Course Six: Spectrum, Part 2 253
When you are faced with prob-
lems in your life, reach down
into your deeper levels and call
up the power of your totem to
fill you and manifest through
you. If your totem is Coyote,
for instance, think, “What
would Coyote do?” Sometimes,
just visualizing your totem deal-
ing with the situation can give
you enough of a chuckle to pull
you through. I have a friend
whose totem is Lizard, but
sometimes it manifests as
Godzilla!
If you were living in a tribal
society, your totem would come
to you during a Vision Quest,
where you would go out into
the wilderness alone for a few
days to fast and meditate on
your Life Path and Mission, and
find your true magickal name.
You might meet your totem in
the Dreaming, or an actual liv-
ing animal might show up and
hang out with you. In tribal so-
cieties, such Vision Quests are a
rite of passage from childhood to ado-
lescence that everyone goes through
at the onset of puberty. Your totem
then becomes your special spiritual men-
tor during those formative years, guiding
you into adulthood.
If you are not able to do a Vision Quest,
however, you can still open yourself to finding
your totem through guided meditation and di-
rected dreaming. Take an astral journey through
the Dreaming, perhaps beginning, like Alice, by going
down a rabbit-hole. Once you have a totem, you should
always carry with you something representing that ani-
mal. A bit of fur, a feather, snakeskin, horn, tooth, claw,
or bone is, of course, a direct object link. But a tiny
carving or figurine will do, or even a picture. You can
wear it as jewelry or keep it in your mojo bag (or “medi-
cine pouch,” as it is also called).
When you have a totem, seek to learn all you can
about that species of animal—both its physical char-
acteristics and habits, and its magickal correspondences
and myths. Find out about its needs in the world of
Nature. Is its habitat threatened? Perhaps you can vol-
unteer or help raise money for an environmental group
that is working to save your totem animal. The lore of
totems may be found in the several sets of animal oracle
cards available: Medicine Cards and the Druid Ani-
mal Oracle are both excellent and can be found in many
bookstores.Lesson 3: Familiars
A familiar is an individual living animal
with whom you are deeply connected
and psychically bonded. Your famil-
iar should be attached to you spe-
cifically, and not just a family pet.
Usually quiet animals are the best,
as these tend to be most receptive
to your thoughts. When choosing
an animal for a familiar, keep in
mind that you may perform medi-
tations, healings, and magickal
rituals that last for some time, so
a familiar who will remain still for
that time is ideal.
To create a familiar bond, you
should be the primary human being
with which your familiar has close con-
tact. Ideally, you should raise them from
infancy and become their surrogate
(substitute) mommy—even if you are
a boy! You should do all their feed-
ing, cleaning, bathing, medicating,
changing their litter box, etc. Per-
haps you can even sleep together.
More than a pet, or even a companion,
your familiar is your best friend—and
you are its.
I recommend choosing a familiar with
a long life span, as you don’t want to be
starting all over in building such a deep bond
with a new animal every few years. Dogs and
cats live 10–20 years, and horses can reach 30.
Frogs can live 10–15 years, and toads to 40. Fe-
male tarantulas can reach 25. Owls and parrots
can live to 50–60, cockatoos over 100. Boas and
pythons live to 40–50; and some turtles can live up
to 200 years! But sadly, rodents, ferrets, and possums
all have very short lives. American possums only live
1–3 years, hamsters 2–3, rats 3–4, and ferrets 4–5. Bun-
nies come in next at 6–8.
The most important clue to sentience in any ani-
mal is whether it looks you right in the eyes when
communicating. Several times a day, you should hold
your familiar and gaze deeply into its eyes, building a
deep rapport (harmony) of love and trust between
you. Meditate together. Soon you will begin to com-
municate by sensing each other’s thoughts.Cats and Dogs
The most popular familiars, of course, are cats
and dogs. There are now 60 million dogs living in
American homes, and 70 million cats. Dogs were the
very first animals to be domesticated, more than 12,000
years ago, and cats were the last, about 4,000 years
ago (in Egypt, where they were worshipped). They- Spectrum 2.p65 253 1/15/2004, 9:31 AM