What Is a Power Animal?

Sometimes we can know the “power animal” of a person because it is hidden in their physical features, or their special abilities. A person might have the penetrating staring eyes of an eagle, a hawk-like facial expression, a calm, absent-mindedness of owl. Once an animal characteristic is recognized, you can study the behavior patterns and learn a great deal.

But what is a power animal? Author Kenneth Meadows offers a very astute definition of power animals here:

A power animal is not an external entity that can somehow take possession of you. You possess it, for it is an internal energy-pattern that has attributes similar to the animal species it characterizes. In order to comprehend that fully, let us examine the title “power animal.”

The word “power” has a number of meanings. It can be defined as “an energizing force”–like nuclear power. Power can also mean “to have control over” or “to exert mastery.” Another meaning is “authority to govern.”

There is a further definition, however: “the ability to perform work.” This is the definition that applies to power animals and to Shamanics. Power–shamanic power–is an ability to perform specific work! Now let us examine the word “animal.” According to dictionary definitions, an animal is “an intelligent creature that possesses life, sensation, and the power of voluntary motion.”

A power animal is an energy-pattern–or energy-system–that appears in animal form and possesses sensation and the power of voluntary movement to carry out its inherent ability to perform the specific work it characterizes. A power animal is the very energy-pattern of an ability or abilities that the animal form characterizes!

According to shamanic understanding, we each have a number of power animals, for they are patterns of natural abilities and potentials that are inherent within us. A principal power animal is one that has prominence.

Read more: Spirit, Guidance

Adapted from Shamanic Spirit, by Kenneth Meadows (Inner Traditions, 2004). Copyright (c) 2004 by Kenneth Meadows. Reprinted by permission of Inner Traditions.
Adapted from Shamanic Spirit, by Kenneth Meadows (Inner Traditions, 2004).

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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Loretta K.

5:21PM PST on Jan 20, 2012

thanks for the thorough explanation

send a green star

Andrea A.

11:00AM PST on Jan 20, 2012

Thanks.

Kristina C.

9:52AM PST on Jan 20, 2012

Thank you for sharing. I am not sure if each of us can also be linked to a power animal. As a teenager I was always offended when someone said that I have cat eyes - so I am not so sure here.

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Ana P M.

7:37AM PST on Jan 20, 2012

Thanks for the info...

Brenda T.

4:50AM PST on Jan 20, 2012

Robert O.

7:11PM PST on Jan 19, 2012

Thanks Annie.

Fred K.

11:56AM PST on Jan 15, 2012

For me it was an exercise during my development of Lucid Dreaming; I sought my 'Feral Guide' and found him to be a South American predator bird whose feather colours run in the rain. Most people are but passengers in Dreamtime; a few of us learn to pilot our ships of dreams and even find the connections to the branches of the World Tree or the Spirit Paths on the far side of Dreamtime.

Kathy P.

7:08AM PST on Jan 15, 2012

thanks

Waltraud U.

4:16PM PST on Jan 8, 2012

Very interesting - thank you !

Danuta W.

2:33AM PST on Jan 5, 2012

Great article. Thanks