Faith, Fern and Compass Pro: (Protected Content)
In Weekend Pro Episode 106 – Totems and Angels, we probe a little more deeply into the spiritual side of our relationship with the animals and plants who share the planet with us by exploring the role of familiars, fetishes and totems in cultures from all over the world. Is there a way to enlist the help of these beings to reconnect the natural and the spiritual, or maybe even rediscover how they’ve been connected all along?
Jeff leads us in an exploration of familiars, fetishes and totems through a study of their history and etymology, drawing on examples from indigenous cultures, Christianity and modern American civil religion. We look at how familiars evolved from helpful household companions into domesticated demons, and the role that fetishes and totems play in offering alternatives for building meaningful community relationships outside of kinship hierarchies.
In an excerpt from his groundbreaking book, Becoming Animal, David Abram draws parallels between the religious iconography of angels and the very real guidance, protection and inspiration that avian familiars offered to our primate ancestors. In a series of articles on deep ancestral totemism, Lupa invites us to seek out ways of reconnecting with our own animal natures by seeking guides for our repitilian, old mammalian and new mammalian brains, and Ali wraps things up by turning our attention to the importance of trees and cultivated plants as the quiet but transformative members in our family of earthly beings.
This Weekend Pro episode is only available for our Pro Members. To learn more about becoming a Pro Member, click here.
—–
Links:
- Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology, by David Abram
- Deep Ancestral Totemism, by Lupa
- A Druid’s Herbal of Sacred Tree Medicine by Ellen Evert Hopman
- American Indian Myths and Legends (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library)
Music Credits:
- Opening and closing theme: “Dragonfly” by Brian Boyko
- “Grouse Mountain,” by Alison Doyle
Art Credits:
- Original photography by Alison Leigh Lilly
- Thanks to ~ Essence of a Dream ~ for the background texture!
Tags: angels, animals, David Abram, familias, Lupa, plants, symbol, totems
Great show :) one of the things I have been integrating hard core into my Druid studies is connecting with Land locally…..reaching out to the Alaskan animal and tree spirits, as well as studying the local herbology and ecology. I still am drawn to Celtic myths and spirituality, but Alaska is such a unique environment, at least from every other place I’ve lived, that it requires me to alter my way of thinking a bit in my religious practice. In my full moon rites, we call out to specific animal totems during our Nature Spirits offering and invite them individually by name ino the grove.
And this show reminded me of our recent Bealtainne ritual – smack dab in the middle of the rite we had a group of ravens break out into a riot of caws for a minute or two, then they just quieted. I have yet to discern the meaning of that but thought it quite awesome lol
That’s fantastic, Carol! Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I can only imagine just how different Alaska must be from the climate and ecosystems of our Celtic ancestors. Jeff and I recently moved out to Seattle from Pittsburgh, and even that’s a shift. (I still can’t get over how long the days are out here, this far north, now that we’re approaching the summer solstice!) I like to think that part of honoring our ancestors and living a spiritual life informed by Celtic myths and culture is, like those ancient Celts, being firmly grounded in the local landscape and all its diversity and wildness. It sounds like you’ve found a great way to do that with your own practice. :)
As for the ravens… let me know if you ever figure out what that was about. The crows around here go nuts whenever there’s an owl or bald eagle nearby, mobbing the intruder in order to drive them away from a protected area (like a roost). Perhaps the ravens were helping you guard your sacred space from similar intrusion? ;)