Why Animals are Special
In ancient times, the relationship between animals and humans was fluid, intimate, and interchangeable. Conceptions of animals have always been of central important to indigenous peoples’ beliefs. Animal traits were a prime medium through which core values of culture could find expression. Through looking at the role of animals, humans came to understand themselves more fully.
Native Americans have always had the highest respect for animals. They often tried to acquire and assimilate the power of an animal through a vision quest. There a metaphysical encounter was made and the animal became the seeker’s guardian spirit. There was always sense of inter-relatedness on the physical and the spiritual levels. In other words, the horizontal dimension could not be complete without being intersected and interpreted with the vertical dimension of the sacred.
Native Americans recognize all things of nature as teachers. They not only observed and learned from them, but recognized they all had a spirit. They learned to communicate with the soul of the plants, the stars, the elements, and the animals. What they found out was the animals had both a gentleness and a courage that was stronger than theirs. They noticed that the animals were willing to do anything difficult, even dangerous, if it would help to others. Besides protecting and guarding others, at times the animals sacrificed their own lives to protect their family or pack.
Animal qualities encompass a wide range of utilitarian traits that enable them to survive in a number of potentially adverse situations. These include: swiftness, watchfulness, persistence, invulnerability, invisibility, strength, and means by which to confuse the enemy. On a social and ethical level, the animals demonstrated the virtues of hospitality, good disposition, fidelity, industriousness, and truthfulness. Indigenous people tried to emulate these virtues so that their natural environment would be influenced in a positive and creative way. Integrating the animals’ powers into human experience and then into the fabric of the culture was always their goal.
Great importance was given to any encounter with an animal in the form of visions or dreams. What has been authenticated is the experience was more real than ordinary waking experiences. There was not a separation between the physical and the spiritual worlds. In fact, a connection with both was necessary to see the whole picture of life. Having the nature of a power animal incorporated into someone’s code of behavior brought the supernatural into daily life. The animal spirits not only influenced the individual but were involved in all the affairs of life. With the gifts from their power animals they were guided and inspired to find greater success and happiness.
