When using animals in magick and spellcrafting, the actual animal, a picture, a statue, or something symbolic of the animal, ie cat hair…cat whisker, can be utilized.
However, animals are also used as spirit guides quite often or as signs which must be payed attention to! They come to us in dreams or perhaps visions.
One can be sent to us as a spiritual totem, or we may choose one to become our spiritual totem, taking on the attribute that it brings to us.
Use the following list as a springboard to feed your mind and get your wheels turning. Please note that it is certainly not inclusive and will be updated from time to time with new animals.
Their images can be incorporated into spells, charms, amulets and talismans. The support every attribute one can possibly imagine!
Ant: Group minded, perseverance, self-discipline, group effort, teamwork, industriousness, orderliness, virtue. Strength, stamina, honor, building and storing energy for a later project.
Alligator – Aggression, survival, adaptability. Cunning, deceptive.
Antelope: Swiftness, gentleness, lunar animal, associated with the Mother. Grace, beauty.
Ape/Monkey – Mischief, mimicry, cunning, benevolence. Humanity, nurture.
Baboon – Hailer of the dawn.
Badger – Supernatural power, mischief, playful. Can teach you to fight for your rights and spiritual ideas. Revenge, wisdom, cunning, perseverance. When faced with a crisis, don’t panic but act, even get angry, in a creative, productive way. Earth magick and wisdom. Other world, wisdom, caring.
Bat – Guardian of the night, cleaner, obscurity, messenger, double nature, happiness, good luck, longevity, peace; also – hypocrisy, melancholy, revenge, wisdom.The knowledge to avoid obstacles, barriers, and troublesome people. Releasing habit and personality patterns that keep you from progressing. Helpful when facing the death of a loved one. Understanding the life and death cycle.
Bear: Strength and stamina; can help you find balance and harmony in your life. Patience, defense, revenge, wisdom, dreams, intuition, listening, introspection, death and rebirth, transformation. A creature of dreams, astral travel, visionaries, mystics, and shamans.
Beaver: Concentrating your energies into a job that needs doing. Being persistent. Using available resources to make your life more pleasant. Team work, sense of achievement. For harmony in a group. To get a job.
Bee – Immortality, rebirth, industry, order, purity, soul, chastity, messengers between worlds, secret wisdom, Mother and priestesses. Community.
Birds – Birds are usually used to represent prophetic knowledge, bloodshed, and skill. used to represent prophetic knowledge and for warriors they represents prowess
Bison: Social life, fertility, courage, abundance, prosperity, knowledge, sharing, work, challenge, survival.
Blackbird – Enchantment, the Gateway, the inner call. Guide, illumination
Boars – In addition to representing fertility and wealth, boars symbolize courage and strong warriors. Great importance is attached to the bristles of the boar.
Buffalo – Sacredness, life builder.
The buffalo provides all good things for living, and bestows great curing powers.
Bull – Wealth, potency, beneficence, generative force, male procreative strength, kingship, taming of the masculine and animal nature. Destructive force.
Butterfly – Metamorphosis, carefree, transformer, immortality, rebirth, resurrection. Grace, light, soul.
Cat – Guardianship, detachment, sensuality, stealth, desire, liberty, pleasure, magic, lust, pride, vanity
Centaur: Healing, shape-shifting, music, the arts, divination, inspiration (for artistic talent).
Cheetah: Swiftness, speed, self-esteem, making events occur more quickly.
Cock – Solar, courage, vigilance, supremacy, passion, pride, the underworld.
Cougar – Leadership, courage, power, swiftness and balance.
Cow – Nourishment, motherhood, power of Earth, plenty, procreation, gentleness, nurturing.
Coyote – Prankster, insight, playful. The coyote symbolizes duality and the ability to present both sides of an issue. Clowning and humor, perhaps sarcastic.
Crane: Intelligence, discipline, vigilance, magick, astral travel. Reaching deeper mysteries and truths. Learning new types of magick.
Crocodile: Deceit, treachery. Lying in wait to get revenge. Patiently waiting for truths. Protection from deceitful/manipulating people.
Deer: Keen sense of smell, swiftness, gentleness, using other methods to achieve goals, alertness, hunting, seeking, abundance, dreams, intuition, introspection, listening, death and rebirth, transformation. Accepting people for who they are.
Dog: Tracking skills; the ability to scent a “trail” through conflicting or confusing situations. Companionship, keen hearing, loyalty, willingness to follow through. Using intuition to find new ideas and solutions.
Dolphin: The sea, wisdom, eloquence, freedom, magick, change, discovery, truth, communication, trust, balance, harmony. Create a rhythm in your life. Learn to release intense emotions through breathing.
Dove: Communicating with friends or loved ones who are in spirit. Spiritual messenger between worlds. Peace, gentleness, love.
Donkey – Humility, patience, peace, stupidity, stubbornness, lewdness.
Dragon: Protection, instruction in the spiritual, element magick. Using the spiritual to transform life. Adding extra power to magick.
Dragonfly – Flighty, carefree, swift, activity, shamanistic, supernatural powers
Eagle: Swiftness, strength, courage, wisdom, keen sight; knowledge of magick. The ability to see hidden spiritual truths. Seeing the overall pattern of life.
Eel: Be electrifying; being able to slip out of a bad situation. When needing to get out of a sticky situation that could cause anger or upset.
Elephant – Strength, fidelity, memory, patience, wisdom, intelligence, power.
Elk – Strength, agility, freedom, power, nobility.
Falcon: Magick, astral travel, healing, releasing the soul of a dying person. Sending energy and soul-healing to a dying person for an easy transition.
Fish: Abundance, prosperity, children. Harmony in your life, salmon in particular, are associated with knowledge.
Fox – Cunning, provider, intelligence, feminine magic, diplomacy, wildness.
Frog – Power of water, sensitivity, medicine, hidden beauty, power
Goat – Vitality, fertility, creativity, virility, abundance, lust.
Goose – Guardian, watchful, wind, the sun, war, inspiration, swift, happiness, providence.
Griffin: Understanding the relationship between psychic energy and cosmic force. Spiritual enlightenment.
Grizzly Bear – Mother, nature’s pharmacist
Hare – rebirth, rejuvenation, resurrection, intuition, balance, fertility, fire, madness, transformation.
Hawk: Clear sightedness, being observant. Far memory, or recalling pat lives. A message from spirit; omens and dreams. Overcoming problems. Taking advantage of an opportunity. Courage, defense, wisdom, illumination, new life, creativity, truth, experience.
Hedgehog: Less defensiveness and seriousness in life. Appreciate life more. Building defenses and protective barriers that discourage negative people. Reconnecting yourself with the Crone aspect of the Goddess.
Heron – Vigilance, quiet, power of water, the underworld, tact, delicacy, renewal, life, transformation.
Horse: Stamina, endurance, faithfulness. It symbolizes freedom when it runs free; when it works with humans, it represents friendship and cooperation. Travel, journey, swiftness, friends, loyalty. Astral travel.
Hummingbird: Happiness, love, relaxation. Don’t be so judgmental. Happiness and love in your life.
Jackal – Guide of souls, associated with cemeteries.
Jaguar – Messenger, forest spirits, power.
Kingfisher – Beauty, dignity, speed, calmness, serenity.
Leopard: Swiftness, cunning, strength, perseverance, boldness, beauty. Gaining confidence for astral travel and Otherworld journeys.
Lion: Learn to relax; don’t carry the stress of one situation to another. Strengthen family ties. Strength, courage, energy. Releasing stress and tension. Lion – Solar, splendor, power, majesty, strength, courage, nobility.
Lizard: Dreams, mental creations. Stop running from your fears and face them. Asking for guidance in facing difficult situations that make you afraid. Understanding dreams.
Monkey: Ingenuity when dealing with problems. Care and protection of family. Don’t “monkey” around, but get on with what you have to do.
Moose – Headstrong, unstoppable, longevity, value, integrity
Mouse: Secrets, cunning, slyness; ability to remain inconspicuous; invisibility. Often, its appearance signals the need to watch small details, the fine print, or the double meaning in words. Watching for deception. Stealth, initiative, trust, innocence, change, discovery, balance, harmony.
Nightingale: Inspiration, using your talents with joy. Moon magick.
Octopus – The spiral, water, unconscious.
Otter – Laughter, curiosity, mischievous, feminine power, grace, empathy, joy, play, helpfulness.
Owl – Wisdom, truth, patience, darkness, a death messenger, divination, solitude, detachment, wisdom, change, totem of clairvoyants and mystics.
Peacock: Dignity, warning, self-confidence. Use the symbol of the pea***** “eye” to see the past, present, and future.
Pegasus: Poetic inspiration; learning astral travel. Changing evil into good. Fame, eloquence.
Python – Darkness, feminine, power of Earth, wisdom.
Rabbit: Transformation, receiving hidden teachings and intuitive messages. Quick thinking when necessary, don’t push yourself on others. A fear of disaster or illness. Strengthening intuition.
Raccoon: Creativeness when faced with new problems. Be curious about the world around you. Seeking guidance and confidence for a new job or schooling. To be presented with new ideas.
Ram – Sacrifice, breakthrough, achievement, virility, creativity, the Sun, solar power.
Raven – Trickster, teacher, hoarder, healing, initiation, protection, shaman’s power, transformation, change in consciousness, mark of a shape shifter.
Seahorse – Confidence, grace.
Seal: Protection. When faced with changing the life completely. When facing a separation or divorce. Protection from malicious gossip or physical danger.
Serpent – Life, rebirth, resurrection, wisdom, passion, healing, poison, preserver, destroyer, malice, fertility.
Shark – Hunter, survival, adaptability.
Skunk: For courage and will-power to raise a “stink” if you are being harassed or threatened. Radiating self-respect and self-confidence. Become aware of the type of people attracted to you and repel the undesirable. Sifting out and getting rid of “friends” who do not want you to succeed.
Snake: Psychic energy, creative power, immortality. Transmute you life into higher levels. Wisdom, understanding, connection with spirit. Facing you fears of spiritual initiations and life problems, moving on to higher goals.
Spider: Wisdom, creativity, new life. Being industrious. Be cautious: you are involved in a tempting but entangling situation. Bringing in divine inspiration and creativity. Beginning a new project or
becoming pregnant.
Squirrel: Preparing for the future by storing up time, resources, and energy. Resting during unproductive times. Moving to a higher level of consciousness to avoid harassment. Warning, wisdom, change, trust, discovery, truth, balance, harmony.
Stag – Pride, independence, purification.
Swan: Aid with interpretation of dream symbols, transitions, spiritual evolution. Developing intuitive abilities, seeing into the future. Divination on a spiritual level.
Tiger: Power, energy. If action is called for, don’t analyze it to death… just do it! Unpleasant but necessary action only gets worse if you procrastinate. Finding strength and will-power to tackle an unpleasant situation.
Turtle: Patience, long life, perseverance. Slow down, enjoy life more, allow you ideas time to develop properly. Learning to relax and enjoy life.
Unicorn: Good will, fame, prosperity, gentleness, purity, strength of mind. Individual power that is unlimited. For wisdom with success. Developing personal power.
Weasel: Revenge, dark magick, cunning, stealth, ingenuity, suspicion. Revenge against evil.
Whale: Power of Water, regeneration, death, rebirth.
Wolf: Cunning, escape, ability to pass dangers, outwitting. Leader to a spiritual teacher. Wisdom, hunting and seeking, magick, dreams, introspection, intuition, listening, death and rebirth, transformation.
Woodpecker – Prophecy, magic, power, guardian of trees, Heralds rain and storms.
Wren – Spirit, witchcraft, the Oak King.
Wyvern: Revenge, retribution, creating protection barriers of fear as a defense.