Animal significance question:
Jessica M. Mcgeary
A friend of mine has recently been going through sheer hell in his life,
and though I would not by any stretch of the imagination call myself
actually qualified as anything APPROACHING a shaman, I figured that I might
at least try and help him. I recently conducted an impromptu ceremony for
him where I called on my own helper-animals for his sake, and asked that
some form of protection manifest itself for him. He reports that the other
night he was walking on the pier in Los Angeles when a school of fish in
generally not-terribly-pure waters began scattering in fear. He looked over
the edge, and saw that they were scattering because an actual seal- much
too big to be a sea lion, and shaped wrong, too, it was a seal and it was
recognized as such by someone else in the area- was chasing and eating
them. For seals to appear alone, I know, is a very unusual occurrence. For
them to appear in those waters is almost completely unheard of. Can anyone
point me toward a good source for info on the spiritual significance of
seals? Thanks.
-Dogwalker
--
--Tell my wife I am trolling Atlantis/And I still have my hands on the wheel--
- Jessica McGeary, jm...@po.cwru.edu, Dark Lord of the Sith, Feynman fanatic -
- Ant on quest to understand Chicago -
-- It's my own desire / It's my own remorse / Help me to decide --
Sunnyway
Ted Andrews in _Animal Speak_, pp 310-312 suggests that keynotes for
seals (and sea lions) are "active imagination, creativity and lucid
dreaming...
"If a seal or sea lion has shown up as a totem, it is time to do
some questioning. Are you getting out of balance? Has the imaginative
faculty opened so much that you are not staying grounded? Are you
listening to things and poeple that you shoudn't? Are you not listening
to that which you should? Are you listening to the inner voice? Are you
following the words of others rather than your own?...
"For seal and sea linon people, it will be important to pay
attention to the creative imagination and inspiration that is strong
within them. These individuals are highly imaginative and very creative,
needing activities that channel and direct those energies..."
Ingrid Halvorsen
Sunn...@aol.com
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Paul Garceau
jm...@po.CWRU.Edu (Jessica M. Mcgeary) wrote:
> Can anyone
>point me toward a good source for info on the spiritual significance of
>seals? Thanks.
Celtic Shamanism. Oxford (unabrdgd) Dictionary under selkie or selky.
The movie "Roan Inis" (sp?). These are only some.
Peace,
Paul G.
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Gary & Jeanne Ross
>Can anyone point me toward a good source for info on the spiritual >significance of seals? Thanks.
>
It is discussed in Ted Andrews _Animal-Speaks_ on pages 310-312. If you
don't have access to the book you could look it up in the bookstore.
Peace, Jeanne
Beth Winegarner
Jessica M. Mcgeary (jm...@po.CWRU.Edu) wrote:
: the edge, and saw that they were scattering because an actual seal- much
: too big to be a sea lion, and shaped wrong, too, it was a seal and it was
: recognized as such by someone else in the area- was chasing and eating
: them. For seals to appear alone, I know, is a very unusual occurrence. For
: point me toward a good source for info on the spiritual significance of
: seals? Thanks.
I don't know much, but here's what I have to offer.
The old Irish and Scots tell stories of the selkies -- seal-people
who lived underwater, but would occasionally come to the shore, shed their
sealskins, and walk among humans... generally to heal someone, protect them,
or -- more often -- when they wanted to mate. There were stories of humans
who loved and bore children to selkies (who were usually male, though I
don't think that's the rule), but were always torn because the home of the
seal folk was truly under the sea. Often in Celtic stories, if more than one
child is born, one of them is sent off to sea on a coracle or leather pouch
-- this happened to Dylan in the story of Math in the Mabinogi, and the term
Dylan means "wave" in Welsh. Anyway, this is kind of getting off topic, and
it's not exactly what you're asking for, but stories of the selkies have
often fascinated me.
Another note is that many Irish and Scots folk believed, and still
believe, that they are the descendants of these intermarriages between
selkies and humans. This is especially in the north counties of Ireland.
Beth
--
"Changing the world means creating a space where everyone has room to do
what they love." -- A.F.
Catherine L Bond
Regarding your question about the seal. In Celtic folklore
there is a creature called a selkie. It is sort of a half
human, half seal.
BB
--
Catherine Bond
*****************************************************************************
cb...@leo.vsla.edu Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA
Standard disclaimers apply. Non-standard disclaimer:This is not an artichoke.
William J Rogers
> Can anyone point me toward a good source for info on the spiritual
>significance of seals? Thanks.
While I agree that "Animal Speak" is a good reference. It is important
to note that the true significance of any such encounter lies within
the individual. This is also a point stressed by Ted Andrews.
Two individuals engaged in the similar activities will inevitably have
different experiences. The same happens with totems (or power animals).
Two individuals with like totems will draw different lessons from them.
Keeping this in mind, the question should not be "What significance
would others find in this situation?", but rather, "What do the seals
say to me?"
(note: this does not mean that we should not learn from the lessons
drawn by others. Only that we must seek our own understandings.)
SISIAL