Totemism in the Norse Culture

Before the existance of deities in human form among the early tribal communities with shamanic practices, the symbols of power and spiritual guidance were the animals. Each person or a group of people had a totem, that totem could be an animal or a plant, and the individual was bound to the totem and they were in a mutual spiritual relationship. The totem was generaly held to be a guardian or even an ancestor, and one way or another, the totem was effectively a part of the human-self.
This kind of spiritual practice was known worldwide, but when talking about "Totem" we often visualise the American Indian tribes or the peoples from Alaska or the Inuit folk. But all over the world, this was one of the first spiritual practices to be held by many cultures, and seldom does the Norse culture comes into argument when speaking of Totemism.

To the Norse and other Germanic peoples, totemism is manifested in two specific prominent and powerful areas which are, the animal helping spirits, known as Fylgjur, and the patron animals of shamanic military societies who had their own rituals turned to warlike events.

What are the Fylgjur ?

We have all heard about the cats, ravens and other animals associated with witches, and this is something that comes from an ancient past, familiar spirits who are often the companions of witches in European folktales, but in truth, the early shamanic tribes who made their religious and spiritual practices around totems, had these animals to aid them, not just the cat and the raven, but all animals that you can think of, powerful animals that helped each person, and while in trance, these creatures aided shamans and shamans could take the form of those animals to better understand their ways and follow them to whatever quest while in trance, working in the spiritual world. In the Norse old spiritual traditions, these familiar animals were called Fylgjur ( plural ) or Fylgja ( singular )

 The Fylgja is an animal spirit, however, a human helping spirit is also called a Fylgja in Old Norse literature sometimes, this shows us that a totem can also be an ancestor. The well-being of the  Fylgja is intimately tied to that of its owner, as a result, if the  Fylgja dies, its owner dies as well. Its character and form are closely connected to the character of its owner. This helping spirit can be seen as the totem of a single person rather than of an entire group.

It dies you say? A spirit can die?

Well, lets put it like this, "dies", you see, when the animal spirit is linked to the body of the mortal, it can suffer whatever the mortal body might suffer, and that goes the other way also, because a shaman while in trance, his/her spirit can catch any disease on the othr world, the spirit might not be ready for some trials, and that is even worse than the other way around, because if the spirit suffers anything, it reflects on the body and a shaman can die, that happens to other people that aren't shamans but are able to have out of the body experiences, and people might lose their mind, go mad, cerebrally paralyzed, or catch a "flu" that the body isn't able to respond and dies, because the body without the soul/spirit, doesn't work properly. So you have to take care of your spirit animal as you take care of yourself or your own soul ( which is something most of us have no idea what to do ) because what ever happens to you or to it, it will reflect on the other and the spirit animal might "die" and leave you.

There are many gods and goddesses in the Norse pantheon that have personal totem animals which may or may not be Fylgjur. For example, Odin is particularly associated with wolves, ravens, and horses, while Thor is with goats, and Freya and Freyr with wild boars. It should come as no surprise, then, that their human devotees have personal totems of their own.


Note: The artwork to illustrate this post is a drawing made by me. If you have any questions for me or if you want to see my artistic works, check out my Facebook page and make a Like if you can by following this link --> http://www.facebook.com/ArithHarger

Cybele The first goddess

Throughout the history of humankind there has always been many deities to explain each thing in the natural world. At first, the tribes worked with shamanic pratices ( which many tribal communities still do nowadays ) and the powers of divine were seen in nature and each animal was sacred, each animal had abilities and a way of dealing with life itself in a particular way, and such abilties and gift we humans also needed, so by watching how nature worked, we did the same, and there was what we call Totemism, a community belief in which every human is thought to have a strong spiritual connection  with an animal, be it a physical or a spirit animal, each person would have a Totem and follow its wisdom. But then those divine powers started to appear in the form of human beings, and that human shape of the divine spread through many cultures worldwide, there were thousands of gods and goddesses and that gave birth to religions, some more complex than others, as the human mind evolved, so did the gods and so did the necessity of explaining other complex things of the universe. But the figure of a goddess has always been present, a figure that comes from the Neolithic and even before that, the Mother goddess of the Earth,, of fertility, the goddess who gave birth to all and even to the gods. We see many of these statuettes through time and the cult of this mother goddess lived through the ages and had great adhesion in many cultures, such was this adhesion that religions were formed around her.
To our days comes the name of Cybele, the goddess mother of all men, goddess of the earth and fertility, giver of life and sustenance, a goddess who makes the synthesis of previous various religious realities. She is the goddess of all and this figure was created according to the cults of the earth goddess that comes since time immemorial, Cybele was created in the central area of the Turkish peninsula, the zone where Phrygia was. Since she was also a goddess of rebirth, her cult was around the 4th of April during Spring time. There is even the myth of Attis the shepherd, when the goddess Cybele fell in love with him and made him her priest with the condition that he would always be faithful to her, but one day he fell in love with a nymph, breaking the vow of chastity and the goddess killed him, not with her own hands or any power, not in a way that she could lets say " get her hands dirty " but by driving him mad in such a way that he was forced to mutilate himself. But after his death he turns into a three or revives in human forme, either way, he comes back in one form or another at spring, showing the powers of rebirth of this goddess, the symbolism of Spring.

 This worship of the mother goddess had a great importance in Roman society, and as such, it has reached us spreading throughout Europe. So important was her cult that we see in history several Mother Goddess' cults all over Europe until the present day. Portugal was one of many European countries to be invaded by the Romans and the Roman cults were placed in the country, and as the Romans adopted various deities even Portuguese ones (Lusitanian) the Lusitanian people also adopted this goddess, Cybele, and in many archaeological excavations we met traces of the worship of this goddess, figurines and such. In Portugal the cult to this goddess was great in the Central, southern and coastal regions of the country. In the Northern regions of Portugal the Roman cults weren't that much, in many places didn't even existed, because those regions are more mountainous and much cooler and to create pathways for these regions was difficult and even the transportation of soldiers and goods was dangerous and the romans lost more than they won, so the Northern parts of Portugal the cults remained Celtic and Germanic.

After the christianization of Europe and most Lusitanians got killed, or adopted Roman cults and later Christian ones, and the old deities were almost forgotten, a cult around the virgin Mary replaced the Roman cult to Cybele, the goddess of fertility, nature and of humankind and of gods, became virgin Mary which is symbolicaly very similar in the way that she is the mother of the son of the divine powers. As such, the cult of the virgin Mary became so important to the Portuguese people, which in fact comes from a Roman pagan past.

In Ancient Rome the celebrations to Cybele were very violent, it started with the sacrifice of a bull ( Taurobolium ) and a sheep ( Riobolium ) and the priest bathed in the blood of these animals, symbolizing the birth, in blood leaving the womb, and also by the symbolism of these animals that are generators of life by consumption. The importance of the bull as a symbol of strength in classical antiquity, was so marked in the festivities to Cybele while the Romans remained in the  Iberian peninsula, that still somehow remained as a cult and we can still see it in the bloody Bullfighting in Portugal and Spain (a tradition of which I am totally against).

The blood bath of the priest in these celebreations is still visible in christianity, when the wine was poured onto the head of the faithful, literally bathed in wine as in antiquity bathd in blood, of course with the passing of ages it is now drunk, the symbolism is implicit.

Note: The artwork to illustrate this post is a drawing of Bragi made by me. If you have any questions for me or if you want to see my artistic works, check out my Facebook page and make a Like if you can by following this link --> http://www.facebook.com/ArithHarger

Shamanic Astrology

Note:  The Drawing to illustrate this was made by me.

Because i've made your Signs with the Celtic ones in Trees, i will now do it with the animals, but now a more European Shamanic view. We must respect all living things, for we are all part of a great web that connects us all, and all living things have a soul and feelings, we should and have to love them as if they were a part of our own souls.

October 23 - November 21
Birth and animal totem: Snake
Moon: Cold Winds Moon
Season Aspect: The Frosting Time
Elemental Clan: Frog Clan
Plant totem: Mums
Polarity with: Beaver
Personality: Impulsive, ambitious
Emotions: Hidden, Keeping things inside
Spiritual Path: Expressing inner intuition
Strengths: Creativity, ability to change and sensitive to others

November 22 - December 21

Birth and animal totem: Elk

Moon: Snowy Moon
Season Aspect: Starry Night Moon
Elemental Clan: Hawk Clan
Plant totem: Poinsettia
Polarity with: Deer
Personality: Laugh-hearty, loving and independent
Emotions: Caring
Spiritual Path: Spiritual Evolution
Strengths:Optimistic, Happy and focusedCompatibilities:  Falcons and Salmon


December 22 - January 19

Birth and animal totem: Snow Goose

Moon: New Moon
Season Aspect: The renewal Time
Elemental Clan: Turtle Clan
Plant totem: Bramble
Polarity with: Woodpecker
Personality: Reliable, high standards of self
Emotions: Self concerned
Spiritual Path: To learn patience and the flow of life
Strengths: Sociable, well spokenCompatibilities:  Beavers, Bears and Crows

January 20 - February 18

Birth and animal totem: Otter

Moon: Cleasing moon
Season Aspect: TThe cleasing time
Elemental Clan: Butterfly Clan
Plant totem: Fern
Polarity with: Salmon
Personality: Sociable, talkative and independent
Emotions: Creative, unconventional
Spiritual Path: Applying spiritual knowledge to daily life
Strengths: Tolerance, courage
Compatibilities:  Crows, Falcons and Deer


February 19 - March 20

Birth and animal totem: Wolf

Moon: Worm awakening moon
Season Aspect: in-between time
Elemental Clan: Frog ( water ) clan
Plant totem: Plantain
Polarity with: Brown Bear
Personality: Compassionate, Benevolent, Generous, Artistic and gentle
Emotions: Deep
Spiritual Path: Love
Strengths: Intuition, creativity and understandingCompatibilities:  Woodpeckers, Brown Bears and Snakes.

March 21 - April 19

Birth and animal totem: Red Hawk

Moon: Budding trees moon
Season Aspect: The awakening time
Elemental Clan: Hawk Clan
Plant totem: Dandelion
Polarity with: Falcon
Personality: Active
Emotions: Quickly aroused
Spiritual Path: Expanding the individual through discernment
Strengths: Persistence and patience with othersCompatibilities:  Salmon and Owls

April 20 - May 20

Birth and animal totem: Beaver

Moon: Frogs return moon
Season Aspect: The growing time
Elemental Clan: Turtle Clan
Plant totem: Wild clover
Polarity with: Snake
Personality: Resourceful and methodical
Emotions: High strung
Spiritual Path: To discover that which has lasting value
Strengths: Accepting change, compassion, inner security and confidenceCompatibilities:  Woodpeckers, Brown Bears and Geese

May 21 - June 20

Birth and animal totem: Deer

Moon: Corn planting moon
Season Aspect: the flowering time
Elemental Clan: Butterfly Clan
Plant totem: Lily of the valley
Polarity with: Owl
Personality: Talkative, congenial, moody
Emotions: Sensitive
Spiritual Path: Sharing what one has learned or experienced for growth
Strengths: Persistence and ConcentrationCompatibilities:  Crows and otters

June 21 - July 21

Birth and animal totem: Woodpecker

Moon: Strong sun moon
Season Aspect: Long days time
Elemental Clan: Frog clan
Plant totem: Wild rose
Polarity with: Goose
Personality: Emotional, Vulnerable but protective
Emotions: Protective, wanting to protect
Spiritual Path: Fitting in with the greater good
Strengths: Resourcefulness, self acceptance and ForgivenessCompatibilities:  Snakes, Wolves, Beavers

July 22 - August 21

Birth and animal totem: Salmon

Moon: Ripe berries moon
Season Aspect: the ripening time
Elemental Clan: Fish Clan
Plant totem: Raspberry
Polarity with: Otter
Personality: Confident and Energetic
Emotions: Passionate and intense
Spiritual Path: To find the underlying purpose of life
Strengths: olerance, humbleness and letting goCompatibilities:  Owl and Falcon 

August 22 - September 21

Birth and animal totem: Bear ( Brown Bear )

Moon: Harvest Moon
Season Aspect: Harvesting time
Elemental Clan: Turtle Clan
Plant totem: Violets
Polarity with: Wolf
Personality: Practical and Industrious
Emotions: Warm and thought out
Spiritual Path: Understanding it all
Strengths: Optimism, tolerance and self acceptanceCompatibilities:  Geese and Beavers


Septemver 22 - October 22

Birth and animal totem: Raven or Crow

Moon: Ducks Flying Moon
Season Aspect: Falling leaves time
Elemental Clan: Butterfly Clan
Plant totem: Ivy
Polarity with: Falcon
Personality: Tolerant and friendly
Emotions: sensitive
Spiritual Path: peace and balance
Strengths: caution, making decisions and letting go
Compatibilities: Otter and Deer


Note2:  This was scheduled to this day.

If you need more information or if you want to check my works, take a look at my Facebook page and make a like at --> www.facebook.com/ArithHarger