Forgot to mention i also agree that SullenMoon should stick for the owl .Try to communicate with it and do some more research on this birds in general .
The problem with such discussions of animal spirits is that it is present in different forms from around the world. Africa, India, South America, North America, and Australia all have or had tribes that held belief in totemism. Then its even further seperated by the tribes and then clans if applicable.
The viewpoint I speak of is my Cherokee teachings. It is said that you are never "part" Cherokee, you are either Cherokee or not. So I never claim I am "part" Cherokee, but purely Cherokee, even though technically I am around 30%.
To the Kpele tribe, plants can also be totems. I've never heard of it before in Cherokee belief.
Some just view totems as symbols, animals that are considered sacred that a clan, family, or person honors through fear or reverence. This is the broadest aspect of totemism.
To the Cherokee they are medicine. Medicine to the Cherokee is magick. You'll very rarely hear a Cherokee person use the word magick. Animism is a very strong belief with the Cherokee and it is something I do believe in. The "spirits" are in everything in nature. And they are all apart of the "Great Spirit". Cherokee are monotheistic, they only believe in one goddess (yes the great spirit is female) and all other spirits are either greater or lesser spirits, never as powerful as the top female.
I personally view all deities of all religions as spirits, and see them as very real spirits of various aspects of nature, different names, different faces, but interconnected.
Animal spirits are interconnected as "clans", the bird clan for instance would encompass all birds. But then it is broken down into species, and this is where the "spirit" comes into play. The "spirit" of all of the same species of animals are interconnected. Broken down even further, there are the individual spirits or what you may view as souls. Every individual animal spirit has its own personality. Life is a big spiders web, and everything comes down to the center which is the Great Spirit.
Now enters the belief of connecting to animal spirits...
Every person connects to an animal, in fact many. But only one is the individual's "kin", like a brother or sister. The animal that is the closest to the individual is the one who plays the leading role in their life. But they can also have a family animal, a clan animal, and other animals that come in and out of their life depending on their needs.
Every animal holds a lesson. By learning, not only about the animal type but the specific animal spirit's personality, we learn things that we carry with us eternally. You see, this special animal remains with us, even after death. He/she is our companion. But even when another animal is learned from, we carry with us those lessons eternally, therefore their presence in our life is forever an influence, regardless if they are still with us or not.
Power animals are those we invoke or evoke to call for aid or become one with the essence of that animal type. Although we should do this with any specific animal spirit involved in our life, we don't need an animal to be a totem in order to share it's knowledge and energy. This is why many native american prayers call certain animal presences or energies for different reasons. This is also present in celtic magick.
The terms of "totem" and "power animal" has unfortunately become a normal defining term for the use of spirit animals in various beliefs created by anthropologists, historians, and other groups who study civilizations, cultures and societies of past and present. I say it's unfortunate because it's not any term truly used in the beliefs themselves. But I make due with it, because it's what people now connect with them. I actually dislike the words entirely.
Oh i do understand now that all terms have been mess in my head .It is not like i am good to work with terms and conditions either ,however i finally get the idea what is the difference between animal spirit and powerful animal .Because i know almost nothing for the native american culture all this terms are foreign for me .I actually thought that animal spirit and powerful animals plus totems are different terms for same thing (often folks call same thing with different names ).I get the idea that i have gotten wrong impression .Thank you so much for spending some time explaining that to me .I clearly need to read more on this subject ,since i am interested in many paths my attention is scattered in many spheres and i end up knowing a bit on many things and not really knowing a lot on certain object .However i will read further on the subject since i understood my mistake .
And Stone it is my foult i messed up all terms again lol .You just had a lame student back then lol
