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    Spirit Animal, Spirit Guide or Both?

    I was wondering if anyone else has experience receiving guidance from more than one being.
    In my path workings, I have found multiple plains, each which offers a different energy and sometimes, a different "race" of beings with whom which I can interact or learn from.
    I have the distinct sense that each individual I encounter comes from a different place, and has something different to teach me.
    Does anyone else have experience with this?
    How have you internalized the different lessons, and what do you seek to learn from the different types of spirits that bless you with their presence?

    I am very interested to hear from anyone who has thoughts on this matter. Thank you!

    #2
    Re: Spirit Animal, Spirit Guide or Both?

    I think of animal spirits as more symbolic than actual creatures, but I know I've used them and more than one over the years to help focus myself on a particular set of energies that I wanted in my life or wanted to remove from my life...if that makes sense.

    But I think your subconscious mind can definitely bring forward animals with the right symbolic qualities..and it does seem like I notice the appropriate animals in the real world when I need to focus on their lessons too.

    Whenever I get frazzled and overly concerned with the day to day stuff, I have a tendency to see blue herons. They are about "diving deep" and they always makes me stop and think. I know they are around all the time where I live, but I only see them when I need a good reminding.

    Owls have marked almost all the important events in my life, and I try to keep their mystery and their silent and methodical way of living in my head. Their symbolic wisdom represents everything I need to live my life they way I want it to be.

    So I guess I've internalized their lesson, though I feel they are just symbolic and not consciously spiritual beings that are interacting with me.

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      #3
      Re: Spirit Animal, Spirit Guide or Both?

      I think both Spirit Animals and Spirit Guides are a bit personal in how they work. For instance Rowanwood see's the Blue Heron about "Diving Deep" yet to me they are all about patience and straddling three worlds. The move through air, water and earth yet their patience is shown as they stand patiently watching and observing before moving. Yet each movement is slow and deliberate to pass without attracting attention even as they pass from one element into another yet leave no disturbance to mark their passing. Strong for evaluation of a situation and looking at it from many perspectives and plains of awareness.

      I also believe that as individuals animals tend not to be guides or spirit animals or power animals. Yet the super or greater spirit of a species may act as such in revealing its particular energy, medicine or magic depending upon which words ones wishes to use and how they use them. As such consider Deer as individuals may intrigue us, even attract our attention to an individual that appears before us yet it is the larger spirit of the species as a whole that acts as a guide, allie, etc. Yet we also have to be aware that many animals are also messengers or avatars for a given god / goddess. So using Deer again it becomes an issue of is it simply a deer, is it a messenger or avatar of Artemis or Diana for instances or is it representative of the greater species and its medicine / magic / energy. Consider the deer who snorts or paws the ground as it tries to make you move so it can determine what it is before it or warn others near it that remain unseen.

      From a shamanic type influence I have many allies that I have worked with that fall into all the peoples of the world regardless of them being green people, standing ones, two legs or four legs, winged ones or fined ones to include the stone people. Yet that also involves a large degree of animism and totemism though the later is not used as much today as a descriptor considering to many it is cultural appropriation.

      I think one can be deceived though in that far to many today resort to books like Ted Andrews Animal Speak and assume that an animal always means what he has said or suggested they mean. Ignoring or refusing to consider what an animal actually means to the people who relied upon it and utilized every aspect of its essence or how it makes them (practitioner them self) feel when they observe it themselves. Perhaps even worse is they identify the guide against what it means based upon another local and cultural / psychological imagery it suggests that is not their own.

      Consider the old usage of "Hog". To some an animal, to some a powerful handgun, to others a motorcycle of a certain make, and still to others a person who over eats. Each definition accurate and correct given a specific application and cultural norm. Yet unless one is familiar with each or an exact meaning is stated you can easily mistake one usage for another meaning due to assumption.
      I'm Only Responsible For What I Say Not For What Or How You Understand!

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        #4
        Re: Spirit Animal, Spirit Guide or Both?

        monsno covers something that I very much agree with -- specifically animal meanings. He's right in that relying too much on a single source, and ignoring your own personal feelings/experiences about an animal is a great way to get off track, or take something as something it isn't.

        I have a lot of personalized symbolism that I use, and it is as important as any traditional meaning.

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          #5
          Re: Spirit Animal, Spirit Guide or Both?

          Originally posted by Rosa Morgana View Post
          I was wondering if anyone else has experience receiving guidance from more than one being.
          In my path workings, I have found multiple plains, each which offers a different energy and sometimes, a different "race" of beings with whom which I can interact or learn from.
          I have the distinct sense that each individual I encounter comes from a different place, and has something different to teach me.
          Does anyone else have experience with this?
          Am I right in my interpretation that you are not just talking about animal guides here, but asking if we believe or have experience in having guides and helpers from more than one 'race' or category. I.e. can you have an animal guide AND a spirit guide of another sort?

          The short answer is... yes, absolutely.

          My definition of 'spirit guide' actually includes animal guides... I think that a spirit guide is any spirit or entity who acts as a guide and adviser to you. I don't think that spirit guides are limited to any particular 'species' or 'type'. They can be deceased humans, ancestors, 'ascended masters', animal guides, spirit helpers, deities or any other entity. Our relationship with spirit guides can be varied... they can guide and teach us on an internal level, communicate with us in the astral plane or be companions within the Otherworlds. I don't think that there are any real boundaries when it comes to spirit guides, and that the term can encompass any spirit who works with you as a mentor/teacher/helper/guide.

          Personally, I work primarily with animal guides and energies, and most of my personal household of spirits have been sent to me by animal guides (the overarching species spirit that MonSno was talking about). My drum and my pelts are inhabited by individual spirits who were sent to me by the overarching animal guide... my drum spirit was sent by Eastern Brown Snake and my pelt spirits by Red Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Red Fox. While the pelts are all inhabited by spirits of the same species as the pelt (though not the original incarnated spirit), my drum is obviously not made of snake skin... it's actually kangaroo skin but there is nothing 'kangaroo' about the drum spirit. I also have a protective house spirit that was sent by Cattle that inhabits a large steer-skin rug in my lounge. On the other hand, my staff spirit is not an animal spirit, nor is it a plant spirit despite being made out of a large South Australian Blue Gum branch. It's a spirit of non-determined 'race' that put itself forward when I was constructing the staff. Plus my household includes a car-spirit, a computer-spirit, some internal animal energies, an enormous number of little stone spirits whom are known as my babies, one particular Lapis Lazuli spirit that has been with me since I was about twelve and who has inhabited several pieces of the stone over the years, my husband's non-corporeal familiar, and the spirit of a deceased cat that was resident in the house when we moved in (and which will be invited to move with us when we leave). And of course the plant spirits in my yard.

          In terms of guides... I have animal guides (primary and transient), a goddess I am sworn to, deities She sends me to for lessons, Demons I work with on specific projects, and a teacher in the Otherworlds who is not a deity nor an animal guide.

          So yes, I work with spirit helpers and guides of several different 'types' or 'races'. lol

          Originally posted by Rosa Morgana View Post
          How have you internalized the different lessons, and what do you seek to learn from the different types of spirits that bless you with their presence?
          The answer to this one is trickier... I just do it. I don't consciously treat the different types of spirits differently... they are all 'people' to me and I approach them with the same attitude and open mindedness that I would anyone or anything else. Most of my spiritual household I consider 'helpers' rather than 'guides', but again this does not really change my attitude towards them. Some of the deepest, most personal relationships I have with spirits are with my helper spirits... I don't seek a lesson from them, but a reciprocal partnership. How I learn and internalize a lesson has less to do with where it comes from than what the lesson actually is... some require different work and introspection than others. Sometimes the one lesson is presented by more than one spirit. I try not to go into any relationship with preconceived notions about how things will go or what I will need to do.

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Spirit Animal, Spirit Guide or Both?

            Originally posted by Rosa Morgana View Post
            I was wondering if anyone else has experience receiving guidance from more than one being.
            In my path workings, I have found multiple plains, each which offers a different energy and sometimes, a different "race" of beings with whom which I can interact or learn from.
            I have the distinct sense that each individual I encounter comes from a different place, and has something different to teach me.
            Does anyone else have experience with this?
            How have you internalized the different lessons, and what do you seek to learn from the different types of spirits that bless you with their presence?

            I am very interested to hear from anyone who has thoughts on this matter. Thank you!
            Well in my case, it is hard to tell because I usually receive my guidance from just hearing the voice but when not seeing who is telling me what to do. Even though I make contact with many different spirits and they help me in different was but when it comes to final say, the advice or instruction is given to me through just hearing voice.
            No sig for you.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Spirit Animal, Spirit Guide or Both?

              Oh entirely spirits can connect with us on multiple plains and in different ways. Some are currently alive, others are passed on ancestors, some connect only during dreams, others are animals ect. Each persons is different.

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