NATURE MEDITATION: Contacting Guides or Totem Animals 

There are many methods for contacting and acquiring Guides and Totem Animals. Listed are a few ways to help you contact them or discover which ones you may need to work with. 

Nature Exercise 

This is a good way to help learn to see and sense the details around you. The more its done, the more you will begin to pick up on the subtle changes that occur around you when a Spirit or Animal Guide begins to reveal itself to you. 

Find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed in your yard, neighborhood park, field, woods, etc. Anywhere you can be close to nature. After you have chosen a place, notice as much detail as possible around you. Types of trees, animals, flowers, smells, any sensations you have. Close your eyes, relax and try to clear your mind. Very few people can completely clear their minds so don't worry if your mind wanders a little. Think of the things you saw before you closed your eyes. What stands out to you the most (a tree, animal, etc.)? What does it represent to
you , or how does it make you feel? Try to use all five senses when doing this exercise, and write down or draw about the images you get. 

Journey to discover your animal guide 

This exercise can be done with or without a magic circle. It's a matter of preference, and which one is comfortable using. You can make this exercise as formal or informal as you wish. If using music, candles, drumming, crystals, etc., helps you relax, go ahead and use them. If at anytime you feel uncomfortable or threatened, recall the white light around you knowing you are protected, feel yourself back in your body, take a few deep breaths and slowly open your eyes, Write down in your journal any sensations you had. Why it made you uncomfortable etc. This
may help you to discover something that needs to be worked on later in your journey work. 

Relax and let your mind wander for a bit, then begin breathing deeply and slowly allowing your mind to clear. Visualize yourself wrapped in a blanket of white light. In this light you are protected. At first you may see all sorts of strange images, or perhaps nothing at all. Let these images pass, the veil will lift and you will be able to start your visualization. Stay relaxed and visualize yourself in a meadow, woods or anyplace you feel comfortable. Using
all of your senses, notice all the details that are around you; colors, smells, sounds, flowers, etc. 
While you are taking in all that is around you, ask that your helping guide appear to you. Stay relaxed and don't try to form images, let it come to you. It may be a sensation you feel, a sound you hear, or it may appear before you. Sometimes this exercise may have to be done more than once before your guide will appear to you. If your guide appears, notice its colors, shape, size etc. How does it make you feel? Sometimes images will appear as you look at your guide that lets you know of times in your life your guide has been with you. Your guide may even want you to follow it to a special place full of symbols and messages for you. Once your guide has appeared to you, what you experience will be between you and your guide. Each of us
experiences these encounters with our guides in different ways, there is no wrong or right way. 
Remember, it takes time to build relationships with them as it does with any other. Once you meet them, you will begin to notice their energy around you and sometimes even see them in everyday life depending on the guide that comes to you. Thank your guide for coming to you and for sharing its knowledge. Let the images you saw begin to slowly fade. Feel yourself slowly awakening, breathe deeply a few times, stretch and open your eyes. Make sure to write down
all the experiences that you had on your journey, remembering as much detail as possible. 

Note: When trying to discover your Animal Guide, try not to have any preconceived notions about what kind of animal it will be. We all want to believe we have a very big powerful animal as a guide, but that may not be the type of animal energy we need to work with. All animals are powerful and are important. For example, If you want a Tiger and a Butterfly shows up, don't be disappointed. The Butterfly can reveal very important things about ourselves and what we need to work on. Of course, this is only an example, but its something to keep in mind when discovering which animals we need to work with. Remember that whether its a Spirit or Animal Guide, they choose to work with us, we don't choose them. But, if a guide shows up that you are uncomfortable with, try to discover what about it makes you uncomfortable. You do not have to work with a guide you are not sure about, it may be that you are not ready to work on those aspects of yourself that it represents. Thank them for coming to you and let them know you are not ready to work with them yet. 



Here is a listing of some totem animals and their meanings 

Antelope: Action 
Alligator: Aggression 
Bear: Power, Mother Nature's pharmacist 
Beaver: Builder, worker, industrious 
Bee: Organization 
Buffalo: Sacredness, life 
Butterfly: Metamorphosis 
Caribou: Self esteem 
Cougar: Leadership 
Coyote: Prankster, Humor 
Crane: Aloneness, Independence 
Crow: Law 
Deer: Love, gentleness 
Dolphin: Kindness, play 
Dragonfly: Agility 
Eagle: Divine Spirit, connection to Source 
Elk: Strength, agility 
Fox: Adaptability 
Frog: Connect to Water Element 
Goose: Homing instinct 
Hawk: Power, observation, messenger 
Mole: Earth messenger, Earth Mother 
Horse: Stamina, mobility 
Hummingbird: Stopper of time 
Loon: Solitude, singing, music 
Moose: Survival, headstrong 
Mouse: Scrutiny, observation, 
Otter: Laughter, women's medicine 
Owl: Seer, destruction of deception 
Porcupine: Innocence 
Quail: Sacred Spiral 
Rabbit: Alertness 
Raccoon: Thief, shyness 
Raven: Trickster, hoarding, teacher 
Salmon: Homing instinct, children above all else 
Seagull: Grace, adaptability 
Seal: Provider 
Snake: Transmutation 
Spider: Creative pattern of life, Mother Nature's architect 
Turtle: Creative source, protection, self contained and self sufficient 
Whale: Wisdom, provider 
Wolf: Loyalty, perseverance, success 


The subject of spirit animals or totem animals draws back to 
Native belief. The occurrence was spawned from the 
traditional stories passed from generation to generation.