In part 1 of this post we explored more earthly ways of connecting with animal energies. We talked about researching out animals, learning all about them, and bringing physical images of them into our lives through pictures and representations. Now we’re going to move into a more cerebral/mystical level.
These techniques take time to master and they are outside what is our typical daily activity. Go gentle on yourself and allow yourself to take whatever time you need to really work into these exercises and make them really real for you. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back to the task at hand without reprimand. It also may feel awkward or silly at first and that’s okay – allow yourself to feel and be silly and play with the energies, but, again, avoid the negative self talk and reprimands.
To further bring your chosen animal’s energies into your life, you’re going to want to spend some time in meditation with it. In your meditations you want to further explore the daily life of your animal – let it show you how it hunts, where it sleeps, how it interacts with it’s young – take the time to interact with the young yourself and watch how they grow up forming their unique characteristics. Go on journeys with your animal and sit and spend some quiet time with it. Let it teach you how to move and use your senses.
As you and your animal become closer to each other, begin taking on it’s characteristics. Let your mental image of yourself in your visualizations start changing into the animal’s. If your animal is a bird, feel the the wind move through your feathers, know the different spatial awareness feathers necessitate. If your animal has fur, imagine the same things. Feel the wind moving through you fur and brush against the ground. Feel the dirt on your feet and smell the earth in your nose.
With the help of your animal, create a mental mask that you can wear. This is a mental mask that you can put on whenever you need your animal out in your day to day life. To wear this mask, you would just take a moment to have a deep breath and mentally put the mask on your face, allowing it to meld with your own and bring back the energy of your previous visits with your animal and feel that energy running through your body, beginning with your face and traveling out to all four limbs.
Experiment using this mask, taking it on and off, while doing different things throughout your day. With increased practice, you’ll be able to move in and out of this new shape quicker and more easily, and you’ll be able to fully explore which shape – your new animal shape or your own – is more advantageous in which circumstances.
You are not limited to only one of these masks – you may have as many as you wish you have, or as few. This is entirely up to you.
<3 Nathara
