The Big Book of Practical Spells: Everyday Magic That Works - Judika Illes 2016

Animal Allies or Totems
Other powers: your Magic Allies

Animals are our most beloved allies. We all have personal allies and totems in the plant, spirit and mineral realms but animal allies are our most accessible spirit helpers. Animals provide us with protection, knowledge and psychic inspiration.

In magical parlance, animal is not limited to mammals but encompasses many biological classifications including birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and insects as well. In the simplest terms, animal, in magic-speak includes anything that is “alive” in the same way that we understand human beings to be alive: breathing, pulsing, visibly eating and excreting, etc.

· Your animal totem may take the form of an actual individual living, breathing member of a species, with whom you actually have some level of concrete, physical contact: your cat or a bird that visits you periodically, for instance. This is what the ancients used to refer to as a familiar.

· Your animal totem may also appear to you in spirit form. Each species has a presiding spirit: the Spirit of the Dog versus Fido, the basset hound down the street. This enables you to acquire wisdom, skills and protection from animals with whom it might not be safe, practical or even possible to have actual physical contact. Communication in this case is usually via dreams, visions and symbols.