Animals grace our world not only on this plane, but also in the spirit realm. If we are open to their messages, they can help to guide, protect, inspire, and encourage us. Many people identify strongly with one particular animal, their power animal. I found my power animal several years ago through a guided meditation while taking a class. I still feel a strong connection to that animal, but also happily welcome the help of many animal guides.
In his books Power Animals and his later expanded version Animal Spirit Guides, Steven D. Farmer, Ph.D, explains how animal guides help us throughout our life. Some come to us when we are children and stay with us our whole lives, while others come to help us for only a short time and leave. Farmer’s books can be used in several ways.
If you haven’t already discovered your personal power animal, you will find guidance on how to do this in Farmer’s books. You can then look up the information about your animal. Farmer also provides information about how and why you may want to call upon other animals for assistance at different times in your life. Most often I use these books to explain the messages that an animal may bring when it shows up in my life in an unusual manner or repeatedly in a short period of time. These animals may appear in real life or as a figurine, picture, and even stuffed animals. You may also see them in dreams, visions, and meditations. Over the years I have learned that when a specific animal shows up in my life frequently or in a unique way, I should pay attention.
Uninvited Guests
Several months ago I was trying to discourage wasps from building a nest 20 feet up on the eaves of my house. Since this was directly above the spot where my dogs hang out, the wasps were unwelcome guests, and I had to knock their newly constructed nest from the eaves. (Not an easy task, I might add!) Doing this once is usually enough to discourage them, for the season at least, but this time the wasps were attempting to rebuild their nest a day or two later, and I had to knock it down again. I have to admit that dealing with wasps is not my favorite task, and I liked it even less when one began chasing me around at work the next day. (Made me wonder if the home wasps had ratted me out?)
The wasps weren’t done with me yet, however, because the very next day when I was leaving for work, they made a third attempt to get my attention. Coat on, arms loaded, heading through the family room for the front door, I stopped suddenly, took two steps back, and was stunned. Right there on the wall of my family room was a wasp! I put everything down, kindly escorted the wasp out the front door, and went to fetch Farmer’s book. There had to be a message behind these frequent encounters.
I found the page for wasp and read the possible meanings and one was quite clear. It said that for the next few weeks I needed to keep my attention on my responsibilities and obligations. I laughed because it was the end of the school year, and as a teacher my brain was already looking forward to summer vacation. I’d been struggling to keep my mind focused on all the end of the school year details.
An Unexpected Hitchhiker
Sometimes an animal shows up in an unusual way like the morning I went to retrieve my shoes from the front porch. As I picked them up, I noticed there was a large brown piece of dried grass on one of the shoelaces…or so I thought. I was about to flick it off when I stopped myself and took a closer look. It was a praying mantis! It was only about 2 inches long and a pale brown color. I’d never seen a praying mantis in my yard before, although, strangely enough, a couple weeks earlier while rescuing a large green one at work, I had thought how cool it would be to have some in my own garden. And here one was! I was fascinated. We observed each other for a long time, and then with much convincing, he reluctantly stepped onto a nearby leafy plant so I could be on my way.
Intrigued, I later looked up the meaning of praying mantis. I smiled because the first thing I read said that I should take up a martial arts or Chi Gong or Tai Chi because they are meditative and spiritual. Well, it just so happened that I had finished a 4 week Tai Chi class the week before. Now I was struggling with the challenge of trying to include this practice in my day.
I enjoy these little magical messages. They cause me to pause and reflect upon my life. They help to give me direction. Whether you truly believe in these serendipitous animal visits or not, it really doesn’t matter. You can just enjoy the whimsy of them and have fun. But don’t be surprised if the messages you receive really hit home!