Queen of Dreams Radio
Posts Tagged ‘Animal Totems’
When Violette was on my show a couple of months ago, we ended up talking about our connection to wild animals. I got a bit choked up as I shared how I felt so sad when our mama mockingbird left our front yard. She had been with us for years and had brought me such hope during my time of gestating and finding my voice. Many days, I would walk and she would fly along with me. Other days, I would drive up and see her sitting on our flag pole. When Mark and I would talk in the backyard, she would come over and sing, and I would feed her. Pretty soon, when she saw us in the yard – front or back – she would come.
A few months ago, another mockingbird showed up. This one, much smaller and sleeker than our little mama (so-called because she built a nest in the bush by our front door and laid eggs that never hatched – truly a symbolic reminder of my own experience, too). This mockingbird is much more courageous, coming into the garage with us and pecking at our back door to be fed. One day, as Mark and I were standing outside in the backyard talking, she walked up to eat the June bugs that came two months early this year. I looked at Mark and said, “Isn’t that amazing? She is just like the other one. Not afraid of us at all.” He thought maybe it was the same one, but I knew the other one. She and I have been friends for so long, I knew her bandit markings on her eyes and also her girth, which is not as common with the sleeker, southern mockingbirds.
When this new mockingbird showed up, I felt that somehow it was related to my longing for the one that left, and magically, our mama came back, too, a couple of weeks later! Now, they are both here nearly every day. I find it amazing how I can walk outside and they will fly right over. The younger of the two lives across the street. She took over mama’s abandoned nest, but a storm recently destroyed it. She rebuilt somewhere across the street.
Many people have told me how mean mockingbirds can be, but I have not felt anything other than a oneness with their hearts and souls. Their energy is very loving and family oriented – just like mine.
At the workshop I taught over the weekend, a woman asked me about animal totems, and I shared she can connect to her animal totem by accessing her inner soul connection and asking for the animal to meet her there. If you have a strong sense of connection to nature and animals, by all means, connect with them and enjoy this divine invitation to access energies that will activate and infuse your own energies.
Many years ago, I attended a workshop with one of my mentors who is a shaman. As soon as I reached the city where the workshop would take place, I saw in my mind’s eye a large black cat with green eyes. I could feel this animal’s massive energy as he paced around me. At the time, my orientation was to ask others what to do. I would ask, “What does this mean?” One woman in the class overheard me asking, and said, “Ask it!” That was the beginning of a grand adventure into a deep, personal connection with animals, spirit and energies in a freeing way I had never known before because of the distance I placed between my own knowingness and the experience. Today, I don’t always try to ‘understand’ with my mind, I simply enjoy the feeling I am having in the presence of the animal, the plant, the person I am with. I am one with the energies…connecting on a level of one-ness. It turns out that the ‘cat’ was a beautiful jaguar and he led me on an amazing journey.
When Violette and I talked about our experiences of becoming one with the animals that touched us so deeply (hers was a jellyfish and mine was this mockingbird), we found it hard to describe ‘what’ had taken place as ‘what’ was beyond words and had traveled into the valley of feelings and knowing.
My wish for you is that you will experience this too, if you want. Enjoy the magic all around you.
A couple of weeks ago, mama mockingbird posed for this picture. This is an ACTUAL picture of her! Her feathers have faded over the years, but she’s still fat and fluffy as usual. It’s funny. When I was little, I had birds as pets. People would often comment on how you can’t hug a bird, but, to me, I could connect with them with my hands and feel their hearts beating. I could look at them and know how they were feeling, and talk to them and they would talk back in their parakeet tweets. I believer everything is alive and talking to us. The question is… are we listening?
Mockingbird Animal Totem
Finding your Sacred Song;
Recognizing your Innate Abilities
Mockingbird teaches you the power of song and voice.
It can help you learn new languages and speak them fluently.
People with a Mockingbird totem are known for their talents, rather than their appearance.
It can also help you find your “sacred song” or your life’s purpose
and helps you realize your inner talents.
Mockingbird will help you act on it without fear.
Remember that your inner song is never lost –
if you missed one opportunity, another one will always appear.
Mockingbird also helps you flush out people and events that can hurt you
and allows to see who and what they are.
You hear the true song of others.
Follow your own path. Learn to take what you can and apply
your own creative imagination and intuition to it
and your life will be in harmony.
Looking for a Dream Life:
A few years ago as I learned from Spirit how the healing world works, I remember one magical month that brought many animals to our front door step.
First, was a dove – a mommy – who built a nest in the holly right outside my office window. Each morning, I would sit down at my computer, and each morning she would peck on the window to be fed. She dutifully trained me, and I started feeding her every morning. Some days, she would come by even more often and peck on the window, and sometimes she would sit in the oak tree watching me put her food in the bowl below her nest. If I forgot to feed her, she would peck on the window above the front door – my how tenacious she was!
With our little dove, I began to realize that as clients were healing, I too, was healing, that the Messengers included the animal kingdom. And they brought wonderful messages of hope and promise. I looked to see what message she might be holding for me… she felt like a beautiful mother spirit to me.
When dove appears it is asking us to go within and release our emotional discord, be it of the past or the present. It assists us in releasing trauma stored within our cellular memory. Humming can aid in this release.
Doves hold the energy of promise. When inner turmoil is cleared from our thoughts, words and feelings, the possibility of good fortune awaits us. In order to receive the gifts the doves bestows on us healing on all levels is paramount.
The next animal to make an appearance was a giant moth. The kind that has circles on its wings that look like eyes. This moth was HUGE (wing span of about 8 inches across), and there he was…sitting right on the door step next to our door. His wings were barely moving up and down. Mark and I were leaving to go to lunch, and Mark said, “He’s dead, just leave him there and I’ll put him out of his misery later.” But something told me he was still alive, and I gently picked him up, and looked in his eyes. Mark looked at him too, and then I prayed that he would be healed. I put him on the bush next to the door and then he flew away soon after that.
Those with this totem usually have strong psychic and healing abilities. They must be careful not to pick up other peoples problems and carry them around in their own energy field. If this happens confusion and irritability can set in.
The process of metamorphosis is part of the magic the moth holds. The egg stage symbolizes the birth of an idea. The larvae stage indicates the laying of a foundation. The chrysalis stage represents the process of creating, and the winged stage allows it to take flight and explore new territory. The transformative qualities of the moth are numerous. It shows us how to develop and refine our psychic gifts. The moth is an optimist and an opportunist. It can teach us how to release unwanted influences and fly into the discovery of our personal joy.
Moth came during the time that our lucky boy was being healed, and what a beautiful validation of God’s love.
Butterfly came next. We lived in this house for years and no animals seemed to show up. Perhaps we weren’t aware, perhaps we were, but I don’t ever recall animals showing up one after another like this time.
This sweet Monarch-colored butterfly with bright orange and black wings sat on the doorstep. We picked her up and put her on the bush next to the door, but she would jump down and try to follow us. Then she was on my shirt, then she was on my head, then she was on my shoulder. It was like I couldn’t shake this little delicate creature. I finally told her thank you for coming to visit, and that I loved how playful she was, and that I certainly saw how beautiful she is, and with that, she flew away.
Butterflies are symbols of freedom and creativity. They hold the gift of transformation and soul evolution. Butterflies have a pair of large compound oval eyes made up of thousands of individual lenses. They can see a single image clearly and are able to perceive ultraviolet wavelengths of light. This suggests clairvoyant abilities for those that hold this totem.
Those with this medicine need to stay consciously connected to spirit at all times in order to arrive at their desired destination. To the Native Americans the butterfly is a symbol of joy. They remind us not to take life so seriously. They feed on flowers that they help pollinate, thereby further spreading beauty. They represent the element of air, quickly changing and ever moving, so gracefully. Butterflies are messengers of the moment. They come in a variety of colors. To understand the message that the butterfly holds for you a study of its colors can be helpful.
A month or so ago, I went out on the porch and I saw this little bird with a rust red chest sitting on the ‘bush’ that we seem to feel we need to put our guests on. She was sitting there and sitting there, and as I looked at her, she looked right back at me. We stood there for a while and I could feel nothing between us. At one point, I thought of something I needed to do, and broke the connection, and off she went. How fun it was, though, to share space with her.
Just this weekend, I noticed a beautiful scissortail mommy building a nest in the big bush by the front door. She was so sweet, holding what looked like a little twig for her nest. I took some photos of her to share. Mark and I talked to her as we painted the front door (post coming soon). She got used to us and let me get even closer so I could take a photo of her (see below).
If you have an animal messenger that comes to you, notice what comes to mind as you connect with the animal, insect, bird or other messenger. You can easily look up the ‘meaning,’ but what I’ve learned over the years is that the magic is in the moment!
