spirit animals
Personal animal archetypes
A spirit animal is, in various indigenous traditions, an animal believed to guide or protect a person spiritually.
In casual contemporary use, the term has been stripped of spiritual meaning to indicate something you identify with strongly or find especially relatable: Coffee is my spirit animal.
This flippant usage strikes some as disrespectful appropriation of indigenous beliefs.
- indigenous cosmologyTraditional beliefs about universe origins
- native traditionsOriginal cultural practices
- animismSpirits inhabit all things
- vision questsCeremonial isolation for revelation
- totemSpiritual clan symbol
sacred animals · shamanism · shapeshifters · protector · inner guide · creation myths · familiar · tribal lore · power animals · guardian · wolf · lone wolf · guide · intuition · soul connection · connection · eagle · ancestor
- spiritualitysacred, enlightened, divine, holy, soul
- ancient religiongods, goddesses, pantheon, deity, polytheism
- Indigenous CanadaFirst Nations, Metis, Inuit, Cree, Ojibwe
- Indigenous cultureancestors, ancestry, ancestral lands, ancestral lineage, birch bark canoe
- African folkloreAnansi, folktales, ancestors, trickster stories, griots
- animal folklorebeast fables, folklore creatures, mythical creatures, legendary beasts, mythic beasts
spirit animalspets
Domesticated companion animals
livestock · domesticated animals · farm animals · taxidermy · working animals
spirit, animal, spirits, spiritual, spirituality, dispirited, dispiriting, spiritualism, spiritedly