According to the tradition of some Native American tribes, every person is connected to nine different animals, which are said to accompany them throughout their lives and serve as guides.

Power animals are spiritual companions and supportive helper spirits

The beliefs of these tribes also explain that the totem animal accompanies us throughout our entire lives, in both the physical and spiritual worlds. Although people may identify with different guide animals over the course of their lives, it is this totem animal that acts as a guardian spirit.

Various guide animals, also known as power animals, enter and leave our lives, depending on the direction we take.

A connection to totem animals is established through a natural interest in a particular animal, through dreams or other interactions. For some people, discovering which animal is their totem is an almost involuntary process.

It is as though they had always known it, felt inexplicably drawn to the animal, or sensed a special connection to the totem animal’s energy.

A totem is a spiritual being, a sacred object or a symbol that serves as an emblem for a group of people, such as a family, a clan, a bloodline or a tribe.

The word “totem” is an anglicisation of the Ojibwe term “doodem”, but belief in spirits and guardian deities is not limited to the Ojibwe people.

Similar concepts, under different names and with variations in belief and practice, can be found in a number of cultures around the world.

The totem animal guides all aspects of life in Native American cultures: mental, emotional, spiritual and physical. Many indigenous cultures believe that people have a spiritual connection with these animals.

These beliefs stem from Native American culture and the tradition of hunting and gathering.

If someone felt a strong connection to one or more specific animals, or frequently saw that animal in their dreams, this was an indication of which totem animal was their spiritual guide.

Power animals as messengers of ancient cultures

In ancient cultures, priests and priestesses made contact with the spirits of animals through ritual ceremonies and external elements that allowed them to connect with the animal, such as masks, dances and trance dances. Through these rituals, they sought to establish a connection between the divine dimension of the spiritual world and the earthly dimension.

Through specific rituals, a complete identification with the symbolic meaning of the animal was achieved, and as a result, the person performing the ritual gained direct access to the symbolic power of the spiritual helper in animal form. Power animals are powerful, potent symbols. Each animal has an archetypal meaning and possesses certain qualities and characteristics that are made available to the person who connects with the power animal.

The animal kingdom offers an enormous variety of symbols that enable us to transcend our everyday consciousness and provide an impetus for the development of our intuition, creativity and self-awareness. Each power animal is associated with a specific meaning or quality. Connecting with power animals, meditating and performing rituals offer us the opportunity to receive various forms of support. Here is a brief overview:

Power animals have a protective and strengthening effect.
They convey messages for personal development.
They accompany and safeguard our life’s journey from the moment of birth.
Power animals provide protection during shamanic journeys, rituals and healing techniques.
They make us aware of the qualities we need to resolve a particular issue and inspire us to develop these abilities.

The origin of power animals

Traditional shamanic work with power animals originates from North American tribal religions, from the traditions of the Nordic and Siberian cultural spheres, and from the Arctic region. In these traditions, guardian spirits in animal form are soul companions who bestow protection, a sense of security and special powers upon the shaman. Spiritual companions in animal form are also found in Australian shamanism.

This supportive, spiritual presence in animal form assists the shaman on his spiritual journeys into different worlds. Power animals support the shaman’s work. Through his connection with these spiritual helpers in animal form, the shaman receives support; they accompany him on his journey through different worlds and protect and assist him in performing shamanic healing techniques.

Power animals and psychology: the role of power animals

Power animals are guardian spirits and soul companions. They offer the opportunity to experience protection whilst performing ritual ceremonies. Power animals are a person’s lifelong companions; they have a personal relationship with them, never leave their side and possess highly distinct personalities.

In some traditions, it is commonly believed that every person born into the world – not just shamans – has three power animals that protect them, support them in realising their potential and accompany them on their life’s journey. According to this belief, these three power animals represent the earthly realm, the realm of water and the heavenly realm respectively.

Power animals support people in specific matters and during certain stages of life. Every single animal – truly every animal, even the smallest and most unassuming – can become your power animal, your spiritual helper, a messenger of the goddess! The message from a power animal can vary: it may signify the obvious, or it may indicate that the time has now come for change or further development. The power animal points to a particular issue. Exactly how this relates to your life at present, and how you act on its guidance, is up to you.

How can you connect with power animals?

Access to one’s personal power animals or personal helper spirits – which accompany us throughout our lives and support us in specific situations and stages of life – is achieved through various methods.

There is a fascinating range of techniques that help you connect with your own power animals, e.g. guided visualisation exercises, shamanic journeys, trance dances, rituals or exploring specific questions about your own personal history and your connection to the animal kingdom. Various techniques are presented here that will enable you to connect with your power animals and gain insight.

Exercise: a questionnaire designed to help establish a connection with power animals

Take your time, read through all the questions and answer them intuitively. If it feels right to you, you can also answer them in writing. As you work through the following questions, you may find that several animals resonate with you. Set aside half an hour for this exercise, avoid any distractions, listen to your heart and do not let yourself be swayed solely by animals that strike you as aesthetically beautiful or powerful. Every creature in the animal kingdom carries within it a powerful message and symbolic power.

Which animal did you have special encounters with in nature and in your dreams during your childhood?
Which animals have you looked after over the course of your life?
Imagine you were given the chance to share your everyday life with a particular animal. Which animal would you choose?
Which animal has appeared to you most frequently, both during and since your childhood?
Which animal have you drawn or described most often?
Which animal do you have similarities with?
Which animal do you enjoy watching?
Which animal has repeatedly caught your attention in art and symbolism?
Which animal or animals do you notice most often in nature?
Have you been dreaming about a particular animal recently?
Which animals do you enjoy visualising?
Which animals would you like to have around you?
Do you have nightmares involving animals?
Which animal triggers feelings of fear or aversion in you?
Which animals are present in your home? In the form of pictures, photos, posters or books, key rings, etc.
Which animal do you feel a connection with?

Exercise: meditation for connecting with your power animal

Take a deep breath.
Relax.
Feel free.
Feel your body slowly coming to rest.
Take your time and feel the natural rhythm of your breathing.

You are now standing in a beautiful meadow.
The natural world around you radiates and welcomes you.
The sun is shining and its rays gently warm your skin.
You are completely relaxed and at ease.

Right in front of you, you can now see a beautiful tree with sturdy roots, a strong trunk and a radiant crown.
Go to this tree. Walk round it until you find an opening in the trunk; step through it there.
Sense where you want to go – up to the crown of the tree or deep down to the roots.

You are now in a beautiful spot surrounded by nature.
Everything around you is free, peaceful, joyful and full of life.
Sit down on the grass and feel the peace of nature in your heart.
Now feel your heartbeat.
Give thanks for the life within you.

Now, slowly and calmly, find within the centre of your heart the desire to connect with your power animal.
Invite it to appear here now.
Take your time and enjoy the silence.

The power animal is coming.
Observe its movements, its language, its shape and its colour.
Feel the depth of its gaze and invite it to convey its message to you.
Ask it to accompany you in your everyday life and feel its powerful strength.
What does it symbolise for you?
What kind of companionship do you wish for from it?
What do you need to feel good with it?

Invite it to share your everyday life with you over the coming weeks.
Ask it to convey its message to you in your dreams.
Then say thank you and walk through the tree again.
Return to where you began your journey.

Take four deep breaths into your stomach.
Place both hands one on top of the other on your stomach, just below your navel, and relax.
Feel your feet, your hands and your head.
Now slowly open your eyes.

After this meditative exercise, write down the message from your power animal. Also note down the feelings and emotions that the spiritual encounter with the animal evoked. Over the following two weeks, observe how you feel about the animal.

Perhaps your power animal appears to you in your dreams, or you think of the animal at certain times of the day. You could also place a photo of the animal somewhere where you can see it every day, such as in the hall, on the fridge or on the inside of your wardrobe.

Take your time to familiarise yourself with the world of power animals. Be patient as you engage with a particular power animal and allow yourself to be inspired by it. Usually, you will become aware of your power animal’s message through intuitive thoughts as you go about your daily life.

As you carry out this meditative exercise, try to consciously sense whether the animal that appears to you during the journey might be a guardian spirit accompanying you on your life’s journey, or an animal that supports you in achieving a particular goal or over a specific period of time.

Interpretation of power animals

Interpreting power animals is a fascinating part of shamanic teaching. By consciously engaging with power animals, it is possible to receive important messages that can help each person’s inner wisdom to unfold. Power animals, as we have already learnt, are wise companions on life’s journey.

When exploring this form of spirituality, it is essential not to rely solely on the interpretations of power animals found in books or on various websites, but rather to trust one’s own intuition. For example, a simple meditative exercise can help us connect with our power animals. Below are detailed descriptions of three beautiful, fascinating power animals to help you explore this intriguing topic.

The wolf – finding a balance between independence and connection

The wolf invites us to heed our inner wisdom, to listen to it, feel it and live by it. This animal appears as a power animal during a shamanic journey to remind us to find our inner strength and to be consciously aware of it. It reminds us that we are free, that we can determine the course of our lives, and that we ourselves are the highest authority in our lives. When the wolf appears in meditation, in dreams or in shamanic work, it says to us:

“Trust your intuition, be open to life’s challenges and remember that all obstacles on your life’s path are there to support your personal growth. You have the strength within you to overcome them and be free.”

“Consciously set aside time for the constructive solitude you need to connect with your innermost wisdom and feel it. Open yourself up to this level and relax completely. Feel completely free to follow your own path in life, and always remember that you are guided by the divine.”

The horse – the courage to be free

When the horse appears as a power animal, it invites us to live out our inner freedom and to find the courage to stand by our needs and the wild part within us. If the horse appears in power animal work, it is a call for the person to follow their own path.

The message of the horse, when it appears as a power animal, is:

“Feel your wild side within you, sense your need for freedom, walk your path consciously and let yourself be seduced by your inner strength. You are free; you are allowed to be completely free. Break the chains of your dependence and open yourself up to the multitude of possibilities that life has to offer.”

These two examples of messages conveyed to us by power animals are an invitation to respond intuitively to the power animal and to regard it, in harmony with the shamanic tradition, as a supportive presence and companion. Power animals are an expression of our intuitive, inner wisdom.

Be grateful to the animals; they are the source of your strength.
(Native American wisdom)

The world of power animals

Shamans believe that every human being has one or more guardians who protect and strengthen them. A person’s guardians are called power animals / spirit animals / spirit beings. They do not speak to their mind, but to their soul.

We perceive these animals as either female or male, and they have highly distinct personalities. The role of a power animal is to keep its charge healthy – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually – by providing guidance and support, or by issuing warnings. Here, the power animal fulfils the role that the Christian religion attributes to the guardian angel. Essentially, power animal and guardian angel are simply two terms for the same thing – a protector and helper from a higher spiritual power.

In everyday life, anyone can call upon their power animal when they need its energy, or when they are in danger or unwell. An individual’s relationship with their power animal or animals – whereby one power animal always stands out in particular during different stages of life – can take many different forms: In some cases, it is nothing but unconditional love and familiarity; in others, it is the question of what this animal is trying to tell me; or it may be a mixture of reverence and respect.

Power animals are also known as “spirits”, and this description closely reflects their nature, as they are spiritual beings that accompany and protect a person’s soul, guide it and heal it.

A power animal may provide direct insight into what is wrong, how to alleviate an illness, or what steps the client can take in their everyday life. Power animals represent the inner voice, pure intuition, and with the help of their eyes, we can see through the masks we have put on or that life holds up to us, thereby reaching our true selves.

Every single animal, truly every animal, even the smallest and most unassuming, can become your power animal, your spiritual helper, a messenger of the goddess! The message from a power animal can vary: it may signify the obvious, or it may indicate that the time has now come for change or further development. The power animal points to a particular issue. Exactly how this relates to your life at present, and how you act on its guidance, is up to you.

The symbolic meaning of the power animal

The power animal connects us with a love for the Earth and the other beings that live on it – that is to say: plants, trees, animals, but also places. A shaman senses the vibration of life even in a place. She or he can perceive this vibration and thus come into harmony with it or resonate with it.

The power animal is part of the shamanic tradition of the North American Indigenous peoples (from Canada to California and Mexico). These animals act as guides and also as lifesavers. Animals can sense water and head towards it, thereby helping humans to survive.

The animal provides strength, food and water. Native Americans moved across the land with the seasons, just like the animals. A power animal reminds us that we can draw strength and receive help; and, in essence, within the shamanic tradition, the animal is a form of medicine.

Working with the medicine of power animals means working with their healing power. The animal lives in a group, and the group has a collective soul. The shaman connects with the soul of the power animals and asks the animal’s vibration to support the healing process.

The eagle as a power animal (as an example)

The eagle is the messenger of spirituality; it appears as an invitation to feel and to trust that there is a divine truth and justice, and that reality, as we experience it, invites us to take on the role of an observer and to question what our life is really like.

The eagle says: Question your life; recognise the deep interconnections of life. For me, working with animals is a powerful shamanic tool, provided people are open to it. I believe that animals are a bridge to love, to the Earth, and to all living beings on Earth.

Notes on working with power animals

The connection to the power animal begins by expanding our consciousness. We think about it, and in the next moment, through this work, we suddenly sense that it is possible to communicate with the animal kingdom and with individual animals. The first step, therefore, is to admit to ourselves that it is possible to communicate with animals.
As we take steps to focus our attention on shamanism, it is important to recognise that the power animal is a messenger – a messenger of a healing vibration. Every animal has a medicine, and the North American Indians (the Hopi and Navajo) say that shamans are accompanied by power animals and have internalised the medicine of these animals.
In other words, whilst the fundamental vibration with which they work is that of the power animal, power animals can not only accompany us throughout our lives but also be there for us at specific moments. A power animal is often a ritual companion which supports and protects the energy field of a ritual and, through its vibration, helps to anchor that ritual within the Earth’s energy field and within the energy field of the person or people involved in the ritual.
A power animal does not have to be a living animal; it can also be from another time and present on Earth solely in energetic form. It is also possible for a power animal to be an extinct animal (such as a dinosaur) or even a combination of two animals. The power animal is a companion. It accompanies you with its vibration, which is a healing vibration; this can be a process lasting for a shorter or longer period of time. Life, too, is a process, a journey.
The power animal is always also an advisor, a wise companion. You can also consult your power animal on your journeys and draw on its wisdom for yourself, regarding this ability as a gift. In silence, thoughts arise – our inner voice, which is connected to the power animal – and then we can discern whether it is merely a figment of the imagination or not. For when the power animal is present, there is complete tranquillity around us and we are relaxed. If one’s mind is very active, one should ask for strength.

Power animal interpretations

A few tips on how you can interpret encounters with power animals independently and from a symbolic perspective:

In some Native American tribes, water animals were regarded as healers, air animals were associated with leadership qualities, and earth animals offered protection.
In Western disciplines, water is associated with feeling and emotion; air represents the mind and intellect; and earth symbolises matter and form.
Furthermore, it is important whether, during a journey, you encounter two animals – a pair, such as siblings or friends of the same species, or even two different animals. Observe whether they get on well together. If they do, this indicates cooperation, harmony, a balance of polarities and love. If they are in conflict with one another and do not get on, this signifies imbalance, conflicting energies and an imbalance of polarities.
In your imagination, some animals appear in all sorts of rainbow colours.
Engaging with power animals that appear in dreams, during meditation or in visualisations leads significantly to greater self-awareness and self-assessment and to an improved sense of inner alignment! Through power animals, we come closer to our core, and they guide us towards a down-to-earth, reality-conscious spirituality. They help us to restore health to our body, mind and soul. Especially at times when we are in pain or have serious concerns about our health, we can find support in them.

Power animals: psychological and spiritual significance, with a quiz, exercises and a power animal meditation