Ted Andrews

This month I learned one of my favorite authors died, Ted Andrews.  He was a wonderful author that helped me learn how animals speak to us and can be our teachers and guides  if we open the doors in our own minds.  It was summarized so well on the back of his Animal Wise book .

“The early shamans, priests, and priestesses were scientist as well as mystics.  They studied the plants and animals, learning their characteristics and qualities.  When we realize that our learning and guidance comes from sources other than human, our world is no longer the same. In the world around us is a myriad of wonders. Through the animal kingdoms-through the multitude of wonders found within Nature-we experience renewal. Every sojourn into Nature, every animal encournter, offers an epiphany for the heart and soul.  And if only for a little while, let us open our heart to it and see what glories unfold.”

In honor of his life I wanted to share a tradition he shared called the~ Inner Totem Pole.  Details can be found in Chapter 5, in Anmal Wise.  In the chapter he discusses the meanings of totem poles and how the actual creation is a sacred act that brought wholeness and balance to the tribe.  In some cultures, the totem pole were an actual doorway that acted as protection to the occupants living inside. 

Similar to a totem pole, our human body is similar where our head reaches for the Heavens and our feet bridge us to the Earth; and within our body is the energy center called the chakras.  By using the 7 chakras of the human body as  a starting point, you can create your own Inner Totem Pole.  To help empower the chakra center you can find the expression of energy by discovering which animal represents that chakra.  For example, if we have a groundhog at our base center, we can learn to go into altered states, and learn how ground hog uses it’s altered state to control it’s  metabolism.  The ground hog uses this form of hibernation to survive harsh times from the enviornment and we can tap into that energy by understanding how the groundhog lives and eats to survive our own changes.

Above you can see an example of how we would describe in visual form what a Inner Totem may look like if you were drawing your own Inner Totem Pole.  Ted Andrews adds an 8th element, your feet as the base totem.  This gives you the following 8 elements of the body that need an animal that represents each individual element:

1. Feet (base)
2. Root or Base (gonads and ovaries)
3. Spleen (adrenals, spleen & liver)
4. Solar Plexus (adrenals)
5. Heart (thymus)
6. Throat (thyroid)
7. Brow (pituitary)
8. Crown (top of head)

Animal Wise guides your through the process of selecting the right animal for each part of the body, making it fun and simple.  It can take anywhere from a few days to a month or more to find the right animal for your animal totems, but it is well worth the time.  It saddens me to know he’s gone from this earth but this man left us a wealth of information in his books and with them his legacy will live on.