Ligers, giraffes, hawks, horses, snakes, and bears – these are some of the primary Power Animals I’ve identified with over the years.
They come to me in dreams, meditations, and serendipitous encounters while I’m running mundane errands.
But what about our own inner Power Animal? What would it meant to embrace that?
I believe Animal Guides can shift throughout our lives. Different animal medicine speaks to different eras, and what we need in a given moment.
And through it all, we get one animal that’s constant: ourselves! Honoring your inner Power Animal and all your animal instincts is nothing short of ecstatic.
Read on for tips to exploring!
1. Remember
I broadly define Animal Medicine as “how animals help us remember things about ourselves- our deepest truths and wisdom.”
Power Animals are guides who stick with us for a period so this remembering can cultivate vast personal growth.
So, what sorts of things are key to remember?
Remember: You are an animal.
Remember: You have unique medicine to share with the world. Given this, you already are a Power Animal!
Remember: Animal medicine is a two-way street. With all you can receive from animals, you can also give back to them.
How can you empower animals around you- whether they are human or other animals?
With this worldview, it’s easy to view lizards and fireflies and penguins and cows as our brothers and sisters. ‘Cause, they are.
What should that mean for your day-to-day choices?
2. Gather Support
Have you felt the energetic presence of animal guides around you? Have you leaned into the depth of a power animal who is sending love through the back of your heart?
These are simple ways to connect, and gather your support. You can have 1 or 100 animals backing you… you only have to ask.
Once they are there, it will be a lot easier to keep remembering!
3. Explore Your Fear
Our opportunity is to understand our shadows.
What fears drive your heart to be closed? What’s blocking you from bringing your full goodness forward?
And along those lines- what animals are you afraid of?
I shared recently how I was experiencing fear of monkeys while in India.
They were everywhere, and I found them so unpredictable- stealing cell phones and whole bags of food in the flash of an instant! Monkeys are also quite emotionally expressive, easily baring their teeth or glaring, or making huge shows of joy and excitement.
Hmmm… that sounds familiar! When I tuned-in to what the monkey medicine was for my life, I found that I needed to be more accepting of my own unpredictability and expressiveness.
It’s who I am, as an animal: loudly emotional, changing in an instant.
Deep down, I relate to monkeys in my emotional versatility. But they were reflecting it back to me in such a way that I couldn’t “swallow the medicine” until months later.
This is the sort of reflection we are called to take on.
So friend, what’s lingering in the darkness of your fears?
Once you remember your animal truth, gather support, and explore your fears, your Power Animal Self will feel so much more defined!
We contain this wisdom and can access it- we only have to trust.
I’m here if you want to chat or learn more, or invite me to a workshop so we can play together in person!
We will also be exploring all this and more at my August Weekend Workshop- see Facebook for details.
Photo credit: Aria Everts – A monkey enjoying the same sunset as I, in Varanasi India. I took the picture through a metal cage that surrounded the roof of our guesthouse- a necessary addition to keep the tourists and monkey interactions to a minimum!
(Although, they did still manage to steal a bag of fruit from our room that week, and later I watched a monkey take someone’s drying handwashed panties, try them on, and drop them in an impossible place for ever finding them again…)