Envisioning the Animal Within

Conjuring Your Spirit Animal

Years ago, I created a course inspired by the book Goddess Initiation by Francesca De Grandis—an invitation for women to awaken and reconnect with the magic nestled deep within their divine feminine essence. The course was a call to return to the sacred, wild parts of ourselves that often get silenced in a world that expects us to be polished, productive, and polite.

Just last week, while in meditation, I was intuitively guided to the book again sitting quietly on one of my shelves. I pulled it out, opened to a random page, and felt a shiver of sacred guidance run through me - I opened up to the exact page of a visualization in connecting with your totem animal. That single moment inspired this week’s theme: Connecting with the Animal Within.

"One way to build your mythos is to find and explore your power animal, also called your totem animal. A totem animal is a being you identify with, whose powers become yours, and whose wisdoms you possess as your own or need to learn." -Goddess Initiation

Though this exerp and inspiration for today's post is taken from this exact book, it applies to any gender, as this magic is within all humans. There’s a primal part of each of us that knows the way.

This is the version of you that doesn’t overthink or hesitate—they feel, they sense, they know. When you begin to reconnect with your animal self, you're not devolving—you're returning. You're remembering your innate rhythm and intelligence. You’re syncing with your body’s truth, your instincts, and your own magic. And when you can connect that primal self with the story of your lifetime to integrate into society today, you evolve.

When you tap into the primal self, your intuition sharpens. You find yourself in flow—at the right place, at the right time, aligned with the right people. Synchronicities increase, and life starts to move with you, rather than against you. The noise quiets. The path clears.

How to Connect with Your Totem Animal

Here are a few other ways to begin uncovering your animal guide:

🌀 Reflect on your lifelong fascinations: Have you always been drawn to wolves? Butterflies? Owls? Your totem animal often appears as a consistent presence in your dreams, artwork, childhood drawings, or fascinations.

🌀 Notice recurring signs in nature or media: Sometimes our guides show up on repeat—whether it’s through animals crossing your path, appearing in your dreams, showing up in books, social media, or conversations out of nowhere. Pay attention to the “coincidences.”

🌀 Recall meaningful encounters: Have you ever had a powerful or unexplainable interaction with an animal? That energy might have been trying to bond with you—offering protection, awakening, or insight.

🌀 Tune into your body during movement: Certain animal movements may feel natural to you. Do you move like a cat, powerful and graceful? Do you ground yourself like a bear or spring like a gazelle? Your physical instincts are also intuitive clues.

🌀 Journal prompts to explore:

• Which animals have always captivated me?

• If I could shapeshift into any animal, which one would feel like “me”?

• What qualities do I admire in animals—and which ones do I feel I need more of right now?

  
  

There’s no one “right” way to find your totem—your sacred guidance will lead you there. Just stay open. And remember, your totem can shift throughout life as your soul evolves. What matters most is how it feels.

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This week, I invite you to journey inward with me. Below are the instructions for the animal meditation from Goddess Initiation, the exact page I landed on last week—a beautiful entry point into the sacred wild within. Let this be your doorway back to instinct, to rhythm, and to that deeper knowing.

"Step 1. After choosing one animal to focus on, decide what that animal experiences. For instance, what do its muscles feel like when it lies down, what goes through its head, how does it feel physically and in spirit as it moves? What are its motivation and desires?"

"Step 2. Closing your eyes, focus on the darkness that is there naturally when one's eyes are closed."

"Step 3. Imagine yourself to be that animal any way you can."

"Step 4. Continue to imaine yourself as that animal: pick one thing you discovered in Step 1, and fancy yourself being that way. For example, if you choose a gorilla and decided in Step 1 that a gorilla feels proud and unhampered when walking, see yourself walking that way in your mind's eye, imagine that you walk with freedom and pride. Or if you chose an alligator, and in Step 1 you decided an alligator lies in quiet serenity, then imagine, picture, visualize yourself lying quietly with an alligator's scaly skin, with not a care in the world."

"Step 5. Focus on another attribute that you determined in step 1, and use Step 4's instructions on it."

"Step 6. Repeat Step 5 on as many attributes as you want. After Step 4, as you focus on additional attributes, you may want to do so without letting attributes imagined earlier in the ritual slip from your mind. In other words, if you fantasize a sense of serenity, then a sense of pride, try to hold both in your imagination."

"Step 7. If you want, write down what powers you felt or wisdom you gained. You may think you will remember forever, but that may not be the case. Often, I am so happy I wrote something down. I often see it just when I need it."

After you've gone through the meditation, take a few moments to journal:

• How does this creature move through the world?

• What might it be trying to teach me about my own energy, boundaries, or instincts?

• Where in my life am I ignoring my gut and overthinking things?

• How can I honour the wisdom of my inner animal more often?

Stay tuned for the next post for Warrior Thursday, where we’ll explore how to take this primal energy and ground it through movement.  I’ll also share a powerful video I found that incorporates animal-inspired mobility exercises you can use to supplement your regular workouts.

For now, take a deep breath, sink into your senses, and trust the part of you that already knows.

xoxox

One Love Always 🥰😻