Original post: sara Morgan
I had a devil of a time trying to figure out my spirit animal, no pun intended. I was out hiking at the preserve near my house and a coyote walked in front of me. I stopped he stopped and we both stared at each other. I felt as if we were one and the same, so from then on Coyote trickster that he is is my spirit animal.
Finding Your Spirit Animal
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: AstralMagickCraft
What does it mean when a fox is one of, if not the, main spirit guide?
What does it mean when a fox is one of, if not the, main spirit guide?
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: Odin
I would guess things like slyness, cunning and wisdom.
I would guess things like slyness, cunning and wisdom.
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: Rend Sever
[QUOTE=AstralMagickCraft;346761]What does it mean when a fox is one of, if not the, main spirit guide?[/QUOTE]
I means you are foxy.
[QUOTE=AstralMagickCraft;346761]What does it mean when a fox is one of, if not the, main spirit guide?[/QUOTE]
I means you are foxy.
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: alacardkane
Hi everyone, this is something I got off another site, but it helped me quite well on things.
People that really wish to look into it, will find that they can actually have as this thing will show, ten "totems/ power" animals, however, there are always those "guide" spirits that will be outside this range that come and go.
now please remember that totems do not necissarily have to be animals. mythical or otherwise, I happen to have in this, two elements and what i call a "force of nature"
"Each person has nine animal totems that walk through life with them, teaching and guiding them.
These animals are found in 7 directions around your spirit:
East, South, West, North, Above, Below and Within.
The last two animals are walking beside you at all times;
your Right Side (male) and your Left Side (feminine).
They are your protectors.
The East totem guides you through spiritual challenges. It guards your path to illumination.
The South totem protects the child within and reminds you when to be humble and when to trust. It also helps heal your inner child.
The West totem leads on your path to personal truths and inner answers. It shows you the path to your goals.
The North totem gives wise counsel and when to speak and when to listen. It also reminds you to be grateful for each blessing each day.
The Above totem is the guardian of the Dreamtime and gives you access to other realms and dimensions.
The Below totem shows you how to stay on your life path and how to stay grounded to Mother Earth.
The Within totem is the protector of your sacred space. It teaches you how to find your life's joy.
The Right totem protects your Male side and it is your Father Protector. This animal carries your courage and warrior spirit.
The Left totem protects your Female side and teaches you how to nurture yourself and about relationships and mothering."
this was discovered later on another site, but it is also quite relevant.
~Shadow Totems~
What animal attacks have you been in?
* What scary or traumatic animal situations have you been in?
* Does seeing a certain animal bring up feelings of fear?
* What animal do you run from?
* What animals do you have reoccurring nightmares about?
* Does just watching TV with that animal appearing scare you?
Answering two questions with the same animal means you have a Shadow Totem you must address. Remember that the Shadow Totem will continually test you and work against you for you are it's prey. You must embrace the lesson of the animal totem and conquer your fear, accept the power of the Shadow totem, and bring it into the light as your spiritual totem.
A Shadow Animal Totem is those totems that test us. They have great power for us but will put us through tests before they will let their power work with and for us, instead of against us. In all of nature there is prey and predator. In the spiritual or Shadow World there is the same. A Shadow Animal Totem is one that initially you fear. The Shadow Totem often represents inner fears that you must overcome. You may have even been attacked by the animal; a very vivid test to see if you are ready to accept the power of the animal totem. Until you face the fears of the Shadow Animal Totem its powers will work against you, not letting you soar high. When you overcome the fear of the Shadow Animal Totem you bring it into the Light World as a Spirit animal totem and they become one of your most powerful Animal Totems. Your goal with a Shadow Totem is to learn the lessons and incorporate that animal into your life. If you are scared by something over and over then you still have not accepted the lesson that animal has for you.
Hi everyone, this is something I got off another site, but it helped me quite well on things.
People that really wish to look into it, will find that they can actually have as this thing will show, ten "totems/ power" animals, however, there are always those "guide" spirits that will be outside this range that come and go.
now please remember that totems do not necissarily have to be animals. mythical or otherwise, I happen to have in this, two elements and what i call a "force of nature"
"Each person has nine animal totems that walk through life with them, teaching and guiding them.
These animals are found in 7 directions around your spirit:
East, South, West, North, Above, Below and Within.
The last two animals are walking beside you at all times;
your Right Side (male) and your Left Side (feminine).
They are your protectors.
The East totem guides you through spiritual challenges. It guards your path to illumination.
The South totem protects the child within and reminds you when to be humble and when to trust. It also helps heal your inner child.
The West totem leads on your path to personal truths and inner answers. It shows you the path to your goals.
The North totem gives wise counsel and when to speak and when to listen. It also reminds you to be grateful for each blessing each day.
The Above totem is the guardian of the Dreamtime and gives you access to other realms and dimensions.
The Below totem shows you how to stay on your life path and how to stay grounded to Mother Earth.
The Within totem is the protector of your sacred space. It teaches you how to find your life's joy.
The Right totem protects your Male side and it is your Father Protector. This animal carries your courage and warrior spirit.
The Left totem protects your Female side and teaches you how to nurture yourself and about relationships and mothering."
this was discovered later on another site, but it is also quite relevant.
~Shadow Totems~
What animal attacks have you been in?
* What scary or traumatic animal situations have you been in?
* Does seeing a certain animal bring up feelings of fear?
* What animal do you run from?
* What animals do you have reoccurring nightmares about?
* Does just watching TV with that animal appearing scare you?
Answering two questions with the same animal means you have a Shadow Totem you must address. Remember that the Shadow Totem will continually test you and work against you for you are it's prey. You must embrace the lesson of the animal totem and conquer your fear, accept the power of the Shadow totem, and bring it into the light as your spiritual totem.
A Shadow Animal Totem is those totems that test us. They have great power for us but will put us through tests before they will let their power work with and for us, instead of against us. In all of nature there is prey and predator. In the spiritual or Shadow World there is the same. A Shadow Animal Totem is one that initially you fear. The Shadow Totem often represents inner fears that you must overcome. You may have even been attacked by the animal; a very vivid test to see if you are ready to accept the power of the animal totem. Until you face the fears of the Shadow Animal Totem its powers will work against you, not letting you soar high. When you overcome the fear of the Shadow Animal Totem you bring it into the Light World as a Spirit animal totem and they become one of your most powerful Animal Totems. Your goal with a Shadow Totem is to learn the lessons and incorporate that animal into your life. If you are scared by something over and over then you still have not accepted the lesson that animal has for you.
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: Vindictus
eh... About that shadow animal totem stuff... When I was younger, I was terrified of snakes. it was a major phobia- several times I would dream that snakes were crawling everywhere, and that they wanted to eat me. Nowadays, however, I am very nearly completely past that fear, and I was considering getting a pet snake to banish it completely. I just want to know if anyone thinks this would help, and if Snake really is my shadow totem. Especially considering It's my 'Birth totem' too.,,
eh... About that shadow animal totem stuff... When I was younger, I was terrified of snakes. it was a major phobia- several times I would dream that snakes were crawling everywhere, and that they wanted to eat me. Nowadays, however, I am very nearly completely past that fear, and I was considering getting a pet snake to banish it completely. I just want to know if anyone thinks this would help, and if Snake really is my shadow totem. Especially considering It's my 'Birth totem' too.,,
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: Lady Ashmire
[QUOTE=Vindictus;368315]eh... About that shadow animal totem stuff... When I was younger, I was terrified of snakes. it was a major phobia- several times I would dream that snakes were crawling everywhere, and that they wanted to eat me. Nowadays, however, I am very nearly completely past that fear, and I was considering getting a pet snake to banish it completely. I just want to know if anyone thinks this would help, and if Snake really is my shadow totem. Especially considering It's my 'Birth totem' too.,,[/QUOTE]
I have heard of people who have actually become successful professional arachnologists and respected breeders of them after getting a tarantula to overcome fear of spiders, so I would bet it could work with snakes as well.
Not sure about the shadow totem thing because I am in no way ready or willing as yet to face the one animal of which I do have a major phobia and would really rather think I don't ever have to, but it actually does make sense in a way---considering the creature is a caterpillar and I do in my daily life have a severe dread of irrevocable change and vulnerability/frailty in general( moreso than normal. I know most sane people dislike those things of course!).
[QUOTE=Vindictus;368315]eh... About that shadow animal totem stuff... When I was younger, I was terrified of snakes. it was a major phobia- several times I would dream that snakes were crawling everywhere, and that they wanted to eat me. Nowadays, however, I am very nearly completely past that fear, and I was considering getting a pet snake to banish it completely. I just want to know if anyone thinks this would help, and if Snake really is my shadow totem. Especially considering It's my 'Birth totem' too.,,[/QUOTE]
I have heard of people who have actually become successful professional arachnologists and respected breeders of them after getting a tarantula to overcome fear of spiders, so I would bet it could work with snakes as well.
Not sure about the shadow totem thing because I am in no way ready or willing as yet to face the one animal of which I do have a major phobia and would really rather think I don't ever have to, but it actually does make sense in a way---considering the creature is a caterpillar and I do in my daily life have a severe dread of irrevocable change and vulnerability/frailty in general( moreso than normal. I know most sane people dislike those things of course!).
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Original post: Lady Ashmire
I have had strong spiritual connections to several different animals, but am not sure I would feel comfortable defining one in particular as a main totem...
I have a trio of scorpions( basically, Male, Female, and Androgyne) who come and lead me sometimes in what I guess is kind of an astral state( not sure what you really call it), but lately as mentioned briefly over in the dream thread have had something going on with deer.
I have a few times encountered a spirit fox as a protective, soothing presence, but I think this is more because I predominately-though-not-exclusively favor Shinto deities including Inari, whose help I sometimes ask for and who is famous for fox messengers, and not quite the same thing as a totem animal.
Early in my spiritual development I had a pair of spontaneous visions involving a golden eagle, which was highly significant to me at the time because at that point I saw the concept of totem animals as too commercialized and New Age-y, and it still confuses me that such a powerful-looking creature would have taken an interest in me.
I also once did a meditation to try and find a winged-animal astral form for myself, because it is a curious and annoying fact that I'm the only person I've ever heard of who has never flown even in a dream or out-of-body experience. I ended up as a scarab beetle---which has wings, but still can't fly. Oops. :p Still kind of cool to use as a shield, though.
I have had strong spiritual connections to several different animals, but am not sure I would feel comfortable defining one in particular as a main totem...
I have a trio of scorpions( basically, Male, Female, and Androgyne) who come and lead me sometimes in what I guess is kind of an astral state( not sure what you really call it), but lately as mentioned briefly over in the dream thread have had something going on with deer.
I have a few times encountered a spirit fox as a protective, soothing presence, but I think this is more because I predominately-though-not-exclusively favor Shinto deities including Inari, whose help I sometimes ask for and who is famous for fox messengers, and not quite the same thing as a totem animal.
Early in my spiritual development I had a pair of spontaneous visions involving a golden eagle, which was highly significant to me at the time because at that point I saw the concept of totem animals as too commercialized and New Age-y, and it still confuses me that such a powerful-looking creature would have taken an interest in me.
I also once did a meditation to try and find a winged-animal astral form for myself, because it is a curious and annoying fact that I'm the only person I've ever heard of who has never flown even in a dream or out-of-body experience. I ended up as a scarab beetle---which has wings, but still can't fly. Oops. :p Still kind of cool to use as a shield, though.
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Original post: Vindictus
Eh... I was going to wait for multiple opinions [and till I had enough spare cash] before I decided, but I figure I can handle having a pet snake- I just need to get a sturdy tank for one first, so my aunts dogs wont eat it... [Like they eat my clothes... Bad puppies.]
Eh... I was going to wait for multiple opinions [and till I had enough spare cash] before I decided, but I figure I can handle having a pet snake- I just need to get a sturdy tank for one first, so my aunts dogs wont eat it... [Like they eat my clothes... Bad puppies.]
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: Jenfucius
[QUOTE=alacardkane;347456]Hi everyone, this is something I got off another site, but it helped me quite well on things.
People that really wish to look into it, will find that they can actually have as this thing will show, ten "totems/ power" animals, however, there are always those "guide" spirits that will be outside this range that come and go.
now please remember that totems do not necissarily have to be animals. mythical or otherwise, I happen to have in this, two elements and what i call a "force of nature"
"Each person has nine animal totems that walk through life with them, teaching and guiding them.
These animals are found in 7 directions around your spirit:
East, South, West, North, Above, Below and Within.
The last two animals are walking beside you at all times;
your Right Side (male) and your Left Side (feminine).
They are your protectors.
The East totem guides you through spiritual challenges. It guards your path to illumination.
The South totem protects the child within and reminds you when to be humble and when to trust. It also helps heal your inner child.
The West totem leads on your path to personal truths and inner answers. It shows you the path to your goals.
The North totem gives wise counsel and when to speak and when to listen. It also reminds you to be grateful for each blessing each day.
The Above totem is the guardian of the Dreamtime and gives you access to other realms and dimensions.
The Below totem shows you how to stay on your life path and how to stay grounded to Mother Earth.
The Within totem is the protector of your sacred space. It teaches you how to find your life's joy.
The Right totem protects your Male side and it is your Father Protector. This animal carries your courage and warrior spirit.
The Left totem protects your Female side and teaches you how to nurture yourself and about relationships and mothering."
this was discovered later on another site, but it is also quite relevant.
~Shadow Totems~
What animal attacks have you been in?
* What scary or traumatic animal situations have you been in?
* Does seeing a certain animal bring up feelings of fear?
* What animal do you run from?
* What animals do you have reoccurring nightmares about?
* Does just watching TV with that animal appearing scare you?
Answering two questions with the same animal means you have a Shadow Totem you must address. Remember that the Shadow Totem will continually test you and work against you for you are it's prey. You must embrace the lesson of the animal totem and conquer your fear, accept the power of the Shadow totem, and bring it into the light as your spiritual totem.
A Shadow Animal Totem is those totems that test us. They have great power for us but will put us through tests before they will let their power work with and for us, instead of against us. In all of nature there is prey and predator. In the spiritual or Shadow World there is the same. A Shadow Animal Totem is one that initially you fear. The Shadow Totem often represents inner fears that you must overcome. You may have even been attacked by the animal; a very vivid test to see if you are ready to accept the power of the animal totem. Until you face the fears of the Shadow Animal Totem its powers will work against you, not letting you soar high. When you overcome the fear of the Shadow Animal Totem you bring it into the Light World as a Spirit animal totem and they become one of your most powerful Animal Totems. Your goal with a Shadow Totem is to learn the lessons and incorporate that animal into your life. If you are scared by something over and over then you still have not accepted the lesson that animal has for you.[/QUOTE]
I presume the site is a New Age type of site?
[QUOTE=alacardkane;347456]Hi everyone, this is something I got off another site, but it helped me quite well on things.
People that really wish to look into it, will find that they can actually have as this thing will show, ten "totems/ power" animals, however, there are always those "guide" spirits that will be outside this range that come and go.
now please remember that totems do not necissarily have to be animals. mythical or otherwise, I happen to have in this, two elements and what i call a "force of nature"
"Each person has nine animal totems that walk through life with them, teaching and guiding them.
These animals are found in 7 directions around your spirit:
East, South, West, North, Above, Below and Within.
The last two animals are walking beside you at all times;
your Right Side (male) and your Left Side (feminine).
They are your protectors.
The East totem guides you through spiritual challenges. It guards your path to illumination.
The South totem protects the child within and reminds you when to be humble and when to trust. It also helps heal your inner child.
The West totem leads on your path to personal truths and inner answers. It shows you the path to your goals.
The North totem gives wise counsel and when to speak and when to listen. It also reminds you to be grateful for each blessing each day.
The Above totem is the guardian of the Dreamtime and gives you access to other realms and dimensions.
The Below totem shows you how to stay on your life path and how to stay grounded to Mother Earth.
The Within totem is the protector of your sacred space. It teaches you how to find your life's joy.
The Right totem protects your Male side and it is your Father Protector. This animal carries your courage and warrior spirit.
The Left totem protects your Female side and teaches you how to nurture yourself and about relationships and mothering."
this was discovered later on another site, but it is also quite relevant.
~Shadow Totems~
What animal attacks have you been in?
* What scary or traumatic animal situations have you been in?
* Does seeing a certain animal bring up feelings of fear?
* What animal do you run from?
* What animals do you have reoccurring nightmares about?
* Does just watching TV with that animal appearing scare you?
Answering two questions with the same animal means you have a Shadow Totem you must address. Remember that the Shadow Totem will continually test you and work against you for you are it's prey. You must embrace the lesson of the animal totem and conquer your fear, accept the power of the Shadow totem, and bring it into the light as your spiritual totem.
A Shadow Animal Totem is those totems that test us. They have great power for us but will put us through tests before they will let their power work with and for us, instead of against us. In all of nature there is prey and predator. In the spiritual or Shadow World there is the same. A Shadow Animal Totem is one that initially you fear. The Shadow Totem often represents inner fears that you must overcome. You may have even been attacked by the animal; a very vivid test to see if you are ready to accept the power of the animal totem. Until you face the fears of the Shadow Animal Totem its powers will work against you, not letting you soar high. When you overcome the fear of the Shadow Animal Totem you bring it into the Light World as a Spirit animal totem and they become one of your most powerful Animal Totems. Your goal with a Shadow Totem is to learn the lessons and incorporate that animal into your life. If you are scared by something over and over then you still have not accepted the lesson that animal has for you.[/QUOTE]
I presume the site is a New Age type of site?
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: Vindictus
Actually, I think I have seen references to shadow totems in a couple of books on shamanism I scanned through. However, as they were from the public library they could have been newage shamanism.
Actually, I think I have seen references to shadow totems in a couple of books on shamanism I scanned through. However, as they were from the public library they could have been newage shamanism.
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: hunterwitch_bloodpact
im not sure on how accurate it is but cant u also tell what your animal totem is by birthdate and such
cuz i seen the information on the net a while ago
http://www.whats-your-sign.com/
this site is the closest thing i could find
any other info would be great
im not sure on how accurate it is but cant u also tell what your animal totem is by birthdate and such
cuz i seen the information on the net a while ago
http://www.whats-your-sign.com/
this site is the closest thing i could find
any other info would be great
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: alacardkane
honestly folks, It might be right.
but i don't beleive in that setup anymore. too many things have happened to me since i posted that.
best bet i find so far, is to just go with the flow and meet the totems and guides that come to you.
honestly folks, It might be right.
but i don't beleive in that setup anymore. too many things have happened to me since i posted that.
best bet i find so far, is to just go with the flow and meet the totems and guides that come to you.
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: Vindictus
Ah, but how do you meet a totem? I really dont think its that easy... Or if it is, I just suck at it. >.<
Ah, but how do you meet a totem? I really dont think its that easy... Or if it is, I just suck at it. >.<
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: hunterwitch_bloodpact
i found this a few days ago dunno if its correct or not
http://www.serioussilver.com/totemenergy/abouttotems.html#whatis
hope it works but i do believe it requires 2 people
i found this a few days ago dunno if its correct or not
http://www.serioussilver.com/totemenergy/abouttotems.html#whatis
hope it works but i do believe it requires 2 people
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: Vindictus
It looks interesting. I'll have to try it. Get back to you on that later.
It looks interesting. I'll have to try it. Get back to you on that later.
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Finding Your Spirit Animal
Original post: Aunt Clair
There is an excellent site callen Lin's Domain which includes many totem animal wisdoms .
We tend to have about 9 totems . Some will stay with us for life and others are with us for a stage of life only .
One meditation to commute with totemic animals is to lower the vibration somewhat using slow beating rhythms and guiding self down through Mother Earth to a cave where you sit underground in a tunnel of that cave upon a rock and watch as totems approach you . A Celtic drum works well . There are also meditation CDs available for sale which can help .
Here are some links :
http://forums.riverofenlightenment.com/ ... 164.0.html
http://forums.riverofenlightenment.com/ ... 251.0.html
There is an excellent site callen Lin's Domain which includes many totem animal wisdoms .
We tend to have about 9 totems . Some will stay with us for life and others are with us for a stage of life only .
One meditation to commute with totemic animals is to lower the vibration somewhat using slow beating rhythms and guiding self down through Mother Earth to a cave where you sit underground in a tunnel of that cave upon a rock and watch as totems approach you . A Celtic drum works well . There are also meditation CDs available for sale which can help .
Here are some links :
http://forums.riverofenlightenment.com/ ... 164.0.html
http://forums.riverofenlightenment.com/ ... 251.0.html
Re: Finding Your Spirit Animal
I'm going to sound a bit more dogmatic on this subject than I usually do; it doesn't mean I'm repeating some divine revelation here and that there are not exceptions.
Discovery
A person has to Journey to discover what their totem(s) will be. Even if there is a situation where the totem(s) 'break-through' into one's life and consciousness, it is best to Journey to confirm and to build the connections. It is possible that it will be an animal in which they have had an interest, but, often it is not. One does not pick a totem, one is chosen by the totem. One can interpret this as meaning that the totem is auto-generated by the subconscious internally or that it is an entity outside of the psyche (I go back and forth) but this speculation does not matter in practice. Also, no one can tell someone what their totem will be. It is a personal process of discovery. Perhaps they may have an idea that X is Wolf or Y is Shark, but, this is not definitive. Further, the idea that 'well, I don't like to get wet so I have a cat totem' is misapplying what the traits of a totem means. It's really not that trivial.
Dragons & the Nature of the Totems
Mention was made on the thread of Dragon as totem. It is here that I am going to say this is written is stone: Dragons are not totems in a Shamanic manner. The reason for this touches on the nature of the totems. Dragons are individuals. One may work with them or have a connection, even a deep one, with them but this is not the same as with a totem animal.
When one has Wolf as a totem, for example, the energetic connection is with the morphic field which animates all wolves. Wolf may have a set of traits, skills, a personality and knowledge and even relate to different Shaman differently, but this is still a corporate entity. This is why I say 'wolf' in the singular but with a capital letter. Wolf may even 'send a message' thru a physical wolf (totems do this) but that wolf is NOT Wolf. There was a German man several years ago who died when he broke into the bear cages at the Berlin zoo. The paper said he thought he could talk to bears. Let's assume he was not crazy but a junior shaman. Yes, he may have had a connection to Bear, but he seriously misunderstood this and assumed that was all bears like he was Adam Beach in the film Squanto.
Also, in passing, I would like to say I agree that one's totem in not one's Holy Guardian Angel. I think this is conflating two distinct concepts.
I am now stepping off my soap box.
Discovery
A person has to Journey to discover what their totem(s) will be. Even if there is a situation where the totem(s) 'break-through' into one's life and consciousness, it is best to Journey to confirm and to build the connections. It is possible that it will be an animal in which they have had an interest, but, often it is not. One does not pick a totem, one is chosen by the totem. One can interpret this as meaning that the totem is auto-generated by the subconscious internally or that it is an entity outside of the psyche (I go back and forth) but this speculation does not matter in practice. Also, no one can tell someone what their totem will be. It is a personal process of discovery. Perhaps they may have an idea that X is Wolf or Y is Shark, but, this is not definitive. Further, the idea that 'well, I don't like to get wet so I have a cat totem' is misapplying what the traits of a totem means. It's really not that trivial.
Dragons & the Nature of the Totems
Mention was made on the thread of Dragon as totem. It is here that I am going to say this is written is stone: Dragons are not totems in a Shamanic manner. The reason for this touches on the nature of the totems. Dragons are individuals. One may work with them or have a connection, even a deep one, with them but this is not the same as with a totem animal.
When one has Wolf as a totem, for example, the energetic connection is with the morphic field which animates all wolves. Wolf may have a set of traits, skills, a personality and knowledge and even relate to different Shaman differently, but this is still a corporate entity. This is why I say 'wolf' in the singular but with a capital letter. Wolf may even 'send a message' thru a physical wolf (totems do this) but that wolf is NOT Wolf. There was a German man several years ago who died when he broke into the bear cages at the Berlin zoo. The paper said he thought he could talk to bears. Let's assume he was not crazy but a junior shaman. Yes, he may have had a connection to Bear, but he seriously misunderstood this and assumed that was all bears like he was Adam Beach in the film Squanto.
Also, in passing, I would like to say I agree that one's totem in not one's Holy Guardian Angel. I think this is conflating two distinct concepts.
I am now stepping off my soap box.