Animal Totems- i wonder [Archive]

wolfgaze

25-12-2015, 09:32 PM

Good question Luna...

I was always quite fond of dogs growing up. In my early 20's I came across a particular photo/image of a wolf's face that captivated me. It was like I was mesmerized/transfixed when staring at it. It had an almost hypnotic quality to it (for me) and something about it was speaking to me on a subconscious level.

This is the image:
http://i.imgur.com/0oRyICy.jpg
(this is also inspired my username)

From this point forward my fascination with wolves would grow and I began collecting wolf photography... I was particularly drawn to photos depicting their eyes staring back at you. Wolves to me are like the wild counterpart to domesticated dogs - it quite easy for me to become fond of them having had a preexisting connection with and affinity for dogs...

About 4 years ago, I had been going through a period of significant internal (spiritual) growth in my life (leading up to this point) - and I came upon a write-up on wolves as an animal totem / power animal. This was the first time I had ever explored the conceptualization of 'animal totems' and the whole connecting animals with spirituality. While reading through the words and the description of the qualities attributed to wolves - I found myself experiencing that awareness-buzzing, synchronistic feeling and in that moment it was like all the dots were connecting and I had the direct realization as to why I had been so drawn to wolves all those years without really knowing why on a deeper level...

The author of the website referenced above has write-ups on many different animals - and feel the site is a really good resource for this type of information... If you google/yahoo search the following, you'll find direct links to the animal specific write-ups::

'shamanic journey (animal name here)'
(site is called Shamanic Journey)

I had also experienced another important synchronicity several months later where I just so happened to observe some casual dialogue from someone on an online forum in a discussion about 'old souls'. This person was commenting about the appearance of various animals eyes and the degree of complexity and depth as well as beauty reflected in the appearance of those eyes - and the wolf was directly referenced in comparison to another animal. And as soon as I read this I (again) experienced that awareness-buzzing, synchronistic feeling and in this moment it finally became clear to me why the photographs depicting wolves' eyes had captivated me the way that they did in the years prior. Their eyes to me were relfecting spiritual wisdom/depth and higher awareness. This period of my life from my early/mid 20's up until the age of 30 was also a time of spiritual 'seeking' for me and I would come to experience many significant changes over a period of about 5 years. It makes sense to me now why I was subconsciously drawn to something which had embodied the very qualities that I was searching for within myself.

That is my story about wolves and my connection to them...