SALMON: There are several different types of Salmon, on both the Pacific coast and the Atlantic. They find their way back home to spawn, sometimes after 6 or 7 years, by using amazing acute sense of smell. They can find the one stream that they were hatched in based on its odor. Why Salmon must go back to the exact place where they were hatched to reproduce is not understood and may never be understood, but the compulsion is overpowering. They will jump up to 12 foot waterfalls and struggle past eagles, bears, and many other predators, including humans, to reach their home waters.
Salmon bring us the gift of determination. Their drive to reach their set goal, and how they will go around impossible obstacles that most would just give up and not even try, is a lesson indeed!
If Salmon has entered your awareness, it is saying that it is time for you to put all aside and accomplish something which is important to you. Sometimes it takes single-mindedness to overcome obstacles and achieve a desired goal. Yes, sometimes to step aside for the sake of others is Nobel and selfless, but to keep doing it and not achieve your life goals and dreams becomes a very unhappy life of broken promises. And we all have only one life to do it in.
The other side of this could be too, if you are a workaholic or compulsively attached to something. Salmon could be warning you that you are apt to sacrifice a deal of your life if you continue the way you are going.
SEAGULL: Seagulls can be considered untidy birds in that they make disorganized nests out of vegetation and garbage. They are scavengers as well as fishers, generally living by the water near seaports.
Some species have moved inland following people, who provide a source of food. Since they eat almost anything, they have adapted well to human refuge and habitation, which is overwhelming to many forms of life.
Certain Gulls actually help agriculture by eating mice which feeds on alfalfa crops. In 1848-50, California Gulls saved parts of Utah from devastation by locusts. Millions of locusts were threating to destroy crops, and huge flocks of California Gulls fed on the insects and stopped the invasion.
Seagulls brings us the gift of a carefree attitude. They are very relaxed and easygoing in all of their pursuits.
When several Gulls find fish or some other food, the one who gets there first is the first one to get to eat; they usually do not fight over food, but teach the lesson of taking turns and not being greedy.
They are comfortable around people and have found ways of blending in with society's needs and its wastes.
If Gull has flown into your life, you are being asked to let go of some of your mind's preoccupation with events and circumstances. Take Seagulls advice, and "Don't Worry, Be Happy."
However, the complementary side of a carefree nature is the proper acceptance of responsibility. When you commit to something and others are depending on you, it is not always in your, their, best interests to decide to fly off. It is good to temper a carefree attitude with a responsible nature and to know when behavior is appropriate.
SHARK: Sharks are viewed stereotypically as mindless eating and killing machines. While it is true that much of their brainpower is devoted to operating their elaborate sensory systems, they can be trained to perform simple tasks, such as ringing a bell for a meal and distinguishing certain objects from others in the water. Singly, and when they are not hungry, Sharks tend to be quite peaceful. In large groups, they come unpredictable and may frenzy. They have incredibly sensitive noses that can smell one drop of blood in 50 million times as much water, and they can feel the pressure waves made by a struggling fish. They are so sensitive to electromagnetic currents. Remora fish swim with the shark to keep the body free of parasites.
Sharks inspire great terror because they have the power of the predator, fearless and unpredictable.
You can call upon Shark if there is something in your life that you need to frighten away or devour. In the course of our life of learning, we attract events and people that are disharmonious. Working with Shark medicine, you can perhaps drive off these negative elements or eliminate them. But learn this lesson too, before you drive away something that very well come back again, bigger and bolder than ever.
SKUNK: They can accurately squirt their noxious liquid for 10 feet. They are slow moving and spend most of their daylight hours underground. Skunks live everywhere in the U.S. but avoid dense forests where the range of their spray would be curtailed. They dig their own dens, but will also take over the abandoned homes of foxes, marmots, and rabbits. They eat insects, small animals, fish, frogs, caterpillars, eggs, and snakes. If a Skunk feels threatened, it raises its tail and stamps its front feet. If that does not scare off the intruder, it hisses and turns around presenting its tail to spray. While the spray does overpoweringly smell awful, it stronger effect is that it burns the eyes and blocks vision temporarily. Therefore, Skunk always aims for the face.
What Skunk teaches us is how to comprehend a warning. Many times in life our instinct can foresee trouble ahead, but our mind gets in the way and inhibits this knowledge. By watching and learning from Skunk, we can perhaps relearn how to honour that part of ourselves which, like Skunk, gives us many warnings before the actual problem or disaster develops.
If Skunk has come to you, it could very well be your intuition sending you a signal of imminent danger.
It also could be saying that as you go about in your life, peacefully maintaining your home and making your living, you may be unaware of the impending Earth Changes, which will make much of the world different and will alter many current systems. Just take note, that your reality may not be as secure as you think.
SNAKE: Anywhere that has warmth continual a Snake has made a home. On land, in the water, in the desert, in the forest, anywhere warm. Different species hunt by poisoning their prey, constricting it, or simply snatching it quickly. They have a wide variety of habits and sizes. Some Snakes, such as the 13 foot long Cobra and the 20 foot long Python, live singly except for mating, whereas others, such as the 25 inch Adder, can live in dens of up to 30 individuals. Most Snakes have dislocatable jaws that allow them to eat things that are bigger than their heads.
In many cultures, Snakes has been a symbol of life and sexuality for thousands of years. The Druids of Europe, many East Indians and Asians cultures, the Mongols, some of the Polynesian peoples, the Native Americans and the Aztecs, all saw Snakes as a symbol of power. The Kalinda, or life force, is represented by a Snake rising up through the spine. The way Snakes shed their skin when growing is apt metaphor for how we shed old ways and habits into higher spiritual energy.
If Snake comes to you, note the condition in which it has appeared. If it is a healthy, vibrant adult, it is an affirmation that your life is moving in new and expansive ways. If it is a young Snake, or even an egg, you are being reminded to take a good beginning that you have already made, and keep it moving upwards.
If Snake comes to you hurt or dead, it is a warning to begin circulating your life energies now, in whatever way feels best for you. You can meditate, exercise, do ceremony, find a good love partner, take up the martial arts, whatever you finds helps you move the life energy in a positive manner.
SPIDER: Almost all Spiders spin intricate, net-like webs, but some as as the well-known Trapdoor Spider, do not. Instead, it waits, hiding under a small dirt door which it makes over its hole, popping up to grab unsuspecting prey. Another, the Bolas Spider, spins one strand, adds a ball of glue to the end and swings it at the prey flying by. Almost all Spiders are venomous to their prey, paralyzing it before eating it. A few Spiders are poisonous to humans, but Spiders generally are not aggressive.
Many stories exist about the weaver, Grandmother Spider. In some, she is said to have brought the people the gift of fire. She carried it from the other side of the world on her back in a basket she wove. In others, her webs bind all things together and form the foundation of the Earth. Still other stories talk of Spider as the weaver of the threads of life.
Spiders gift is the ability to shape the patterns of ones' life.
If Spider has come to your awareness, it is a reminder that a person's Earth walk should be like the web, balanced and even and cohesive, made according to the design that the Creator has given us. Watch the Weaver and see where your life has gaps and snags, and rebuild the web of your life.
SQUIRREL: Squirrels weigh about 20 ounces. They have 8-9 inch bushy tails that help to slow them if they fall out of trees. Squirrels can fall for hundreds of feet and be unharmed. They eat a wide variety of nuts and seeds, burying as many as 10,000 prior to winter. They do not remember where they store these nuts, though, and can find them only by scent. Therefore, they leave many seeds and nuts behind to grow into the trees. Squirrels do not hibernate for winter, but will sleep for days during the coldest parts of it. They chase each other, presumably for exercise, and they play a form of hide-and-seek with each other around the tree trunks. They also have been seen playing with pine cones, pushing them back and forth to each other.
Squirrels embody the quality of trust. Squirrels help teach us about letting down our defenses and learn to trust.
They live among humans in trees and yards, they will come and eat from your hands with little or no fear.
TURKEY: Wild Turkeys are opportunistic feeders with broad tastes. They eat nuts, berries, green foliage, grasshoppers, lizards, salamanders and more. They can fly powerfully for short distances and usually roost high in trees for the night. Prior to courtship, males will fight bloody with each other. The winner will then attempt to attract as many females as it can with its displays and dances. After mating, the male will leave the female to incubate the eggs and care for the young. Females lay an average of 12 eggs. The domestic Turkey comes from a Mexican variety that was shipped to Europe in the 1500s and returned here in the 1600s. To Native peoples, the Turkey was a well loved bird because of the abundance of them to feed the entire tribe. Plus the Feathers of the Turkey was used for many things such as skirts, capes, hats, dance fans and even woven bed mats. The Cherokees was one Nation of many that used the Turkey for many areas of their lives.
The Medicine power of Turkey is renewal.
Wild Turkeys were abundant food source for early European refugees, but uncontrolled hunting virtually wiped them out in several central and northeastern states. When reintroduced, the Turkeys renewed their populations very rapidly, growing to many thousands again.
Wild Turkeys were almost eliminated because of greed and selfishness and was taken for granted. As with the Buffalo, people developed the notion that they were endless resources because there was so many. Nothing is an endless resource if it is not honored and nurtured.
Are you relying on something in your life that you expect to always be there, but taking no steps to treat it in a sacred way? This can and does pertain to a human partner as well as a resource. Learn from Turkey, and realize that everything has limits.
TURTLE: The Turtle is a creature of water. The Tortoise is a land dweller, going to water only to drink and bathe. There are more species of Turtles, some of which can weigh as much as 1000 pounds, and can live up to 100 years. There are also amphibious Tortoises and Terrapins, which spend time both on land and in the water. There are 40 types of Tortoises in the world, ranging in size from 4 pounds to 400 pounds. All contract into their hard shells to protect themselves from attack though some including Snapping Turtles, will bite if provoked. Most of which can and have taken fingers off with the strength of their bites.
The Box Turtle lives on land, Tortoises swim much of the day, and the Terrapin does both.
The State of Kansas is central of the U.S. and is called "Turtle Island" by many Native peoples.
The Turtle is the representative of the Earth and the keeper of the Earth elemental.
If you need to contact the Earth Mother for knowledge or healing, Turtle is your guide.
If Turtle has come to you in vision or dreaming, you are being asked to respect the Earth more in your daily activities and to remember to give her as well as received from her great bounty.
Also, by her coming to you, is asking you pay closer attention to the lessons of Mother Nature and slow down in this whirlwind of life and take time to sit under a tree and place your palms down upon Earth Mother and fell her heartbeat... she is very much alive!
