[Vilturj] Aspecting with prey animals
Mar. 6th, 2008 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonvoiceI have been working on this article for aaaaages. Decided to finish it today. Hope you like.
Prey Animal Aspecting
Prey energy is everywhere. Almost all animals have adaptations that they have assimilated that assist them as ‘prey’ animals, even as they have adaptations that help them to predate on plants or other animals. There is no one animal that is solely a ‘prey’ animal, or solely a ‘predator.’ All animals are at risk of being predated upon (some much more than others) and all animals are predators to a degree, whether they hunt ‘grass’ or ‘algae,’ or catch and kill deer for breakfast. The same goes for humans!
Through my own observations of the online and offline pagan communities today; many people seem to have totems or guides that are carnivorous or omnivorous. Herbivorous animals tend to be left by the wayside, with a few exceptions like horse, rabbit and deer. Herbivorous animals are even outright disdained for being the weaker animals. This potentially originated from a time when animal predator energy was respected as being the stronger and more necessary energy among hunters in hunter / gatherer societies. It’s certainly been bolstered by the belief these days that many predatorial animals (particularly apex or ‘top’ predators like tigers) are charismatic and cool. And who can blame them? There’s a certain showiness to having lynx as a totem, instead of harvest mouse or sparrow.
Aspecting with animals that are more classically thought of as ‘prey’ animals (such as most herbivores) can help us to understand how we can better protect ourselves from danger and predators. It can help us to conserve energy and live efficiently, and can also help us not to underestimate animals that are often thought of as ‘prey.’ It allows us to access deep wells of power, endurance and persistence which can complement ‘predator’ aspects and aid us – I believe – in achieving a greater sense of wholeness or balance.
Aspects of the Prey Mentality and Adaptation
CAMOUFLAGE – Developing colouring or patterning that is bland and matches in with the landscape is a successful defence mechanism that can be used to prevent any confrontation (it is also, on the other hand, employed by some predators to aid their ability to move closer to an animal).
From a prey perspective, avoiding confrontation conserves energy and in turn helps us to better observe our surroundings without being observed. We can use such techniques while journeying in order to move more freely in some parts of the Otherworlds, and often we become better able to spot those who use camouflage once we ourselves have tried it.
Likewise, camouflage can also be used to further enable our ability to façade in the everyday, or perform the sort of mundane shapeshifting that allows us to fit in with different groups of people in order to best afford conflict that is unhealthy or unhelpful without sacrificing the parts of our personality that we wish to keep. In other words, we can learn how to change ourselves to ‘fit in’ better, without becoming a doormat, or losing a sense of who we are.
Animals to consider working with to specifically aspect camouflage: pronghorn antelope, ibex, chameleon (as both prey and predator), arctic hare, tawny frogmouth, Malaysian horned frog (and many other frogs and toads as both prey / predator), sloth, flounder, kangaroo, meerkat, many caterpillars / fish.
ALERTNESS – Most prey animals cannot afford to sleep as much as many keystone or apex predators, and predators in general. Animals that tend to sleep the most, are those which hunt meat and need to feed less often, or that are at less risk of being predated upon. The animals that sleep the least; like the horse, do so because they must protect themselves and their herd from other horses and predators.
Remaining alert is the act of continuously and consistently giving something your attention. It can be very handy for people who have projects to complete, those who have exams they wish to study for with consistency, and those who wish to simply foster a greater sense of ‘awakeness’ into their lives (remember to balance this with rest, because we’re not horses). In short bursts, aspecting with prey alertness can allow us to scan situations with greater perception, and apply ourselves with greater concentration to immediate projects.
Working specifically with animal alertness can also help us to distinguish the difference between useless anxiety, and useful ‘stress’ or awakeness. This can be very handful in contemporary times, where instances of anxiety and those with anxiety disorders are growing. Learning to differentiate between healthy stress; and worry that impedes us from everyday tasks can make the difference between health and ill-health.
Some animals to consider working with to specifically aspect alertness: horse, donkey, giraffe, elephant, sheep, kangaroo, cow and goat.
DEFENSE vs. OFFENSE – Many animals when acting as prey, are very fast movers, and adept at running or dodging, or they use camouflage and simply ‘avoid’ confrontation. Aspecting with defensive strategy, instead of offensive strategy, can allow us to better conserve our energy and teach us to see when it is beneficial to step back from confrontation.
In everyday life, this can be made manifest in the act of withdrawing from a situation before a confrontation can even take place. It can appear in having the sense to not walk down a dark alleyway, or in simply avoiding people who feel dangerous.
While confrontation is certainly necessary at some points in our life, it is not always necessary. Aspecting with prey animals to learn when to avoid, walk away or recognise when something is not worth your time, will enable you to conserve energy for healthier or more realistic goals.
Animals to consider working with to specifically aspect defensive mechanisms: almost all deer / antelope, rock wallaby, rabbit, bat, sparrow / swallow, butterfly, dragonfly and mouse.
GROW UP – Some newborn prey animals are precocial, meaning that they’re able to walk and run within the first few hours of being born. This is important, because they are most at risk (along with the sick and old) of being predated upon.
Precocial behaviour teaches us how to learn something quickly, particularly if an old habit or negative behaviour is literally causing us to be predated upon by ourself (such as our own self-hatred), or by others.
One thing to beware of when aspecting with precocial animals, is that this sort of aspecting should not be done over the long-term as it can be very draining. It is most useful when there is a particular block that you are up against and cannot seem to get past. It is not for learning lessons over a period of time. Aspecting with precocial behaviour can lead to a burn out of energy. Try it in small doses if you’re not sure how you’ll go with this sort of prey aspecting, you should notice some success within about a day or so of aspecting with this specific type energy if it is working well.
Animals to consider aspecting with for precocial qualities are: many birds are precocial, like malleefowl (which are superprecocial, and have full wing feathers upon birth), scrubfowl, brush-turkey, chicken, guinea pig, hare and many hoofed animals.
IMMEDIACY – Prey animals must react on instinct immediately (as must predators, but we’re talking from a prey perspective here); they cannot afford to question a fear or startle response. Worse, they can definitely not afford to ignore it. Responding with immediacy can be the difference between getting away from a pride of lions, or becoming their dinner.
Working with prey animal immediacy can teach us not to ‘hum’ and ‘hah’ over important decisions; particularly ones pertaining to our health and our quality of life. It can be very scary to make important but necessary medical decisions, or decisions regarding promotions at work, or even decisions within a relationship (whether to cut it off, have a break, or keep going at it).
Aspecting with immediacy teaches one how to see through to the heart of the matter and trust one’s instincts. This sort of aspecting is particularly helpful for people who have damaged instincts due to abuse, who need to learn how to reconnect with their own inner trust and truths.
Animals to consider connecting with for immediacy are: most species of hoofed animal like horse and deer, bat, insects (like fly),
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS – The most popular prey animals, and many of the most successful (like the rabbit) live communally. I don’t think it is any coincidence that some of the bigger ‘prey’ animals that live in numbers, like the elephant and cape buffalo, are considered some of the most dangerous animals in the wild; and the bison is sometimes considered more dangerous than the wolf in America. When you have the strength of your herd or pack behind you, you become a force to be reckoned with!
There is of course the idea that if you surround yourself by others, you are less likely to be ‘singled out.’ Some people like being singled out, or standing out in a crowd, but just as many people don’t enjoy this sort of attention and prefer to blend in. Prey aspecting with communal animals can help you to ‘blend in’ more effectively while you are still figuring out where you stand in the crowd.
Additionally, when you surround yourself by others in a community, you lend your strength to them, but they also lend their strength to you. It can be a very empowering experience to be in an offline or online community of people who have similar beliefs to yours, who will help you and protect you in a heartbeat. Likewise protecting someone else with a similar cause to yours can remind us of our inter-relationships with others and how important they are.
Animals to aspect with for a strong sense of community are: elephant, cape buffalo, bison, hippopotamus, horse, many hooved animals like deer, rabbit, hare, kangaroo, wallaby, parrots like the galah, black cockatoo, budgerigah and lorikeet, insects like the bee and ant.
In Conclusion
This is just a peek into the ways that you can consider working with ‘prey’ animals, or prey animal characteristics, in order to better your own connection with nature, others, and yourself. As you work more extensively with animals that you may think of as prey animals, you will see that they carry very strong characteristics of predation as well.
No animal exists solely in the realm of prey or predator; but sometimes singling our characteristics of prey-type adaptations, and predation-based ones can help you to aspect with those characteristics and develop closer relationships to animals with such characteristics.
x-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
the_animist
Prey Animal Aspecting
Prey energy is everywhere. Almost all animals have adaptations that they have assimilated that assist them as ‘prey’ animals, even as they have adaptations that help them to predate on plants or other animals. There is no one animal that is solely a ‘prey’ animal, or solely a ‘predator.’ All animals are at risk of being predated upon (some much more than others) and all animals are predators to a degree, whether they hunt ‘grass’ or ‘algae,’ or catch and kill deer for breakfast. The same goes for humans!
Through my own observations of the online and offline pagan communities today; many people seem to have totems or guides that are carnivorous or omnivorous. Herbivorous animals tend to be left by the wayside, with a few exceptions like horse, rabbit and deer. Herbivorous animals are even outright disdained for being the weaker animals. This potentially originated from a time when animal predator energy was respected as being the stronger and more necessary energy among hunters in hunter / gatherer societies. It’s certainly been bolstered by the belief these days that many predatorial animals (particularly apex or ‘top’ predators like tigers) are charismatic and cool. And who can blame them? There’s a certain showiness to having lynx as a totem, instead of harvest mouse or sparrow.
Aspecting with animals that are more classically thought of as ‘prey’ animals (such as most herbivores) can help us to understand how we can better protect ourselves from danger and predators. It can help us to conserve energy and live efficiently, and can also help us not to underestimate animals that are often thought of as ‘prey.’ It allows us to access deep wells of power, endurance and persistence which can complement ‘predator’ aspects and aid us – I believe – in achieving a greater sense of wholeness or balance.
Aspects of the Prey Mentality and Adaptation
CAMOUFLAGE – Developing colouring or patterning that is bland and matches in with the landscape is a successful defence mechanism that can be used to prevent any confrontation (it is also, on the other hand, employed by some predators to aid their ability to move closer to an animal).
From a prey perspective, avoiding confrontation conserves energy and in turn helps us to better observe our surroundings without being observed. We can use such techniques while journeying in order to move more freely in some parts of the Otherworlds, and often we become better able to spot those who use camouflage once we ourselves have tried it.
Likewise, camouflage can also be used to further enable our ability to façade in the everyday, or perform the sort of mundane shapeshifting that allows us to fit in with different groups of people in order to best afford conflict that is unhealthy or unhelpful without sacrificing the parts of our personality that we wish to keep. In other words, we can learn how to change ourselves to ‘fit in’ better, without becoming a doormat, or losing a sense of who we are.
Animals to consider working with to specifically aspect camouflage: pronghorn antelope, ibex, chameleon (as both prey and predator), arctic hare, tawny frogmouth, Malaysian horned frog (and many other frogs and toads as both prey / predator), sloth, flounder, kangaroo, meerkat, many caterpillars / fish.
ALERTNESS – Most prey animals cannot afford to sleep as much as many keystone or apex predators, and predators in general. Animals that tend to sleep the most, are those which hunt meat and need to feed less often, or that are at less risk of being predated upon. The animals that sleep the least; like the horse, do so because they must protect themselves and their herd from other horses and predators.
Remaining alert is the act of continuously and consistently giving something your attention. It can be very handy for people who have projects to complete, those who have exams they wish to study for with consistency, and those who wish to simply foster a greater sense of ‘awakeness’ into their lives (remember to balance this with rest, because we’re not horses). In short bursts, aspecting with prey alertness can allow us to scan situations with greater perception, and apply ourselves with greater concentration to immediate projects.
Working specifically with animal alertness can also help us to distinguish the difference between useless anxiety, and useful ‘stress’ or awakeness. This can be very handful in contemporary times, where instances of anxiety and those with anxiety disorders are growing. Learning to differentiate between healthy stress; and worry that impedes us from everyday tasks can make the difference between health and ill-health.
Some animals to consider working with to specifically aspect alertness: horse, donkey, giraffe, elephant, sheep, kangaroo, cow and goat.
DEFENSE vs. OFFENSE – Many animals when acting as prey, are very fast movers, and adept at running or dodging, or they use camouflage and simply ‘avoid’ confrontation. Aspecting with defensive strategy, instead of offensive strategy, can allow us to better conserve our energy and teach us to see when it is beneficial to step back from confrontation.
In everyday life, this can be made manifest in the act of withdrawing from a situation before a confrontation can even take place. It can appear in having the sense to not walk down a dark alleyway, or in simply avoiding people who feel dangerous.
While confrontation is certainly necessary at some points in our life, it is not always necessary. Aspecting with prey animals to learn when to avoid, walk away or recognise when something is not worth your time, will enable you to conserve energy for healthier or more realistic goals.
Animals to consider working with to specifically aspect defensive mechanisms: almost all deer / antelope, rock wallaby, rabbit, bat, sparrow / swallow, butterfly, dragonfly and mouse.
GROW UP – Some newborn prey animals are precocial, meaning that they’re able to walk and run within the first few hours of being born. This is important, because they are most at risk (along with the sick and old) of being predated upon.
Precocial behaviour teaches us how to learn something quickly, particularly if an old habit or negative behaviour is literally causing us to be predated upon by ourself (such as our own self-hatred), or by others.
One thing to beware of when aspecting with precocial animals, is that this sort of aspecting should not be done over the long-term as it can be very draining. It is most useful when there is a particular block that you are up against and cannot seem to get past. It is not for learning lessons over a period of time. Aspecting with precocial behaviour can lead to a burn out of energy. Try it in small doses if you’re not sure how you’ll go with this sort of prey aspecting, you should notice some success within about a day or so of aspecting with this specific type energy if it is working well.
Animals to consider aspecting with for precocial qualities are: many birds are precocial, like malleefowl (which are superprecocial, and have full wing feathers upon birth), scrubfowl, brush-turkey, chicken, guinea pig, hare and many hoofed animals.
IMMEDIACY – Prey animals must react on instinct immediately (as must predators, but we’re talking from a prey perspective here); they cannot afford to question a fear or startle response. Worse, they can definitely not afford to ignore it. Responding with immediacy can be the difference between getting away from a pride of lions, or becoming their dinner.
Working with prey animal immediacy can teach us not to ‘hum’ and ‘hah’ over important decisions; particularly ones pertaining to our health and our quality of life. It can be very scary to make important but necessary medical decisions, or decisions regarding promotions at work, or even decisions within a relationship (whether to cut it off, have a break, or keep going at it).
Aspecting with immediacy teaches one how to see through to the heart of the matter and trust one’s instincts. This sort of aspecting is particularly helpful for people who have damaged instincts due to abuse, who need to learn how to reconnect with their own inner trust and truths.
Animals to consider connecting with for immediacy are: most species of hoofed animal like horse and deer, bat, insects (like fly),
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS – The most popular prey animals, and many of the most successful (like the rabbit) live communally. I don’t think it is any coincidence that some of the bigger ‘prey’ animals that live in numbers, like the elephant and cape buffalo, are considered some of the most dangerous animals in the wild; and the bison is sometimes considered more dangerous than the wolf in America. When you have the strength of your herd or pack behind you, you become a force to be reckoned with!
There is of course the idea that if you surround yourself by others, you are less likely to be ‘singled out.’ Some people like being singled out, or standing out in a crowd, but just as many people don’t enjoy this sort of attention and prefer to blend in. Prey aspecting with communal animals can help you to ‘blend in’ more effectively while you are still figuring out where you stand in the crowd.
Additionally, when you surround yourself by others in a community, you lend your strength to them, but they also lend their strength to you. It can be a very empowering experience to be in an offline or online community of people who have similar beliefs to yours, who will help you and protect you in a heartbeat. Likewise protecting someone else with a similar cause to yours can remind us of our inter-relationships with others and how important they are.
Animals to aspect with for a strong sense of community are: elephant, cape buffalo, bison, hippopotamus, horse, many hooved animals like deer, rabbit, hare, kangaroo, wallaby, parrots like the galah, black cockatoo, budgerigah and lorikeet, insects like the bee and ant.
In Conclusion
This is just a peek into the ways that you can consider working with ‘prey’ animals, or prey animal characteristics, in order to better your own connection with nature, others, and yourself. As you work more extensively with animals that you may think of as prey animals, you will see that they carry very strong characteristics of predation as well.
No animal exists solely in the realm of prey or predator; but sometimes singling our characteristics of prey-type adaptations, and predation-based ones can help you to aspect with those characteristics and develop closer relationships to animals with such characteristics.
x-posted to
the_animist
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 12:42 am (UTC)Thank you so much for posting this. Your words have given me much to contemplate. Especially:
Precocial behaviour teaches us how to learn something quickly, particularly if an old habit or negative behaviour is literally causing us to be predated upon by ourself (such as our own self-hatred), or by others.
*bow*
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 02:12 am (UTC)Thank you very much. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 12:45 am (UTC)is goodness. :-)
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 01:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 01:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 01:18 am (UTC)So this is based on work that was done some time ago.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 01:30 am (UTC)And my pleasure, I hope you get something out of it. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 01:27 pm (UTC)I love your icon. *grin*
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 01:29 pm (UTC)Wow, and thank you!
I've always liked chickens / goats etc. a great deal, and birds like the malleefowl and the grass-eating wallabies. I do love the predators, but there's a special place in my heart for the 'we seem unassuming but really we're not,' prey animals too.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 01:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 01:29 pm (UTC)Thank you so much gorgeous.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 02:14 am (UTC)but, after reading this, i think working with both types of animals is beneficial, instead of just the one. (although i don't do totem work o.o).
:3
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 07:22 am (UTC)Off the top of my head at 2am with more of an interest in animal guide work than much confirmed practice...Rabbit's about smarts. Rabbit has a lot of different strategies to use when the shit hits the fan, so to speak. Alertness, that idea of ears pricked and nose twitching to sniff the wind, awareness of what's going down...
Something about the way rabbits will freeze when confronted with predators, there's a message there that I had a moment ago but then I lost because it's 2:21 in the morning for me. Something about....not quite waiting for the storm to pass over, but like that. It's a camouflage tactic, not making yourself a target. Conserving the attention that could be drawn to you.
There's also an elemental of interpersonal skill, about solving your problems through interacting and relating to other people, and being able to network and move around, that's poking me in the back of my head and vaguely saying "Rabbit's about this too!" I'm not quite sure why, but rabbits -do- live in warrens. So that right there is social, though I don't know much about warren structure.
Rabbits exist worldwide, and there's a lot of 'cultural energy' associated with them, so to speak. From the chinese folklore about rabbits in the moon, to the Br'er rabbit stories with a trickster sort of rabbit, which probably drew on the old Anansi stories brought over by African peoples captured in the slave trade.
Off the top of my head in Chinese astrology, Rabbits are tactful and diplomatic. See? There's that 'relating to people smoothly' idea again!
But I'm also willing to bet that you were born in a year of the Fire Rabbit, and so that fiery energy modifies things a bit....
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 07:46 am (UTC)And some rabbits do not freeze when confronted, but will actively charge forward or attack.
Rabbit is easily underestimated, but that is one of rabbit's strengths. If you underestimate your opponent, you will be sorely beaten by them. And rabbit is a great example of a 'I'm really fluffy on the outside, but strong as steel on the inside,' mentality.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 02:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 02:24 am (UTC)What a great piece.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 03:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 03:42 am (UTC)Now if I could just get down the Vulcan mind scan and travel to Australia all would be good. ;P
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 06:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 07:33 am (UTC)Partially, it reminds me of the running joke at my last college that I was clearly supposed to be some kind of deer or ungulate...because I would eat the grass on campus from time to time, I liked to run about a bit and perch on tall things, and in general I was more fond of eating vegetables, and more picky about my veggies and meats, than this friend. (And I 'had slight groupie tendencies,' as I would continue the joke.)
Many, many, species of ungulate, be they deer or bovine, sheep goat or antelope, are beautiful and striking creatures. I don't think I'd have a problem (at least, as far as ego and attitude goes) asked one of the hooved ones for aid or advice.
...seriously, sometimes it seems like all of Africa is ignored by the totemist community. Well, okay, everyone loves a leopard or a panther, and I suppose some of the eagles and jackals get press, vultures sometimes too...but Lion/Lioness doesn't even seem to be a common Big Cat. Secretary Bird, anyone? Much less anyone talking about one of my personal favorites, Greater Kudu. (Seriously. They're gorgeous.) Or even cape buffalo or wildebeest.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 07:44 am (UTC)You mean the neo-totemist community, for indeed indigenous practice in Africa is far more healthy than some of the nations of indigenous peoples in people like North America, let alone the UK.
Australian and African animals have no need of being picked up by other cultures, they still are able to communicate so strongly within the cultures that worship and venerate them. So while Lion may be hugely significant to some of the indigenous African cultures, Lion may not go out of its way as much as a 'forgotten' totem like wolf somewhere like America.
I sometimes think this has something to do with why some animals 'stay local.' A lot of the Australian animal energies that I've worked with have no desire to really reach out to people in other countries unless absolutely necessary. Additionally, they have no desire to reach out if a 'local animal' could teach the same lessons. There seems to be a real strong bent for privileging local lessons over foreign ones, at least amongst the animal energies I've encountered here.
Perhaps then, it is also a matter of tact amongst the animal energies themselves.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-06 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-03-10 03:23 am (UTC)An interesting fact about horses - they can only lie down to sleep for a short period of time (~3 hours) because of their weight. Their torso ends up being crushed by gravity, which can do some significant damage. That's horses know how to sleep standing up. I always think it's so funny riding a horse that was napping, and he's still groggy and almost sleep-walking. Hehe.