Valley Wands

Totems and animal spirit guides.

Within Wicca we have no real tradition that equates to Totem animals and animal spirit guides, yet many of us feel a great affinity for specific creatures that seem to have had an influence on our lives. For me there are three that have been for one reason or another important in my life. The horse, the otter and the buzzard.

I worked with horses of one sort or another for many years, starting with polo ponies when I was in the army and later with eventers and hunters, with the occasional thoroughbred race horse thrown in for good measure. Not just riding horses though, my affinity with the horse comes from living with them. From hour old foals, through all the stages of schooling them, feeding them, nursing them, grooming them. All the things that let a person get inside the mind of the horse, and perhaps more important, and a little scary, letting the horse get inside my mind.

Portrait of the blogger as a young man!

The otter is perhaps a little more peripheral, it hasn’t possessed me in quite the same way that the horse has. It has something to do with its lithe beauty, the way that it is in utter command of its environment. Its playfulness and dexterity as it performs its waterborne ballet with its mate. No other animal has been able to make me lie motionless on a river bank for long cold hours waiting for a few moments of reward that seldom comes. Ah, but WHEN that moment comes it is worth every bone chilling muscle cramping hour.

Then there is the buzzard, common as muck around here in rural Wales but they seem to follow me, I have even seen them in Bristol city centre, hardly the natural habitat for such a creature. Have you ever been in one of those unpleasant situations where you are apprehensive and nervous? Maybe a job interview or a hospital appointment? Yep and me, but somehow the buzzard always seems to appear at those moments and I know it’s all going to work out just fine.

So what is it about these animals that touches us so deeply? And why do so many people feel drawn to animals they have perhaps never seen in the wild? Wolves, bears, eagles and deer amongst others, all seem to have some strange attraction. But why? Here in the UK wild wolves and bears are non existent, eagles are damned scarce and few people have the skills and abilities needed to study deer in the wild. So why aren’t people drawn to the animals that are common and available for study? Garden birds, mice, foxes, rats, badgers and even insects, all of which are plentiful here seem to lack the attraction of the more glamorous creatures. Maybe that’s it, maybe it is a glamour thing. After all wolves are wild and mysterious, impressive and have a certain reputation. Moles on the other hand are small, blind, not particularly pretty, make a mess of your lawn and haven’t had the PR of the ‘glamour’ animals. But think a moment, why not the mole, or the rat or any of these ‘lesser’ animals? They are each uniquely suited to their individual niche in the environment, they are all specialists in one way or another and like all specialists they have specialist skills, lessons we can learn if we can just be bothered.

BB Hywel