Spirit Animals
Encounters with animals, their messages and their place in folklore — from the dove at the window to the deer on the road.
80 stories in this topic
Toad Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning: Signs, Dreams
The toad is the animal nobody calls beautiful, and yet in almost every folk culture it carries a treasure: in its head, in the earth, in the money...
Mouse Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning: Signs, Dreams
The mouse is the animal you hear before you see: a rustle behind the wall, a trail in the flour, a shadow at the edge of your vision....
Blackbird Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning, Explained
Quick answer In North America, blackbird almost always means an icterid — a red-winged blackbird, a common grackle, a Brewer’s blackbird. The bird in the old stories is...
Elephant Spiritual Meaning: Symbolism & Spirit Animal
The elephant is one of the most impressive spirit animals there is: calm, wise, and strong in a way that has nothing to prove. When it steps into...
Lizard Spiritual Meaning: Symbolism & Encounters
Few animals are as automatically linked with letting go as the lizard. It drops its tail and walks away. Only the story is not quite that simple, and...
Fly Spiritual Meaning: What a Fly Around You Means
Nobody puts a fly on a vision board. It gets swatted, cursed at and chased out of the kitchen. And yet the fly shows up in some of...
Heron Symbolism: Meaning, Omens and the Phoenix
What the heron stands for, why the phoenix began as a heron and never burned, how to tell it from a crane or an egret, and which of...
Stork Symbolism: Meaning, Omens and the Baby Myth
What a stork encounter traditionally means, where the baby story really comes from, why the bird in the story is not the bird in America - and six...
Swan Symbolism: Twin Flames, Myth, and the Bird
Swan symbolism explained: what a pair or a single bird means, the twin flame question answered honestly, the myths, and which swan you actually see in the US.
Seagull Symbolism: Meaning, Omens, and Facts
Seagull symbolism explained: freedom, soul-birds and omens, the Utah gull story, Tinbergen's red spot, and six checkable facts about the birds themselves.
How to Find Your Animal Guide
Some animals keep turning up. A red-tailed hawk over the same stretch of highway three mornings running. A fox at the edge of the yard. A deer that...
Monkey Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning
The monkey stands for cleverness and play - and gave its name to the restless mind meditators have been trying to settle for centuries. Both halves are the...
Animal totems in the temple
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