{"id":8726,"date":"2013-07-24T15:49:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-24T20:49:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/2013\/07\/20\/"},"modified":"2013-07-24T15:49:36","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T20:49:36","slug":"new-paths-to-animal-totems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=8726","title":{"rendered":"New Paths to Animal Totems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Animal totems are something I was interested in but never really explored. I always sort of felt that you needed to be a big nature lover to work with animal totems and if you know me, you know that me and nature do not get along. I\u2019m allergic to just about everything that grows and every animal. All fur, feathers, dander, down, all of it. However, Lupa\u2019s new book \u201cNew Paths to Animal Totems: Three Alternative Approaches to Creating Your Totemism\u201d really opened my eyes.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>Lupa explains how you don\u2019t have to be tied to the Native American model that so many books and websites tend to favor. She offers three alternative models to discerning your totems: correspondences, bioregional, and archetypal. In correspondences Lupa discusses discovering your totem\/totems using the directions, the Chinese or Western Zodiac, the Tarot and more. Bioregionalism is finding your totems not from within arbitrary boundaries such as state lines but instead from a place defined by natural phenomena such as waterways and geographic formations. Last is archetypal which is more psychological than other options. It matches our internal impulses and instincts to what we know of nonhuman animals, creating a personalized map of both the internal self and the world we inhabit. Lupa offers exercises, meditations, and examples for all of these so the seeker has a companion working with them along their path. She also discusses the option of combining these totemic paths.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Lupa discusses ways to interact with, honor, and assist your totem animal. There\u2019s a guided meditation for helping find your totem animal. My favorite extra is a list of animal nonprofits.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Paths to Animal Totems\u201d is a great book for anyone looking for a new perspective, or for someone new like me. I thought that someone housebound like myself couldn\u2019t have a relationship with a totem animal, but Lupa\u2019s writing opened my eyes. Ideally yes, being out in nature is great. However many people have totem animals that aren\u2019t found in nature where they live, so being outside doesn\u2019t effect the relationship one way or the other. That\u2019s a pretty big leap from one book. Just think what \u201cNew Paths to Animals\u201d might teach you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"