The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

Mid summer I was trying to find what my guide might be. For the last few weeks 3 crows have taken a liking to my yard. It's a pretty good bird, squirrel and butterfly friendly place. These 3 seem quite content perched on the fence hanging out. Could the crow be it? If so what do you think their meaning is? I don't believe they are a 'bad omen'.

My experience with crows is that they take a liking to places that meet their needs and, in the spirit of always looking at mundane reasons first, your yard is such a place.

My yard is mundane? Isn't that a bad thing? I enjoy planting flowers and keeping it pretty.

I think that what Veggiewolf was getting at is that it's pretty normal behaviour for crows to hang out by yards.

Things that would be more clearly a sign would be unusual behaviour, seeing an animal in a time/place/season that would not normally occur, or really persistent presence, far beyond the normal patterns. (Basically, when evaluating patterns like that, factor in everything, including stuff like "We had an odd fall weather-wise, and all the birds are acting a little odd" or whatever else applies.)

If you take good care of your garden, you probably have lots of interesting food for crows, and them hanging around is not that unusual.

Oh I see. Just got to keep my eyes open still. I was feeding them peanuts. Lol.

Oh I see. Just got to keep my eyes open still. I was feeding them peanuts. Lol.

 
That might be another reason they're hanging around.

you only have one spirit animal, but you can have countless totems of many different animals that come to you to help you out for different this or that reasons.

Sorry, that was a bit generalizing. I just realized not everyone may believe that way :/ Didn't mean to assume! my bad haha #newbiemistake

the way you use the word 'totem' is inaccurate and problematic in a way that's not just 'different people have different beliefs'.

Ah I did read the conversation (well, not all 15 pages, but I did read a couple) and read outside of that on how individual animals were used to identify clans in the Anishinaabe clan system. Knowing now that totem is a word derived from that, I agree with it's misuse in the context I had used it. As my father did not grow up in thecAnishinaabe clan system and has no official clan animal does that mean in theory I would be without one?

And yet the things I wrote I believe are true for my individual experience. So, what would be a more appropriate word for what I called "spirit guide" and what would be the most appropriate term for what I called "totems"?

I would rather like being able to improve my conversation skills by not offending people and using the right vocab at the same time haha

Edit: And as for why I used those terms in the first place- it's what I was told they were called. I guess it was one of those things I never really paused to question before.

Ah I did read the conversation (well, not all 15 pages, but I did read a couple) and read outside of that on how individual animals were used to identify clans in the Anishinaabe clan system. Knowing now that totem is a word derived from that, I agree with it's misuse in the context I had used it. As my father did not grow up in thecAnishinaabe clan system and has no official clan animal does that mean in theory I would be without one?

Well, yes. Theoretically you could be adopted by someone who is a member and you would take on that doodem, but it wouldn't be because of an animal that "called" to you; it would make a member of that family, of an extended family of kin that you care for and who also care for you.

And yet the things I wrote I believe are true for my individual experience. So, what would be a more appropriate word for what I called "spirit guide" and what would be the most appropriate term for what I called "totems"?

To be honest, I've seen totem, spirit animal, spirit guide, etc. all used interchangeably, and to me it seems like a very chaotic system. So my first suggestion would be that if you happen to belong to a particular magical/religion society, or are a reconstructionist, you use a term(s) native to that system.

Just my two cents: I honestly have little to no issue nowadays with people using spirit animal as a term, because it seems so divorced from the concept of doodem. I think it only becomes an issue when people try to conflate their modern, very non-Anishinaabe practice with the doodem.

Edit: And as for why I used those terms in the first place- it's what I was told they were called. I guess it was one of those things I never really paused to question before.

 
Yeah, which kind of goes back to my bit about how chaotic it really is, and why it seems almost laughable (at least to me) to compare the two? Not in a mocking sense, but rather an incredulous sense. Having a doodem animal is a very specific thing in a very complex culture. It's not interchangeable with other terms, really, because then it wouldn't really define it in that culture's language anymore. It's about having a family, a place, a sense of direction, a role ...

I also don't say that there is no way for other spirits to come and guide people to help them in their life! It's just... that's not exactly the same thing as a doodem.

And I mean, this hasn't even touched the fact that many other nations have clan systems, some of which involve animals, and some that don't.