oreides has moved me. I know a lot of us here on IS identify strongly with one or more animals. Oreides and Timber have their wolves and Setadrift has an otter! I'm sure more of us have strong connections with a specific animal.

For me it's just animals in general and nature. I feel this is something that perhaps we have been over looking here on IS. We want to change the world for the better, bring balance and destroy outdated systems.

However I think we have been neglecting some of our brethren in our battle for a better world.

So I started this thread for two reasons.

1) I'd like to know what animal everyone identifies most strongly with or maybe it's all of them I dunno you tell me!

2) To remind us that us humans are not the only ones here on earth and we should keep our furry, scaly, feathered and any other manner of skinned friends in mind.

well I grew up on a farm so it's hard to identify with just one, I identify with them all, I remember I used to spend more time with the animals than the people when I was a child, before I went to school that was my escape, I would sit out side and feed the chickens a mash out of my hand which they gobbled up quite happily; we had baby goats and big ones, the babies used to jump all over us and suck our fingers, hair and ears, anything they could really; we had dogs who had puppies also, I used to go and sit with them a lot especially when there was a thunderstorm as they got very scared and I seemed to calm them when I was out there with them; cats, we had lots of strays come in and a wild tom who became semi-tame, still used to catch live rabbits and rats all the time but he became tame enough to come into the house; we had rabbits, always lots of babies; guinea pigs - they are so cute and furry and then we had horses, donkeys and kangaroos. I identified with them all and love to spend time with them, make a nice change from the shouting or orders to do jobs etc I got from inside the house, my dad was a farmer so he was quite a brute and killed animals quite regularly, he even trained me to do that once I was old enough, something I am not happy to admit and couldn't do now, especially since I am in transition. His reasoning was that it was for pest control - parrots ate our fruit and ruined crops, rabbits ate crops, foxes ate our chickens, rat's ate all the feed and fruit from our veggie garden plus even got into the cupboards and ate baby chickens / eggs. So slowly by making me kill things he numbed my connection to animals. I don't mean to be blaming, I am sure there is a reason I had that lesson, I just haven't quite figured that out yet.

Horses (surprisingly!) and dogs are the two I'm most closest to, but absolutely all animals I have the utmost respect for
My totem is a deer, my first Shamanic journey was watched over by a brown bear, I had a bluebird & a rabbit join me too.

Horses here too.Also tigers--thus felines.I admire dragonflies.

well what a surprise but I had a journey with a brown bear too

i got all blushy and silly when i read my name. lol...

yesss wolves! but lions and dragons and horses are other animals i identify with. ... oh my!

i really just freaking love animals. all kinds... except i sort of don't like bugs, especially roaches and spiders. i respect them... as long as they're not HUGE, and give me some space.. but at least i give them a chance to scurry off before i finally cave into my anxiety and either kill them or trap them.
(the smaller ones i'll scoop up in a cup, but i've seen some monsters in my day...)

ever since i've been "waking up", my dogs and cat have been ohhh so lovey dovey with me. my cat won't get off of me, she's always rubbing her face all over me. and my three dogs are being so sweet... especially my little border collie, Sadie.

i've kind of been noticing her eyes more than usual... she's starting to seem like an older soul.
does anyone have any perspective on animal souls? are some older?
i don't know... she's very subdued, very gentle and almost royal. lol
the way she sits or lays down always looks so picture-perfect.
and she's got these sweet little doe-eyes. it's almost cute when she growls at her rowdy brother.

annnyway.
animal souls? any info?

Hawks. They are the messengers of the great spirit, so they say. If you have ever had one come up close and look you in the eyes, it's one of the most moving experiences. I had one do that to me once while I was working surveying out in the woods and for the next three days I had some of the most memorable dreams or visions I've ever had. I love hawks. You can sense the power within them just from setting your eyes on them. My brother and I also got to see an eagle attack a hawk once right above us while we were at the golf course and the hawk rolled the eagle over in the air and threw him around like a doll. It was pretty awesome. Eventually, the eagle gave up and flew away. Hawks are badass, period.

Yea,I was told my animal totem is hawk and fox.Hawks are incredible,they are symbols (traditionally ) for illumination and visionary knowledge

I love camels...they are so cute and have the sweetest expressions. I don't think I could have one in my back yard although it is quite big. I do have close to 100 of them in my home.

I love dogs, esp. labs and I love cats, lets see rabbits,dear, polar bears, monkeys...I guess I love them all.

I am either a wolf or an otter....at least that's what my neighbor says. (she's very spiritually aware).

I love horses, and all felines are amazing.

I can understand where I might be an otter because I have a very playful personality, and I love to tease, and I love to be in groups (hence the wolf {'pack mentality'})
Sometimes I get into a 'lone wolf' mentality I guess you could call it, when I hate having anyone around me and talking to me. When I'm like this I tend to spend all day outside, and if its warm enough outside I will sleep outside until i feel like being around people again. lol!

I've started meditating with my neighbor, and since the second time we meditated, I get into a 'trance' (there's no other word for it that I can think of) and I have 'dreams' of wolves and falcons. Also, last night i had a really....well, 'explosive' dream about a white wolf. I could hear everything that he thought as he hunted, and I could feel his muscles moving as he ran. I tasted blood in my mouth when he was eating, but I was watching him in the dream. I liked the taste of the meat, I wanted to keep eating.
Also, when I woke up, I hadn't bitten my tounge or anything, so the blood taste wasn't my blood. Can this mean anything?

Cats have been a very important part of my life for as long as I can remember. Big cats - small cats - medium cats - normal and magical. Its always been cats.

I got into trouble more than once as a young child for telling "stories" about what my cat(s) were telling me, or the places my cats would take me (was it real or imagined? Only the Shadow knows...)

You now have learned enough to see
That Cats are much like you and me
And other people whome we find
Possessed of various types of mind.
For some are sane and some are mad
And some are good and some are bad
And some are better, some are worse -
But all may be described in verse.

-From Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, TS Eliot.

dolphin when I was younger. But as a mom I'm some big cat species like a panther. In Florida there is a specialty plate for the the Florida panther and it really suited my "mom taxi."
http://buyaplate.com/default.tpl?Pag...ec_status=main

My most spiritual experience with an animal so far has been with a bumblebee

I really feel a strong connection between me and evergreen trees. I like to feel them out and spend time imagining myself slowly growing with feeling everything that affected me, slowly, slowly moving towards the sun and every once in a while getting WILDLY ruffled by the wind. In a high speed camera trees look like animals with roots so for me its

trees and bees

peace out
devin

Always the black bear.... then, the dragonfly... to attract frogs..which I adore!!

Butterflies! I love them so much. I love kitties too but I looooooooooooove butterflies

When I was younger I used to love horses until they tried to make me ride one I was so scared I would hurt him lololol and somehow it made me feel a little distant from them. But butterflies I have loved them all of my life. I went to two elementary schools simultaneously...one gifted one regular and at the regular one they had a big forest like space in the back loaded with butterflies and caterpillars. I used to take the caterpillars back to class in a peanut jar with so many leaves and the teachers would freak out a little sometimes.

I have a strong affinity for bats

lion !

grins

I used to collect them too, I found one particularly itchy - furry one that was a kind of communal caterpillar, if you touch their web - they make these huge webs in the trees where they all live and turn into butterfly's I am thinking, but the webs have some kind of irritant in them to protect them I think and it makes u itch like crazy, I stopped collecting those ones

I loved watching them crawl across my hand and devour leaves

I would just sit and watch as the leaf disappears

Bats are cool. I remember studying their echolocation - one of the few land animals that makes full use of this system.

so cuuuute,bats come always very near me when I take my daily walk.I love to feel them,they are so gentle!

hehe - just looked them up - you sparked my interest - they are actually from a moth - here's the fact sheet

http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/inquiry/fac...s_20080709.pdf