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
Ladybug Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning
What the ladybug is taken to mean, where its name really comes from, why the spots do not count your luck, and how to tell the beetle in...
Magpie Symbolism: One for Sorrow, Two for Joy
What magpies are taken to mean, where the one-for-sorrow rhyme really comes from, which magpie you can actually see in the United States, and what happened when researchers...
Skunk Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning
Boundaries, reputation and power that never has to be used — read through the four-stage warning display, the reason the spray is rationed, the formula that actually removes...
Crow Symbolism, and How to Tell One From a Raven
Crow symbolism is the rare case where the folklore and the research describe the same bird: crows really do know your face and tell the others. Plus the...
Mourning Dove Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning
What the mourning dove is taken to mean, and the fact that reframes all of it: the sad five-note coo is a courtship song, not a lament. Plus...
Opossum Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning
Playing dead is involuntary, which takes down the usual symbolism. The freeze response as the honest reading, the tick myth our own side spread, what rabies risk really...
Robin Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning
Most robin symbolism online is about a different bird on a different continent. The naming mix-up, why redbreast means orange, why robins never actually leave, and what the...
Blue Jay Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning
There is no blue pigment in a blue jay. What the structural colour changes about the symbolism, why the hawk impression is still unexplained, the oak forest the...
Squirrel Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning
Foresight and thrift — and the research that overturns the forgetful-squirrel story. Spatial memory, sorted caches, deceptive burial, and what to do about the one in your attic.
Cardinal Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning
Why the cardinal became America's grief bird, where the angel saying really comes from, and the ecological reason a red bird keeps showing up in the season when...
Hummingbird Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning
Vitality, sweetness and presence — and the nightly torpor that almost every guide leaves out. Which species you are seeing, what the Mexica actually said, and how to...
Hawk Symbolism and Spiritual Meaning
Vision, height and timing - plus an identification table for hawk against falcon, vulture, accipiter and osprey, the truth about raptor eyesight, and why you cannot legally keep...
Animal totems in the temple
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