I think my own personal experience with animal magic started at an early age with dragon magic...at the time I didn't know what it was and it only became apparent when I started on the Witchcraft pathway years later.
I have worked with animal totems ever since my journey began. My life long totem found me a long time ago and came in the form of a wild boar which seemed very fitting as I spent a few years of my youth on a pig farm (don't you love synchronicity) so I already had a connection with the pig family. My wild boar has been with me ever since.
But then comes the question I get asked a lot "can you have more than one totem" well all I can answer with is my own personal experience and that would be "yes".
I have my main totem, the wild boar but I have worked with many different animal totems over the years, some come and stay for a while, some come and go quickly and some come and go as and when I need them.
Seagull appears in my life when there are emotions to deal with.
Magpie appears when I need to keep an eye out whether it be for gossip or sticky situations but he also brings wisdom and knowledge with him.
I suspect Pigeon appears purely to eat the bird food that I put out in the garden...have you ever seen a fat pigeon try to squeeze into a small covered bird table? But he also brings peace and simplicity with him. These three are the 'regulars' they aren't with me all the time but they come and go as and when I need their specific energies or with messages.
And of course I have a dragon...well two actually. A huge and quite intimidating fire dragon who appears very rarely but when he does I know I have messed up big time and he is there to kick my butt good and proper. Then my smaller dragon, a dragon in training who arrived during a ritual at Stonehenge, he learns with me.
There have been odd ones that have appeared for short periods of time, imparted their wisdom and then left completely. There was a period of time when I kept seeing elephants (no not the pink variety) everywhere and no not actual real elephants, that would be very unusual in the middle of my kitchen, but on the TV, in books, out in shops there would be elephant patterned material, elephant earrings and elephant ornaments...when I finally listened the elephant was guiding me to work with the deity Ganesha.
My most recent animal totem is the frog (yep I know it's a bit stereotypical for a witch but what can you do?) he arrived during a drum birthing meditation to find my drum spirit which is where he stayed for a while but now he is sitting next to my wild boar...he has some very strong energy to share with me for the next part of my journey.
So I have quite a zoo well maybe more of a petting zoo...but each one is important and each one helps me in different ways. What is important is that I have never turned any of them away. I have never said "no sorry I am going to ignore you because I already have a totem" because each one has been and continues to be very important to me.
Be open to whatever comes your way...even if it is a dinosaur or an ant - no matter what form of animal they all have magical properties, strong energy and messages for you.
The image used here is Wisdom Seeker by Kay Kemp
Awesome post & a really interesting area. Spiders seem to turn up with me when there is change afoot (I'm not particularly fond of them but I always put them somewhere safe, just preferably away from me) and I get red kites just before good news, but no permanent fixtures as yet, will have to keep myself open for new visitors
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