Similar to the way friendships develop gradually, our relationships with power animals grow and deepen based on repeated interaction and building trust over time. (Click here for more on connecting with a power animal.)
Here are some suggestions for developing a relationship with your power animal:
· Put on music and dance to help welcome the energy of your power animal into your body and into your life. Embody your power animal and move like it would move.
· Find pictures of your power animal in magazines or on the internet and post them where you can see them.
· Make your own artwork to honor your power animal. If you like to sew, incorporate your power animal into a quilt design. If you like to work in clay, make a sculpture of your power animal for your altar.
· Greet your power animal each morning when you arise. Invite it to accompany you for the day and share its wisdom, assistance and protection.
· Go walking in nature merged with your power animal. If it’s a water animal, invite it to merge with you when you’re in the bathtub or swimming pool.
· Sit quietly and invite your power animal to talk with you and share its wisdom. Meditate with it. Ask what message it has for you. How does it want to be honored? What does it want to tell you? How does it want to lend assistance in your life?
· Put items on your altar to honor your power animal and represent its energy. For example, if your power animal were a snake, you might include a fetish of a snake and a candle. The flame from the candle might represent the snake’s ability to transform energy.
· Get a stuffed animal or toy of your power animal and let your inner child play.
· Call on your power animal to serve as a guide whenever you go on a shamanic journey. You can also call on your power animal to visit you in dreamtime.
· Give gratitude to your power animal whenever it shares a piece of wisdom or supports you in any way.
· Observe your power animal in nature to learn more about it.
· Contemplate what it means if you’re not comfortable or don’t like your power animal. If you dislike or are afraid of your power animal, it’s especially important to connect with it and learn its wisdom. The message it holds for you will be particularly meaningful. Power animals help us connect to the parts of ourselves that we’ve lost or denied, so it may be mirroring a trait or quality that is ready to come back to help you be in your wholeness.
Please share ways you’ve developed a relationship with your power animal.