[Vilturj] Totem Philosophy Time.

[moonvoice]

Okay, a discussion is going on at Totem Animals at the moment, about Dolphin.

Now, someone mentioned that dolphin was about Love. I briefly mentioned that dolphin also is capable of acts that humans would consider terrible - gang-rape etc. that don't on the surface seem very loving.

Two people replied indicating that they thought this wasn't part of the dolphin's medicine.

My questions are these:

Should we ignore the more 'negative' aspects of an animal's medicine? Why or why not?

What are the dangers of ignoring or accepting the more destructive aspects of an animal's medicine?

Is it wise to reduce an animal's medicine to one or two themes only? For example, should dolphin be understood primarily as 'love', and should say the beaver be understood primarily as 'industriousness'?

What are the positives and negatives of thinking this way?

x-posted to totemoftheweek

Comments

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I saw it. I went to reply and then realised it's the one pagan community I'm probably not a member of *rolls eyes*. Person mentioned possum and rare animals as totems, and I have animals like common brushtail possum, cane toad, huon's tree kangaroo etc. on my Vilturr website already. :D I went to reply and thought 'g'damn!' Lol.

Cane Toad is a powerfully persistent medicine. ;)
I think I've met a few Cane Toad people in my life, particularly 'feral' Cane Toad people in Australia.

Only met one Platypus. :D