SALMON
--DETERMINATION--

      Salmon shows a determination to return to the place of birth, unequaled in nature.
      Salmon's arrival in your awareness may notify you to keep trying. You may be doing exactly what the Great Spirit has in mind for you. Even if you think you are wasting your time, Salmon could be telling you that there are things more important in the Great Mystery than your time, and that you should hang in and keep trying.
      Salmon may also be telling you that you are consciously or unconsciously interfering with someone's progress along his/her path. You should give serious consideration to building lifting ladders to help that person around the dams you have built These dams you have built may not be intended specifically to stop that individual - you may see them as hydroelectric stations intended to help the great many to an easier and better life. Nonetheless, these dams are impeding the progress of one along his/her path.
      For those of you in the corporate world, think of it this way... Salmon's visit may be telling you to see what you can do to help the little person (the customer, the user, the neighbor of your production plant, the child whose parent is stupid enough to assume he/she won't get in a wreck and places the child in the childseat in the frontseat of an airbag-equipped car), especially when it will do no harm to the shareholders - the shareholders will still get their dividend checks at the end of each quarter.
      Besides, like Salmon who propagates the species and feeds the bears at the same time, you could be accomplishing multiple aspects of the Great Spirit's plan with a single action - helping the little person and enhancing the company reputation (more dividends later as the company's reputation earns it more business.
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SEAL
--MOTHER'S CARE --

      Seal is the cuteness and warmth of family.
      Seal reminds you of a mother's love. Perhaps you have forgotten what it is like to have someone to care about. Have you withdrawn into a shell in this hardened world, so that others cannot touch your heart and you cannot be hurt by caring?
      Seal may be telling you to look around, someone may be trying to get your attention and offer you the love you miss from your mother. This does not mean that you need "mothering", but rather that you need to allow yourself to open up to someone giving you the type of love a mother would give her child - forgiving, complete, total, endless - love as deep as the pools of the eyes of a baby Seal.
      Maybe you are missing the chance to be loved in this manner, or maybe you are being rejected when you try to give this love to another.
      It could be time to look at the way you love... Are you attaching conditions to your giving of love? Seal gives love and life for Her pup. Would you love anyone this much? If not, you might want to reconsider, if Seal has waddled into your life. The right person with whom to share this level of love may be hanging around you at this moment, just waiting for you to look into her/his deep-liquid-pool eyes and melt the iceberg on which you have been sitting.
      Seal is also telling you not to give up on loving.
      If you honor Seal energy, Seal will give you the coat off Her back. And a warmer, more comfortable, softer coat you are hardly likely to find. Just as Buffalo surrendered His hide to His Human Brother to keep the Human Brother warm, Seal will surrender her coat, as long as you honor Her and Her energy for doing so. If the honor is there, Seal will not condemn you for taking Her coat, rather She will emerge from the breathing whole and give you the coat willingly. And just as Seal provides Her pup with food through Her milk, She will allow you to eat of Her to sustain yourself.
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SHEEP
(See SEAL)

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SKUNK
--REPUTATION AND RESPECT--

      Skunk teaches "walk your talk", know your strengths, respect yourself, create your reputation. Ala Skunk, how you carry and present yourself determines how others will treat you. You will find you have little reason to be defensive if others see you as someone they should not attack. You also have no need to be unduly aggressive or overpowering when you are confident of your position. Your aura is relayed through the senses. Self-esteem radiates from the aura. Even the least psychically sensitive of people seldom misses such signs.
      Skunk commands respect - if not during the first encounter, definitely during the second and subsequent... Skunk, by nature, is playful, curious, exploring. Skunk goes about, fearing very few other animals because it understands its strengths. Skunk energy attracts like and repels opposite. Skunks, by their scent, attract other Skunks and repel all else that would seek to take something from them. Skunk understands the use of energy and its influence on others. Skunk can radiate an energy which will attract what it desires.
      Skunk reminds you to remain aware of the energies you radiate, for what comes into your life you have attracted with the energy you are putting out - have you been unconsciously sending signals which attract objects and people only to satisfy your ego? Are you wasting your energy? Are you hurting your reputation, when others find you unresponsive after they have reacted to the signals you have been sending?
      If what is attracted is what you intended or desire, then you are walking your talk. If people you wish to attract are not attracted, check your energy again. Are you overbearing? Have you taken self-respect into the realm of condemnation of others for not being as good as you? Are you sending out sexual energy to attract the opposite sex, even when you are "off the market"?
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SLOTH
--PERSISTENCE--

      Sloth is the slow, persistent mover. Nothing seems to stand in Sloth's way. Sloth just keeps slowly on His way.
      Sloth reminds you that often the best way to reach a goal is by just keeping at it, not giving up. Has something gotten in your way? Perhaps taking a lesson from Sloth, you should slow down, persevere, and climb over it, even if that means hanging upside down by your fingers and toes from the limb you seem to have made your way out onto!
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SNAKE
--TRANSMUTATION AND EQUALITY--

      Snake is the power of alchemy, creation, equality, immortality, reproduction, sexuality and transformation. It is completeness, cosmic consciousness, and the ability to unresistingly experience EVERYTHING. All things are equal in creation. All things, even those considered poison, can be transmuted to another great experience, with the proper state of mind.
      Snake reminds you of your universal existence.
      Snake is associated with fire energy -
1) materially = passion, desire, procreation, physical vitality;
2) emotionally = ambition, creation, resolution, dreams;
3) mentally = intellect, power, charisma, leadership;
4) spiritually = wisdom, understanding, wholeness, connection to the Great Spirit.
      If Snake has crossed your path, you are reminded to transmute thought, action or desire to equality and completeness. Become the alchemist who turns lead to gold.
      Snake may be telling you that you have avoided your goals because the old patterns feel safer. Is it fear that keeps you in the old patterns? Release this fear and glide into the future of your creation.
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SPIDER
--WEAVING AND SELF ENTRAPMENT--

      Spider weaves the webs of the lace of life. Spider wove the first alphabet. She weaves dreams. She weaves the cobwebs that fuzz your mind first thing in the morning.
      The double-lobed body of spider is the symbol for infinity (the figure 8, lying on its side). Her creativity is infinite as well. Spider reminds you that you are creating your own future. She also warns of getting tangled in the webs of your or someone else's deceptions. Are you so tangled in hesitancy, you can't get started in any positive direction?
      Spider can see into other dimensions and can weave what She sees into the lace of this dimension. She reminds you that this physical world is limited, and you should not lose sight of the other dimensions. And She tries to make you realize that, like her body shape, She and we are infinite... we should remember there is more than the immediate.
      Spider also visits you when you get so caught up in the detail of what you are doing that a grand opportunity jiggling at the edge of your web may get away if you don't act now.
      Spider, who in many species eats her mate, also reminds us to honor our mate and to honor the female/male sides of ourselves. Are you eating your mate (or someone else around you) without regard for who you and that person are? Why are you attacking others?
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SQUIRREL
--GATHERING VERSUS HOARDING--

      Squirrel gathers food for the winter. Some people think He is hoarding, when really He is forgetful. Squirrel puts enough away so He can find a portion of the stash. The rest of the stash does not go to waste, though, since Squirrel has buried it in the ground. In the spring, the forgotten portion of Squirrel's stash sprouts, and eventually expands Squirrel's larder.
      Squirrel alerts you to plan ahead for winter. Squirrel also reminds us that, even when we are unaware, we are doing the work of the Great Spirit, expanding His garden as we go about our daily routine.
      Squirrel can be warning us, by example of His erratic behavior, that we are running around the trunk of the tree of our life, getting nothing done fast. Perhaps we should stop, consider, and proceed at a slower, steadier pace as we go about moving into our future, conserving our energy for the winter...
      Squirrel attracts your attention to change - be it the seasons, a lifestyle, a consciousness. Another side of Squirrel's message is to not worry about what you don't need to get through. You may have gathered too many anchors (errr,... that should be "acorns"). How much of what you thought you might need is actually holding you back? This is not just a reference to material objects. Maybe Squirrel is telling you it is time to do both a physical and mental inventory to see if what you are hanging onto, "just in case", is of any use.
      Going back to what was said about your unconsciously doing the work of the Great Spirit, Squirrel might be reminding you that the baggage you are hanging onto could easily be left behind, because it has little to do with what is important in the universe.
      Squirrel warns you about hoarding all of this useless "crap", and reminds you that you may not have room in your life for the abundance of the Great Spirit, if you are holding so tightly to the things that don't matter.
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SWAN
--ACCEPTANCE AND GRACE--

      Swan starts as the Ugly Duckling. Swan accepts the Great Spirit's path for Her. Swan emerges transformed by the state of grace She has accepted.
      Swan tells you to accept that the Universe has a valid, useful, acceptable plan for you, if you just relax and let the Great Spirit continue to run things. Swan reminds you to accept the alterations that will be made to you to improve your state, if you just trust in the Great Spirit.
      Swan may also be telling you to break the habit of denying what you know. You may be around people who deny what you see about them. You may have given up trying to follow your "knowing", because you do not get confirmation. The problem is not necessarily with you and what you know, but may be with the fact that the other person does not want to admit you know so much.
      If you are feeling clumsy, awkward, or spacey, Swan may be reminding you to come back down to Earth and ground yourself.
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