Tag: Animal totems

  • Gecko Totem: Renewal, Resilience, and the Gift of Adaptation

    Gecko Totem: Renewal, Resilience, and the Gift of Adaptation

    The geckos that flourish around my century-old house feel like more than neighbors. They’re survivors who’ve mastered the art of renewal—shedding what no longer fits, regrowing what was lost, and clinging even when the world shifts beneath them. The gecko totem has a lot to teach.

  • How a Pagan Goes to Church: Woodpecker Totem Song

    How a Pagan Goes to Church: Woodpecker Totem Song

    In this week’s Cathedral of Nature, I was greeted by my resident woodpecker in the backyard. Technically, he wasn’t in my back yard. This tree is on community property about six inches from my property line. The pine died around the time Hurricane Opal (1995) hit my home and, while I removed other damaged trees…

  • Talking to Animals

    Talking to Animals

    Sometimes we choose special animals–including birds and insects–and sometimes they choose us. “But Mommy,” my older daughter protested, “animals can’t talk!” Okay, so my response to her question about animal totems had failed and failed miserably. As I explained how animals have different spiritual meanings and how what they represent can “speak” to us, she…