moonvoice | [Vilturj] Totem popularity contests

Why some totems are more popular than others
Firstly, I don’t actually believe we choose our totem animal, but I do think that one of the reasons some animals are more popular than others is very much because people are trying to choose the animals which are most culturally or physiologically impressive. Those reasons are incorporated into this article, even though I don’t believe that chosen or hand-picked totem animals are as valid as those who choose you.

1. Cultural Prevalence.

Some cultures placed huge emphasis on a core set of animals that were to be available as totems, or that were sought after as the most powerful totem animals. Jaguar in South America is an example, as is bear in Northern Russia (which has higher status in some cultures than wolf or raven totem). Additionally, some cultures do not recognise the potential of insects, most fish and ‘smaller’ creatures as being totem material.

I personally think this is one example where the rigidity present in some older shamanic traditions has let the practice of totemism down. My perspective is that all animals have the ability to be valid and powerful totems, regardless of whether there is a great deal of cosmology already available for them (like coyote and raven), or whether there is almost none at all (like marsupial mole or tree kangaroo).

2. Cultural cross-pollination.

The more culturally popular animals tend to be more popular in neo-shamanism, especially if individuals have borrowed (or stolen) cosmologies from traditional cultures. For this reason, popular totems from the North American peoples have been further popularised by those people who wish to appropriate other cosmologies and pathways on their search for wisdom.

Consider how many more stories there are out there about raven, than about the red cardinal. While lesser known animals do have their own cosmologies, they don’t have the same big spiritual personalities as characters like the trickster coyote, or the more sombre teacher wolf.

3. It’s big and impressive!

Apex predators are – let’s face it – mighty impressive! Bear, wolf, jaguar, tiger, lion, lynx, eagle and many other peak predators have all earnt their place in many shamanic cultures because they are powerful animals and often successful hunters. This was extremely important from a functional perspective to warriors and people of power in hunter-gatherer communities, and so these animals were celebrated.

In contemporary times, people who choose their totems, tend to choose the animals which are either the biggest, the smartest, the baddest etc. It’s less functional these days than it was in the past, and tends to show that people aren’t choosing totems based on their functional relevance, but are instead choosing or selecting totems based on what will earn them status, appreciation or approval from others. It’s reflective of our modern culture’s trend of individualisation over community focus. The functionality of a totem is less relevant than how ‘showy’ it is in a pagan community.

4. Limited resources, low research.

The fact is, it’s easier to have a totem – if you’re choosing for yourself – if you’ve heard of it before. It once took me more than two months of fairly intensive research to figure out what an animal was that I saw in a journey. It was in a shamanic journey, and it may not have even been a real animal, but after enough research, I learnt that it was. But if I was lazier, or less experienced, I could have just accepted ‘mongoose-like creature,’ and assumed that it was ‘mongoose,’ (which it wasn’t).

It is difficult and not easy to identify some animals, especially if they are rare, endangered, not in your locality, unidentified, extinct etc. Dhole may have been trying to contact you for years, and for years you may have found it easier to just assume that the totem contacting you is ‘dog,’ or ‘dog-like thing,’ or another species of dog.

Even with great websites at your fingertips, good animal reference books, and other resources, it can still be a difficult and long journey to actually identify a totem animal or animal guide. For that reason, animals that are more well-known in our society are more often identified as totems.

5. Some animals are popularity-contest winners.

No, really. I firmly believe that some animals are popular totems not just because people have chosen them for their impressiveness, but because the animal energy itself is inclined to stretch a wide net over people.

Take wolf for example, wolf is a ridiculously, and I mean ridiculously common totem (especially when you consider that in some traditional cultures, wolf was popular in myths, but conferred 'lesser' status to a shaman or spiritual elder than some other animals). Wolf is so common now, that... it easily forms the bulk of most 'animal totems' for people that I know. It also seems to be the most common animal in therianthropy, and one of the most common animal guides in general. I think some people have chosen wolf because of its romanticised mysticism or alternatively ferocity. But I also genuinely believe that wolf energy just calls to more people than the very reclusive but powerful energy of wombat.

I've written about this trend in my totem file on wolf in general:

A lot of the students that choose or are chosen by wolf, will fail. By fail, I mean they will lose their way spiritually, fall off the path, ignore lessons, and superficially celebrate their connections until they eventually fade away. This is the choice of wolf, to teach a great deal in order to break through and share the true mysteries with a few who persevere and move past the beginning stages of their path. This is where wolf becomes a truly valuable teacher. Wolf as guide can be found here.

Some animals just seem to have a very accessible and open energy. And some animals don’t seem to mind being voluntarily chosen as ‘totem animals,’ (though whether they actually become totems over time – as opposed to a showy ‘badge’ to tell others about – remains to be seen).

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