Ever since we found a promotional postcard at work for Power Animal Meditations, we've been thinking a lot about the subject. (Mind you, we realize that thinking is not the same as meditating. We're taking it slow. We're not yet fully ready to work with "totem essences" and even animated gifs of wolves rubbing together can't hurry the process along. Let us be quiet like the Cedar Tree, which, according to Nicki Scully, the author of Power Animal Meditations, is a legitimate choice as a Power Animal, although we wonder whether that means you could also maybe choose a cedar hot tub or a cedar-paneled breakfast nook.)
But we're daunted, really, by the whole idea of choosing a Power Animal. Let's face it, if we go around telling people our Power Animal is a Mountain Lion, we'll be laughed right out of the drum circle. People can tell when you're not a Mountain Lion. But if we choose something like a Mule Deer, it's like saying to the Bear and Wolf people "Hey! You pursue and eat us for energy! That's the cycle of life! Wow!" And really, that's the whole dynamic we imagine you'd get into Shamanic Essentialism to avoid, right? (Oh, and please don't even suggest a Power Wombat, which sounds like something you rent at Wal-Mart and use to apply sealant to the garage).
We're feeling like we need something more essential; more 21st century; a Power Animal that triumphs in a postmodern fashion -- and having been invaded by teensy replicants, maybe that's what we need to meditate on here: a Power Virus. Instead of fighting a losing battle against these little revolutionaries, we should open ourselves to their spiritual teachings! Like endless replication of our core material and the use of docile cells as vessels through which to spawn and then when the sneezing comes we are projected gloriously out through the Cosmic Nose...
What's that? We sound a bit feverish, do we? Well, that's probably the case...in fact, upon reflection and a cup of ginger tea, we've decided that we'll choose
this as our Spirit Guide for the moment. Dreamtime, here we come.
Shades of Philip Pullman.
So what happens when you rub two wolves together? Do they burst into flames?
Posted by: Rory on May 14, 2002 09:32 AMIn the traditional Mayan towns outside of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, you see animal names on many of the tombstones after the given names. Bill Tipper Wombat, for instance. Apparently, a circle of ashes is put outside the house and the first animal to track through it is your animal twin. Chickens are apparently disregarded, as then everyone would be Jose Blow Pollo or Juantia Blow Gallina.
This is really crucial, actually -- if you're ill, it means someing happened to your squirrel, and shamanistic intervention is required. This intervention usually takes the form of sacrifice of a chicken, whose soul goes to replace the lost squirrel soul, thus making you well again.
When we toured the church in San Juan Chamula, our guide was quite disappointed that there weren't any chicken rituals going on that we could watch. I didn't share his disappointment.
Posted by: scott on May 14, 2002 09:38 AM[sings] Ardilla Muerta...
Posted by: Rory on May 14, 2002 12:25 PMWhat memory! What verve!
Posted by: scott on May 14, 2002 01:46 PMWell, I don't know... even if you have an apparently wussy power animal, you can remind everyone that "" (the nameless protagonist from 'Fight Club' by Chuck Palahniuk) had a PENGUIN as a power animal. (Please note - penguin shown in film of same name, and I'm not about to go home and flick through my copy of the book to see if that is mirrored in the text version, thanks very much.)
I mean, a penguin?!?
Mind you, if someone still gives you static about your choice of power animal, you could carefully sic them onto your friend, whose power animal is a Cedar Tree.
What? Wee baby angel kittens to wussy a symbol of one's influence on the world? Pah! I'm choosing a more durable symbol then: the rollie-pollie bug, also known as the pill bug, sow bug, or more officially, an Isopod. They were the very first life form to make a successful transition from water to land, and they haven't changed much since. It ain't pretty, but it's damn near immortal. Don't worry, though--you won't catch me changing my name to something fruity and New Age, like "Woman-of-the-Moist-Rock-Underbelly."
Posted by: jess on May 14, 2002 11:39 PMI can't believe I can't remember the penguin in Fight Club. Actually, I can believe it, because (I discover upon a quick inventory of Fight-Club-specific-memory) I remember very little about Fight Club. Go figure.
As for Pullman, I can't believe I didn't think of daemons either. Christ -- my memory is completely shot to hell!
What were we talking about, anyway? Power What?
Posted by: BT on May 14, 2002 11:45 PMJess, I am so calling you WOTMRU from now on...
Posted by: BT on May 14, 2002 11:46 PMCan you have a power animal which is fictional? How about a power gryphon? Or a power Cererebus?
Note: Garthmeister J linked to my site above...
Posted by: Swampy on May 16, 2002 12:13 AM