Working with Spirit Animal Energy can help you to awaken amazing and powerful qualities that have been lying dormant within you, facilitate incredible healing and deeply connect you with the natural world.

What Is Spirit Animal Energy?

Spirit Animal Energy is also sometimes called Spirit Animal Medicine or just Animal Medicine. It refers to connecting with the archetypal, spiritual essence of a particular type of animal.

Individual animals may, and often do, appear in our lives to bring us the messages or energy of the their particular Animal Spirit Energy, but it’s about connecting to the overall spiritual and energetic frequency of that species of animal.

When people talk about Power or Totem Animals, they are referring to this same energy. You may have heard that we all have a Power or Totem Animal that serves as our guide and corresponds to our inherent nature and qualities.

And I have found that to be true.

Often, we have more than one that corresponds to the different levels of our consciousness or aspects of ourselves. Many of us have one Power Animal that stays with us for life. Some of the other Power Animals will change over time.

These are just my experiences and the experiences of people that I have worked with. I find the concept of Power Animals to be very personal and I respect all methods of working with them.

If it feels right to you, then go with it.

Why Would I Want to Work with Spirit Animal Energy?

Connecting with this energy can be very healing. It can help to attune us to a frequency of energy that brings balance to a weakness in our own energy systems.

We can also tap into and utilize any qualities that we “lack” or desire, like the strength and courage of Bear Energy or the grace and determination of Deer Energy.

How Do I Find or Choose a Spirit Animal with Which to Work?

There are multiple ways and there are no wrong ways:

• You can reference an animal energy book, such as:
  • Animal Speak, by Ted Andrews (the modern classic on the topic) or
  • Find Your Spirit Animals, by David Carson
• You can work with an oracle card deck. My favorite animal deck is:
  • Messages from Your Animal Spirit Guides Oracle Cards, by Steven D. Farmer
• You can work with a professional that can help you discover your own personal power animals.
• You can take cues from the animals that appear in your life.
• You can also ask the your Power Animal or Animals to reveal themselves to you!

They’re often waiting for a green light from you. Once you invite them in, be sure to look for their signs!

How Do I Work with Spirit Animal Energy?

After you’ve chosen an Animal Spirit Energy with which to work, or they’ve chosen you, call on the energy that you wish to connect with:

• Center yourself. Relax your body, exhale any negative emotions and let your thoughts go.
• Call on the Animal Spirit Energy and ask it to come into your energy now.
• Ask for help with the specific issue that you want support with or just to experience the Animal Spirit Energy.
• Stay with the energy for as long as you need and be sure to listen for any guidance that the Animal Spirit has to offer to you.
• If you have a special event coming up, like a presentation, you could ask the Animal Energy to remain with you while you do your work. For example, you could call on Hawk Energy for the focus you need to complete your task.
• If it’s an issue that’s less immediate, like overall support with abundance manifestation, you could call on Frog Energy, for example. You could ask the Frog Energy to help bring the energy of abundance into your life and to permeate all parts of your physical existence and finances.

You can also simply meditate on the energy that you wish to connect with:

• You can look at an image of the animal. A picture on your phone or computer is fine.
• Hold a soft gaze.
• Ask that the true nature of the Animal Medicine reveal itself to you.
• Sit with the energy for as long as feels good.
• Make any note of what you learn.
• You may wish to repeat this meditation several times to develop the wisdom and insights that you gain.

You can also meditate and ask to be shown your Power Animal or Animals.

Working with Animal Spirit Energy on the Fly (It’s not just for birds )

To do this, just pay attention to the animals that present themselves to you. They are often there to bring you messages and reminders. Some people may think it’s random or a coincidence, but in my experience, it’s not.

You could go out into the woods wanting to see a bunch of animals and they’re nowhere to be found. But on a different day, the same animal or a series of animals present themselves to you.

This is not to say that all animal encounters are of a spiritual nature. If you see your dog or cat or bird or fish every day, that doesn’t have the same meaning as encountering a herd of deer 3 times in one week.

But the animals that we do choose to keep company with have meaning, too. The idea of “dog” people and “cat” people does have a significance and can say a lot about a person and what they value and prioritize in life. The animal companions in our lives often do have messages for us, too! But that’s another topic!

When it comes to wild animals, repeated encounters often have the most significance, but single encounters can be very meaningful, too. But repeated encounters almost always mean something.

Also, this doesn’t just mean animals you see out in nature. It could be animals you come across (not go searching for) in ads, online, Youtube, Facebook, anywhere really.

The Animal Spirits will Find a Way to Get Their Messages to You

For example, if you live in Kansas, the chances of you seeing a wild dolphin are non-existent, but if Dolphin Energy has a message for you, it will find a way to make it’s presence known.

Sometimes these animals bring our attention to something else that we need to see and their messages can be more intricate than just the qualities of their own Animal Spirit. So when an animal comes into your presence, take the opportunity to open up all of your senses. Tune into the Animal Energy and become one with your environment.

Next, interpret the message you received:

• Once you feel that a type of animal energy is trying to get a message across to you, it’s time to receive your message.
• You can look in one of the books that I mentioned.
• Or you can connect with the energy like I described and ask to receive the message.
• Or just go with your gut instinct.
• Because, while there are certainly general themes that each type of animal energy works with, and it’s unlikely that a frog and a bear could deliver the same vibe of message, nature has to work with what she’s got. And the messages can have a very personal, specific and unexpected element to them that goes beyond the typical themes associated with that energy.
• So if you choose to reference an outside resource, be sure to also check in with yourself to see how it feels or if you get anything else. That’s where the books can be useful – they can get you to open up to the guidance a little. Just don’t take what they say as the law of animal messages, which I don’t believe that the authors ever intended anyway.

You can also read animal messages like angel numbers:

So for example, just this past weekend, I saw two snakes, a frog swimming, a red winged blackbird (one of my favorite wild birds) a herd of about eight deer, a bat, and five turkey vultures.

But for me, the animals that stood out were the snakes, the frog and the deer.

So I interpreted the following message:

You’re on the right path (Deer Energy). The healing and transformation that you are undergoing (Snake Energy) is leading to abundance (Frog Energy).

So when you’re open to it (and even if you’re not, they are still delivering, and likely, repeating the messages, even if you don’t notice them), the animals of this planet will appear to you and carry great messages of guidance, wisdom and encouragement – and yes, they often work together to do so!

Really Important Final Tip!

Be sure to express gratitude! Say thank you. And actually take a moment to feel it from your heart!

You could even make an offering to the animal. Although, this is not always appropriate and I’m not suggesting that you start feeding and “socializing” wild animals. Use your best judgment always!

You could make an offering to Mother Earth. You could gift her with food or crystals or some other token of value. Just don’t go back to collect it. But you can collect a container, if you left one.

You can donate money to an animal preservation or environmental charity that works to protect and preserve the Animal Spirit Energy that you worked with.

You can donate your time to one of these agencies.

Or, you can use my favorite way of saying thank you: Send Reiki to the animal messenger that came to you specifically, or to the Animal Spirit Energy with which you worked, or to Mother Earth herself.

It’s that easy and that awesome! I hope you found lots of ideas here that you can use and be sure to check back as we explore some individual Animal Spirit Energies and connect with the magical gifts that they have to offer!

So Reiki ON, my dear Reiki friends!

Wishing you peace and joy and many Reiki blessings,

Tarin Rataic, The Reiki Guide