moonvoice: (totem - bilby)
Lilac Breasted Roller - Showing Off

Keywords/Totem Meanings:

Getting things done 'on the fly,' multi-tasking, the element of fire, and fire magic, mental and physical acrobatics, protecting what's yours at all costs, showing off, performing and performance, sky deities, air and wind magic and wisdom, taking advantage of crises.

General Description:

The lilac-breasted roller of sub-Saharan Africa and Southwest Asia, is a prettily coloured bird known for its breeding displays of aerobatic prowess. The lilac-breasted roller feeds on insects, small amphibians and reptiles. Their nests are unlined and made in tree hollows, and occasionally in empty termite mounds. The males engage in spectacular courtship flight; flying quite high before quickly diving, rocking their wings while calling loudly and abrasively. They are territorial, monogamous birds by nature. The lilac-breasted roller will take advantage of bushfires by hunting for whatever flees the fire.



Lilac Breasted Roller as Totem by `Ravenari on deviantART


FULL ESSAY UNDER THE CUT - including lessons and challenges, shadow totem meanings and recommendations when approaching this bird as an animal guide. )
moonvoice: (totem - magpie lark)
Among other things, I’m an animist with very strong totemist leanings. I suppose a lot of you could say a great big ‘duh’ to that, I run the internet’s most comprehensive totem animal dictionary (certainly in terms of word count). It may – actually – frighteningly be the most comprehensive dictionary even when compared with published works. Not only that, but I illustrate totems. And I aspect with totems. And I invoke totems and...well...you get the idea.

I used to hate basic 101 totem dictionaries. I've written articles and long essay-like responses on pagan forums about the shittiness of totem dictionaries. I own quite a few, but I was always like ‘man, these things don’t teach people the skills they need to engage with totems or to make their own dictionaries,’ and ‘they’re recycling a lot of the same information,’ and ‘cultural appropriation FTL,’ and ‘wait a minute, that’s actually completely inaccurate biological information about that animal. WTF?’

Two of these things really piss me off still; the first regarding cultural appropriation. The second regarding teaching people inaccurate information about animals. That’s poor form on behalf of the writer, but it’s also poor form on behalf of the editor, whose job it is to help qualify research in non-fiction material. It’s just poor form all around. The pagan industry can suffer from a bit of poor form at times, it’s not just totemism that cops it, as many of you know.

Explanations and explorations. )

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