I hope that lesson 1 has proven to be helpful in understanding yourself better. The next step to self understanding is to "Know Your Animal Totems" what they are and how they relate to you and your environment. I understand that several of you might already know your animal totem and that is alight, but please try this lesson, you might find more understanding even another animal totem. This lesson is relatively easier then the first, but by no means any less important to know and learn.

Begin the process of discovering your animal totems by examining the animals you have been most interested in and the times of your life that interest was piqued. Use the following questions to help determine which animals are probably totems to you in your life.

1. Which animal or bird has always fascinated you? (We are drawn to that which most resonates with us. Those animals which fascinate us have something to teach us.)

2. When you visit the zoo, which animal do you wish to visit the most or first? (esp. children)

3. What animal(s) do you see most frequently when you are out in nature? Have you had encounters with animals in the wild? (The animals we encounter, in their city environments or in the wild, have significance for us. We can learn from them, even if only about survival within that environment.)

4. Of all the animals in the world, which are you most interested in now? (Our interests in animals change. Yes, we usually have one or two that are lifetime, power animals, but others become prominent when there is something importance or specific to teach us.)

5. What animal most frightens you? (That which we fear the most is often something we must learn to come to terms with. When we do that, it then becomes a power. Some shamans believe that fears will take the shape of animals, and only when we confront them without fear do their powers/medicine work for us instead of against us. Such an animal become a shadow totem.)

6. Have you ever been bitten or attacked by an animal? (Historically, if a shaman survived an attack, it was believed that the animal was the shaman's spirit totem and the attack was the totem's way of testing the shaman's ability to handle the power.)

7. Do you have dreams with animals in them or are there animal dreams you have never forgotten? (This is especially important if the dreams are recurring or if at least the animal image in the dream is a recurring one. Children often dream of animals, & attention should be given to these animals. They will often reflect specific spirit totems of the child.)

Answer all of these questions truthfully. Once answered, go looking on the internet for information on your various animals or animal. Gather the information, and see what it says.

1. Does any of the information help?

2. What are your thoughts about what you have just learned about this animal?

3. Do any of the qualities apply to yourself, if so what? If not explain?

4. Give some information on your totem animals.

Last and not least, tell what you have learned from doing Lesson 1.

1. What are your feelings regarding the information that you gathered?

2. Was the information of any help?

3. Did you learn anything new about yourself?

4. How accurate was the information you found?

Once you have answered all these questions, e-mail your responce to the group, or if you rather directly to me. If you are not already a member of the Wicca & Shamansim Study Group, you will have to complete Lesson 1 as well as Lesson 2, before joining. Submit both completed lessons to me and I will add you to the Group List.

To view a demo of this lesson click here.