Totems

“That’s, like, one of my Spirit animals.”

Speaking softly under the ecstatic shrieks of her offspring, I overhear a woman inform her friend of this last week at the Detroit Zoo. She’s working hard to corral her kids as a group of us press up against the glass of an improvised Holt, the official name for an Otter’s watery den. We’re all standing collectively captivated by one of the inhabitant’s playful, methodical back flips, making it hard to tell who’s having more fun – the kids, the adults or the otter.

Hmmm… Otters certainly appear to be good-natured little dudes, but I wonder what’s prompted this woman to affiliate herself with a web-footed, weasel-like mammal with aquatic habits? Which leads me to consider the significant role animals can play as helpers or totems in the life of the Spirit.

In today’s world of the New Age and Men’s Movements, single individuals not otherwise involved in the practice of a tribal religion often adopt animal spirit helpers that hold a special meaning for them. Back in the day, totems demarcated more families, clans or lineages in association and descent. Derived from the root Oode in the Ojibwe language, totems refer to nonhuman, kinship-related ancestors. But that doesn’t make totems exclusive to Native Americans, and in fact shamanic religions from Africa to Asia to the Arctic Polar regions all share connections to Totemism. The respect this mindset affords animals certainly holds more inherent wisdom than simply holding “Dominion” over them.

It’s easy to see how a group of people living in and identifying with nature would adopt an affiliation with their woodland compatriots. Around Lakota Ceremony, animal kin-relations are often referred to as a “Nation” as in The Deer Nation, Eagle Nation, Grasshopper Nation, etc. I always liked this acknowledgment, as the creatures were admired and united in that way. After all, they did share a common origin, territory and language.

Medicine Cards and books on the transformative power of certain animals along with their symbolisms abound. I read several animal imagery sources for Otters, finding references to feminine power and a balancing of female energy. Much to the credit of the woman at the exhibit, Otters nurture their offspring longer than most marine mammals and are very good parents. Cool. Personally, I’ve found one’s own contemplative efforts, dreams and prayers more reliable sources for the messages or purpose brought by the natural world.

Interesting that today, even in our civilized world, mankind’s spirituality can still be inextricably tied to nature as well as the animal kingdom. As I wrote this, an enormous white and brown speckled Moth lit on the window at my back. Does this living thing bear consideration from a mystical perspective? Might I endow it with human or even divine characteristics? Regardless, the more closely I watch nature from a place of reverence, the greater my sense of wonder and love for the life I’ve been given.