Spirit Animals help to guide and inspire us as we move along our life path.  Each of us have one or more Spirit Animals as part of our Spiritual team, and just like other helping spirits, they may show up for a lifetime, a reason or a season. In this post I’ll talk more about Spirit Animals, how to know which one(s) are working with you, why they show up, and how to work with them in a more active way.

A Spirit animal is a helping Spirit that holds the energetic qualities of a particular animal. That animal can be real, mythical or otherwise, and they will aid you in a very particular way along your path. The ones that are with us for a lifetime are usually the first Spirit Animals we encounter when we become open to their existence. They have agreed to partner with you, in this lifetime, for the betterment of your spiritual progression and expansion. Your main Spirit Animal will often be an energetic match to your highest spiritual self (it’s ok if you have no idea what the highest version of yourself is at this time, your Spirit Animal will help guide you there!). This main Spirit Animal has been around you since birth, whether you know they are there or not, and is accessible to you in this very moment.

Connecting with your Spirit Animal for the first time can be a deeply meaningful and rewarding experience. One way to know who they are is that you may get little clues through your day. You may seem to regularly have pictures of monkeys finding their way to you, or maybe you constantly see foxes whenever you drive in places you wouldn’t expect to see them. You may feel really drawn to Giraffes or Sea Lions with no real reason. This helping Spirit will regularly present itself to you, leaving little breadcrumbs until you make the mental connection they are wanting to work with you in a more active way. You see, you are already working with your Spirit Animal on an unconscious level. It’s when you step into an intentional relationship with your Spirit Animal that the true magic of that relationship can begin.

A more active way to meet with your Spirit Animal is through a Shamanic Meditation Journey to the lower world. You can use a guided meditation you find online from a trusted source, or you can journey there on your own after doing some research on lower world travels. If you choose to go on this journey without the assistance of a Shamanic teacher guiding you,  here are five steps to get you there:

Step #1: Learn how to first protect your energy field by using a bubble of white light all around you and set the intention to only encounter beings of equal or higher vibration (this step is very important).

Step #2: Call in your Spirit Guides to assist you along the way (even if you haven’t met them yet, they will show up for you).

Step #3: Go into a deep meditation for 5-10 minutes, concentrating on your breath.

Step #4: Once you’re ready, travel to the lower world through roots of the Tree of Life (again, so some research on what the lower world is and how to get there).

Step #5: Once you encounter an animal that seems to follow you or keeps pulling your focus, ask it three separate times if it is your Spirit Animal. If they are not your Spirit Animal, they will disappear or walk away. If they stay after you’ve asked it for a third time, you’ve found your Spirit Animal! Great job!

Once you’ve connected with your Spirit animal, and you’re ready to work with them in a more active way, there are several ways to receive regular messages from them. For those that enjoy doing Shamanic journeys, you can continue to travel to the lower or middle world to meet with your Spirit Animal and ask them questions. Sometimes they will answer back through speaking in your language, or they may lead you somewhere that will bring your the answers you seek. You may also work with them in your everyday waking life through signs and symbols. Maybe you ask for them to show up for you either in a picture, a conversation with a coworker or through other means to let you know that you’re on the right path. For instance, whenever I find a specific kind of feather, I know it’s a sign from my Spirit Animal that I’m heading the right direction on my life path. When I stop seeing these feathers for an extended period of time, I know it’s a clue that I need to reevaluate my recent decisions.

Another way to work with Spirit Animals is through Animal Oracle Cards. There are some great decks out there to work with. If you have a question you’d like an answer to, you ask the deck to show you which Spirit Animal will have the answer for you. Select your card and then interpret the meaning of that particular Spirit Animal. For instance, you’re question might be, “Why do I feel uncomfortable when this person tries to flirt with me?” and you pull the Brown Bear card. You may intuitively know that Brown Bear is asking you to defend your territory from unwanted advances and it’s ok to let them know you’re not interested. As you’re first learning how to interpret messages, you may also choose to reference the description of that animal in the book that comes with your deck - or you can google it. This is a great idea for getting answers to a one-off question rather than using the deck to find your main Spirit Animal.

As I had mentioned earlier, Spirit Animals come to help you learn a new lesson or bring attention to a recurring pattern on your life path. The message or lesson they bring can usually be found within the metaphor of their physical characteristics or behaviors attributed to that species. For instance, if Snake were to show up for you at a particularly difficult time in your life, such as losing a job or a relationship, Snake may be asking you to shed your old skin to make room for new. Much in the way Snake will shed the skin from the previous year as their new, more resilient skin grows in. This is an example of a Spirit Animal showing up as a teacher for a particular reason. Here’s another example: perhaps Hummingbird shows up just as you move to a new city. You find yourself staying at home often because you don’t know anyone. During this time indoors, day-after-day hummingbirds fly by your window, and continue to catch your attention. Maybe Hummingbird is asking you to buzz around the city, looking for things to feed the nectar of your soul; be it art, music, food, new friends, etc. This is an example of a Spirit Animal showing up for a season. They will present themselves to you regularly as a reminder of the lesson until you are able to move out of this particular energetic state that is no longer serving your highest good.

It’s important to understand that the interpretation of the Spirit Animal message is personal in nature, meaning that a crow feather on my path may mean something different to me than it does for you. I may interpret the crow feather as a need to connect with more masculine energies, where as a crow feather to you may mean that it’s time to cleanse and clear your third-eye. With that said, I will often encourage others to google the spiritual meaning of that Spirit Animal to get a sense of how others interpret it, and to also use their own intuition to determine if that interpretation is right for them or not. Sometimes part of it may resonate with you but you may have a gut-feeling that there’s more to the message than you're getting from someone else's interpretation. This is when I would nudge you again to try interpreting for yourself.

The great thing about Spirit Animals (as well as other helping Spirits) is that if we don’t get the full message the first time, second time, or 100th time, they will bring the message to you again and again until you do. The more you attempt to interpret the lesson or message for yourself, the better you’ll get at it. Just be willing to set aside the ego’s need to “get it right.” Your Spirit Animal, like any helping Spirit, is far more interested in you gaining a new depth of understanding from making errors than the pride you may feel from getting it right the first time. As you explore ways to connect with your Spirit Animal and build the relationship, remember to have fun with the experiences. Allow it to feel like play and you will find the joy in learning to communicate with your Spirit Animal.