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Bear as an Animal Totem connotated being vigilant in protecting family belongings, conserving the beneficial communal kinfolk resources, and ensuing that the rights of others were upheld. Possessing great strength coupled with great endurance, Bears hibernated for months during the wintertime, making them a Power Totem for safe and productive Dreaming. Both the Cow and the Hound were Sacred to the Goddess. The Cow was a source of nurturing prosperity. For the Druidic Celt, the Cow was symbolic of compassionate hospitality, generosity of spirit, receptive giving, rightful ownership, and fair entitlement. The Hound signified devoted companionship and kind thoughtfulness, especially in regard to the deepest longings and needful wishes of the human spirit. Often linked with the restorative and regenerative aspects of the Otherworld, as a consistently faithful and supportive companion, Hound conveyed healing through loving attentiveness, trustworthy intimacy and reassuring vigilant consistency. The lasting beauty and noble carriage of the Mare stood for the possibility of joyful revival and renewed wholeness. The Mare was an Animal Totem lamppost, shining healing hope into the darkness of hurtful abandonment, traumatic betrayal, dangerous indignities, and hurtful wounds.
The Druidic Celts carved a
larger than life White Mare into the hillside overlooking the green of the
countryside above Uffington in Wessex, England, as a powerful totemic sign of
hopeful renewal of home and hearth.
Celtic warriors honored the fearless fierceness and powerful might of the wild Boar by decorating their armour and weapons with its visage. By using the Druidic magic of associative linkage, they hoped to courageously survive the terrors of warfare and the furies of battle with the help of ferocious focus and decisive action. One of the most complex of Animal Totems, denoting death and rebirth, depictions of the Ravens speaking to humans have been found on the walls of ancient caves. The most common characteristic of Ravens, as Power Animals over the ages, has been as prophetic, truth speaking, Otherworld messengers. Often portrayed in this guise on coins and statuary, they acted as benefactors bringing beneficial and fruitful gifts, like insightful discrimination and truthful prophecy. The pure inspirational wisdoms and the joyful magnificence of the Natural World were embodied in the Salmon Animal Totem, who acquired knowledge about everything by feeding on Rowan Berries. By partaking of the essential magic of the Salmon, the Druidic Celt gained mystical learning, magical understanding, and sublime expressive abilities in the creative arts of drama, poetry, prose, and song. An Earth based faith, Druidry melded the love of sea, sky, and land with ritual, story telling, poetry, music, and the visual arts. The Druidry of Celts centered around maintaining their spiritual balance and sacred connectivity with the Natural World by treating "All Things Hallowed" with the respect and reverence they deserved.
Animal Totems were honored
and revered because they were believed to have both magical and curative powers.
Many of the Druidic Celtic tales involved stories about humans, goddesses and
gods shapeshifting into the likeness of animals and birds, including that of
seagulls and swans... Go back
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