting with an insect feels potent in some way, ask yourself about what is shifting in your life, or about something that you would like to change. What inspiration or learning can you take away?

Animal spirit guides can also come to you in dreams or in the form of a recurring image. For instance, if you begin seeing pictures of owls everywhere, the archetype of Owl may be trying to get your attention. Domesticated animals like cats and dogs are generally not going to be animal spirit guides, but all other animals are possibilities, including ones that you might feel a bit snobbish about. Big, powerful and impressive animals like wolves and panthers are not necessarily better guides than mice or opossums. I once got some good guidance about resilience from Cockroach.

If you so choose, animal spirit guides can become a part of your life and the way that you more powerfully navigate your world. It’s cute to say “Robin Williams is my spirit animal,” but deeper and more on-going inspiration and direction is available to you if you are willing to slow down, open up your soul and receive the medicine that the Web of Life is trying to send you.

© Copyright, Elle Beau 2020 Elle Beau writes on Medium about sex, life, relationships, society, anthropology, spirituality, and love.