WHAT IS A TOTEM?

What is a Totem Animal?

This is a difficult question to answer, because there is no one definitive response that satisfies the definitions provided by hundreds of different cultures, spiritualities in past traditions and contemporary practices.

Traditionally, the totem was an animal that represented a clan or familial group in order to distinguish them from other clans and thus prevent inbreeding or incest, and help one to monitor the kinship. It was also - in some practices - an individual animal that guided a person on their spiritual or life journey. People only tended to one have one of these, and they were not 'crucial' in the life of all animistic or shamanic cultures.

In contemporary times a totem has come to mean an animal of personal power which seems to exist to simply serve the person in all aspects of their life. Got a problem at work? Contact your totem. Got a problem in your relationship? Contact your totem. Got a problem finding a parking spot on Friday night? Ask your totem.

This kind of definition doesn't really wash with me, or many people who still believe that the totem - both the familial totem and personal totem - are animals worthy of great respect, not simply put on this planet to help us through 'mundane' tasks of the everyday.

More and more people tend to believe that they also have more than one personal totem and one familial totem. This website does not support this perspective. I believe - firmly - that people only have one individual totem, with no exceptions to this law. I believe that other animals that come into a person's life are guides - meaningful guides - but not totems. And I also believe that people can have a meaningful spiritual existence without knowing what their individual totem is.

I believe that the totem is an animal that is reflective of our own personality and spirit, it is a part of us, and shows itself to us clearly. It cannot often be found in a simple meditation, it is not often your favourite animal (because what you admire is very rarely what you are!) It is also not the primary source of power in the otherworlds, in other words if you are a shamanist, or practice shamanic techniques - there should be spirit helpers that you work with intimately - not just your individual totem.

It's important to remember that it isn't crucial for you to know what your totem is. You may still work with animal energies without knowing, you may still practice energy work, or healing modalities. It may restrict or even completely impede your abilities to shamanise in otherworlds, but this also may not stop your life from containing spiritual truths and revelations.

If you are a shamanist, or practice shamanic techniques, I recommend that you take the time to locate and trace your familial totems. This might be through looking at animals on a heraldic crest, the presence of animals in the last name: such as Fuchs = Fox. There are many ways to trace your familial totem. It is important - for reasons of paying honour and respect to ancestors - to know this totem/s, and take the time to find out what it is. Shamanism is not just about personal growth, it's about community and family honour, and the totem and concept of totemism reflects this.