Written by Emma Liston, Energy Healer
Emma Liston is best known for her "magical" ability that goes beyond traditional energy healing. As the heart of Being-Magic, she works with both humans and animals, though animals are her true passion. Calling herself an “animal kingdom guardian,” she sees her work as a life purpose, using her unique gifts to bring comfort to those she helps.
Animal guides, totem animals, spirit animals, power animals, these terms may sound familiar, yet their meanings may not be entirely clear. Perhaps you've encountered an animal that captivates you or one that evokes fear. Maybe a certain creature has crossed your path at a pivotal moment or regularly appears in your dreams. These experiences are not mere coincidences; they carry a deeper significance.
In many shamanic traditions, animal guides are revered as spiritual allies, offering wisdom, guidance, and healing energy. Across numerous indigenous cultures, animals hold profound spiritual meaning, symbolizing everything from strength and protection to transformation and insight. Whether an animal appears in your life for a fleeting moment or keeps reappearing in some way, it is often seen as a messenger, imparting valuable lessons or insights at just the right time.
In this article, I’m sharing my perspective on how I understand these guides and how being aware of spirit animals or animal guides can help you navigate life’s challenges, heal emotional wounds, and deepen your connection to the natural world and your own inner wisdom.
How can animal guides assist you?
Working with animal guides can be a transformative and deeply healing practice. These guides offer a unique form of support, grounded in ancient wisdom and the natural world. Whether you seek emotional healing, guidance, or a deeper sense of purpose, animal guides can assist in your journey toward personal growth and well-being. Through regular practice and connection, you can come to understand the messages they offer, bringing greater clarity, peace, and balance into your life.
You can also read more about your animal guides in my blog post.
What exactly are animal guides?
Animal guides are spiritual beings in animal form that are part of your spiritual team, often accompanying you throughout your life. These guides can change as needed, offering qualities or archetypes to help you navigate challenges. They may manifest as totems, such as toys, ornaments, clothing (ranging from traditional headdresses to modern t-shirts), artworks, or appear in dreams, meditations, visions, or even enter your environment in physical form. It’s important to remember that the universe communicates through symbols, signs, and metaphors, not human language. These encounters are how the unseen world connects with each of us.
Animal guides are typically wild animals (e.g., wolves) and carry the collective power of their species or animal family, rather than representing a single individual. However, certain domesticated animals, and even mythical creatures like dragons, can also serve as guides. While some believe that insects cannot be guides, many people attribute special significance to butterflies, dragonflies, ladybirds, bees, and even grasshoppers. Ultimately, the relationship between you and your animal guide is deeply personal, rooted in a unique soul connection that transcends logical understanding.
Why do we have guides in animal form?
Animals have different characteristics or archetypes compared to humans. They are often more powerful, stronger, or possess traits unique to their species. In this way, your spirit animal often represents or reflects traits or characteristics that you have within yourself (whether you are conscious of them or not), as well as your outward personality. The meaning you ascribe to these animals is often symbolic, but this symbolism can lead to profound insights about yourself, help you with life lessons, and provide support and healing when you need it.
We can learn a lot from our spirit animals in much the same way as we can learn from our companion animals. It’s not by chance that we inhabit the same planet together, and animals can be our greatest teachers and guides. They help us from a place of unconditional love, which enables us to open our hearts and receive their teachings at a very deep level. There is something profoundly sacred about interacting with your spirit animal.
Why is this important for humanity?
Historically, within most indigenous cultures, animals were revered, respected, and seen as equally important. Humans and animals in those times lived in harmony with one another, in contrast to how we live in the modern world.
Restoring our connection with nature is essential in today’s society, as technological advancements have caused us to drift away from the natural world, animals, and each other. Reconnecting with nature is key to living in harmony, respecting the environment, and understanding our role within it. When we do this, we become part of nature once more. We understand the cycles, recognize the roles we all play, achieve balance, and help reduce the depletion of Earth’s resources. I believe that animals, in particular, are the gateway to reigniting this connection, guiding us toward a more sustainable and harmonious way of life.
A personal experience
I want to share a story about how I met one of my spirit animals in the flesh! We had to euthanize our ginger cat, Max, and about three months later, while going through a period of very deep grief, a pure white cat emerged from the bushes and started to walk toward our home. I didn’t know how or why, but I felt this cat was coming to see us, and it seemed really important.
Our whole family gathered on the lawn and sat down in silence as this beautiful, pure white creature continued to move toward us. It wove itself around us, offering head-butts, purring, and love. This continued for about ten minutes. Then, the cat walked back toward the bushes it had emerged from, turned around, gave a few slow blinks, and disappeared. We all felt that Max’s soul had found a way to "enter" this body to come and heal our broken hearts because we strongly sensed his presence. He knew we needed to see him in a physical way, and he found a way to be with us in the flesh.
All of us noticed how immaculately clean this cat was, without a speck of dirt on its pure white fur, even though it had emerged from some rather muddy bushes! There was no other way to describe this cat other than angelic. This encounter was simply otherworldly. We had never seen this cat before that interaction and have not seen it around our home since.
I share this story because any animal that has been with you in this life remains with you in spirit after it has crossed over. These animals become part of your spiritual team, sometimes even continuing to help you from the other side. It is believed that when a human crosses over, the first beings to greet them on the other side are the animals they’ve spent their life with. There is indeed much magic to be found in each of these experiences with our animals.
How do you recognize an animal spirit guide?
If an animal guide wants to make contact, there are a few ways it may “appear” to get your attention. By being aware of these, you can take steps to connect with the animal and discover the messages it has for you. As mentioned earlier, it may simply be an animal that, for as long as you can remember, has stood out to you in some way, whether positively or negatively. Or you might notice that the same animal suddenly starts appearing repeatedly. This could happen through art, in nature, in dreams, on television, and so on.
You may also become aware of dreaming about an animal in a symbolic or meaningful way, especially if remembering your dreams is uncommon for you. You might feel or think a certain way when you consider a particular animal, or you may simply sense that an animal is trying to get your attention without having anything tangible to support this feeling.
Ways to connect with your animal guides
Meditation or journeying
One of the most common ways to connect with animal guides is through shamanic journeying. This practice involves entering a meditative state, often aided by drumming, rattling, or other rhythmic tools, to journey into the spirit world. During this journey, you may encounter your animal guide, or it might appear to you in dreams or during a meditative state following the journey.
Dreams
Many people receive messages from their animal guides in dreams. Keeping a dream journal and noting recurring animal symbols can be an effective way to work with these guides. You can also ask your animal guide for guidance before going to sleep and trust that the answer will come through your dreams.
Rituals, altars, totems, or offerings
In some shamanic practices, you may make offerings to honor your animal guides. This could be as simple as offering incense, light, or food, or it could involve creating a sacred space (altar) where you communicate with the spirits of animals. You can also wear symbols of the animals (feathers, jewelry, etc.) to keep their energy close to you.
Many people work with animal totems or symbols as a way to embody the essence of a particular animal’s energy. Whether it’s through artwork, ornaments, tattoos, or creating altars, surrounding yourself with representations of animals that resonate with you can deepen your connection to their energy and teachings.
Ready to meet your animal guides?
Perhaps this article has intrigued you, or maybe you’ve already felt a connection to a certain animal. There are countless resources on the web, but it’s important to decipher the unique messages each animal has for you.
If you’re ready to meet your spirit animals now and would like some guidance, I invite you to book a call so I can assist you in connecting with them.
Read more from Emma Liston
Emma Liston, Energy Healer
Emma Liston is a passionate advocate for animals, combining healing and interspecies communication to create meaningful change. Together with her global community, she facilitates worldwide healing events for animals affected by war, natural disasters, and other crises. Her unwavering belief in the magic that surrounds us, drives her to inspire a global shift in the way we care for all living beings—one animal, one human, and one act of kindness at a time.
