[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]

No marks, just wanting to see what people think. :)

Nice reference to owl too. ;) I have a totem that is practically reviled by much of the more intellectual pagan community, lol, so I know what it's like to take the bad with the good. ;)