Wolf - Teacher Give Away

Keywords:

Teacher Give-Away. Lack of Success. Disappointment. Loss. Regular Let Downs. Perseverance. Strength. Endurance. Giving Away Energy. Connecting With All to Connect to a Few. Solitude and Socialising. Teacher. Shepherd.



General Description:

The wolf (Canis lupus approx 32 subspecies) is considered the largest of canids, though it has a highly variable size and weight depending on geographical distribution. The wolf has been both highly vilified, hunted until its population reached dangerously low proportions, and yet has now become a celebrated aspect of eco-tourism today.

Wolves are a highly social, pack animal with very large territories which they scent-mark with urine and feces to establish boundary. Packs include an alpha male and female (a monogamous pair who are the only ones to mate), their offspring and sometimes assimilated members. The alpha male and female are the first to eat, and hierarchy is maintained through cues such as physical posturing, facial expression, mountain, crouching, chin-touching, rolling over and biting. Packs - due to their large range - will often howl to re-unite one another, to defend territory, and to increase excitement before a hunt.

Lessons:

Please remember that if this animal is contacting you, it will often be the best resource for teaching you what its lessons are. What I write is only intended to be a guide, it is not absolute, nor is it infallible.

- Wolf is perhaps one of the most common animals amongst teenage Wiccans, neopagans, eclectic pagans, otherkin, and therian communities. It is so popular, that it - like Raven - has been derided in public and private circles as being the animal people choose because it's 'cool'. It has even been likened to a prostitute. When one looks at its popularity, it is easy to turn to cynicism to understand why. However let's look at this phenomenon more closely. Wolf represents teacher give-away. It is the teacher that takes on all students in the hope that perhaps one out of ten will take on its wisdom. Wolf connects with all to connect with a few.

- A lot of the students that choose or are chosen by wolf, will fail. By fail, I mean they will lose their way spiritually, fall off the path, ignore lessons, and superficially celebrate their connections until they eventually fade away. This is the choice of wolf, to teach a great deal in order to break through and share the true mysteries with a few who persevere and move past the beginning stages of their path. This is where wolf becomes a truly valuable teacher.

- If wolf has come into your life, or has been a long-term guide, it encourages you to also share your knowledge to all in order to impact a few. It is important not to let ego stand in the way of this, but the chances are, with wolf, that you might. That is one of the challenges, will you fall through the gaps? Or stay true to your spiritual path?

- Wolf tells you to assess where you are in your life. Are you becoming to insular with who you give your knowledge to? Wolf tells you to cast your net wider, and don't discriminate.

- Wolf represents lack of success and disappointment and comes into our lives to let us know that if we're having a run of disappointments and lack of successes, it really doesn't matter. Wolf doesn't come to let us know our luck will change, often he comes to let us know that it will stay the same. Why? Because wolf itself is used to lack of success, and yet still finds the time to celebrate pack achievements and develop strong, communal relationships. Happiness is not in the material things that nourish us, it is in the people who surround us and nourish us spiritually and emotionally.

- There is a major theme of loss that haunts wolf, and many of the people wolf comes to visit might already be depressed or unhappy with their life. Wolf lets us know that even when we go home 'hungry', or spiritually malnourished, we still have people and spirits around us that support us. When we experience grief and let down, we learn that others around us love us anyway. Not for what we have achieved, but for the fact that we tried, and that we're a loveable person.

- Wolf represents all facets of perseverance, strength and endurance. Wolf comes into our lives to let us know that we can get through anything, and grief, sadness, loss and let downs aren't enough of an excuse to stop us from trying again and living our life to the full.

- Wolf comes into our lives to let us know that on some level we are giving away energy, and that it's not a bad thing, and it's not wrong. You don't always need to keep your energy tightly locked up in your body, sometimes we experience more of life when we open up. Wolf lets us know that yes, we might be feeling tired or drained or different to how we normally feel because we are more open on an etheric level. Wolf will also let us know - if we ask politely - why we are more open, and what purpose it serves.

- Wolf teaches us the balance between solitude and socialising. Too much time by ourselves helps no one, and can lead to us becoming preoccupied with ourselves so much that we forget to grow. Likewise too much socialising, and we stop nourishing our spirit because we never have any time to focus on what we're learning. Wolf advises that we balance between the two, and that we accept that both habits are normal as long as they're balanced with each other.

If you have Wolf as your Totem:

People with this animal as a totem will often manifest traits similar to the animal itself. I work on the philosophy that we only have one totem, and it teaches us lessons as well as representing the core aspects of our personality. Therefore -

- Wolf people have an imperative to open their teachings and knowledge up for all students who are willing to learn from them. It is not the place of wolf people to pick and choose students, and a healthily developed person with wolf totem will keep their hearts open and willingly give away energy knowing that amongst the let downs and disappointments, there is enough nourishment and growth amongst others to keep them going. Wolf people are teachers, they are often at the forefront of pagan and shamanic teachings, can be found in all walks of life, and carry many mysteries which tend to be individually catered for individual students.

- People with wolf totems field more disappointment than many other people. One of their major life lessons is to learn a balance between not feeling too sorry for one's self, but also not writing off every disappointment and forgetting to experience the emotion. A wolf person is a strong asset to any community, because in time of darkness, they keep a community going.

- Wolf people are both social and anti-social. They are not extroverts, but nor do they genuinely enjoy spending every waking moment alone. They need a close circle of friends, a loving partner, and they need to know where they fit in in a community. For this reason they often maintain community rules and protocol, and will be among the first to let another know when they have let the group down. Wolf people need time to themselves, or they suffocate. They also need time with other people, or again, they suffocate. Wolf people are masters of striking up balance between the two, though may go through teething problems with this lesson as children / adolescents.

There will be other ways your totem manifests, and you will recognise them with awareness and communion.

As shadow guide/totem:

The shadow totem is the animal we often fear irrationally, that teaches us things about ourselves that are profound and difficult to confront. Often the traits we fear most within the shadow totem, are the traits that we dislike in ourselves. We must scrutinise why this is, and learn how to work with them.

- People who dislike, hate or fear wolves, tend to fear things that look scarier on the outside than they are on the inside. Those who fear wolf tend to succumb to propaganda and negative media depictions quicker than most people, and one of their biggest lessons in life will be learning how to see through the surface, to the truths the lie beneath.

- Those who dislike or hate wolf often tend to have contempt for neopagans, eclectic pagans and the 'mainstream.' This might seem like a niche shadow guide lesson, but it's actually far more common in paganism now than you might think. These people who dislike an animal simply because it is common and popular, need to learn that just because something is mainstream, doesn't mean that it isn't unique or loses its ability to be meaningful. Those who dislike wolf tend to be highly disillusioned with whatever communities they are a part of, and look for scapegoats to ease their own feeling of loss and let down. They have valuable lessons to learn from wolf if they overcome their bias.

Contacting Wolf:

Like all animal helpers, this animal will only appear when right and appropriate, and cannot be forced to visit you, commune with you, or share messages with you.

Many people have very personal ways they like to contact wolf, and wolf will have personal ways to contact you. Many people just look down while healing or meditating one day, and see a great big wolf next to them as a guide. Some people get overcome by urges to howl like wolves, and yet others will become practiced in woodwind instruments and flutes to mimic the sound in this manner and so become attuned to wolf energy.

Other ways to access wolf include rattling and drumming, endurance walking and running to induce trance state, buteyko breathing, meditation, visualisation and other methods. Experiment and find the one that is most suited to you. Wolf is excellent for beginners who want to contact any animal, as wolf is one of the more forthcoming. Wolf is one of the many animals who is not particularly comfortable in supporting you on Underworld journeys. And tends to be more of a long-term rather than short-term guide that forms a close relationship with its student, often resulting in its misinterpretation as totem.[/img]


[color=yellow]Material in this post is copyright of Ravenari and can also be viewed here:
http://www.wildspeak.com/vilturj/totems/totem.html[/color]

funily enogh, my toten is a wolf. a biutiful female timber wolf with a name just as biutiful and resounding. i have to say that the explenation of the wolf fits me perfectly. i was noding all the way throw that, and even thow wolf is common, im prowd to say that im one of them.

ive been practicing paganism for 5-6 years and shamanism for 2. im not one of the people who thowt wolfs are cool, so chose it as my totem. she chose me, and whe work well together.

i find a searten healing property with wolf as with dog and a sence of iner and outer balance in theis world and the next. i never adored wolfs befor, and they defenetly were not my favoret animals. but after puberty and my path throw paganism, i found that wolf was my calling and our conection has grown since.

blessed be!

Much to my own surprise, I do have wolf with me. but I've never been sure if it is a totem or a guide. It's been with me for over, I want to say, 4 or 5 years. The thing is, I've never felt any sense of loss that I haven't been able to deal with.

Referring to the totem wolf, I am very much like that. No large crowds, but I can't isolate myself either. I do prefer a small close group with common ground, but a lot of variety.

As a guide, I'm not sure. I met my wolf in a vision/meditation. And he did guide me to another, one I call my Old Shaman. He's another story.

What surprises me most is his coloration feels so pure... Black with yellow/gold eyes. I can't help but think there's meaning in it. I haven't been able to figure out what all it means, though.

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If you aren't using your brain, do you mind if I feed it to the dragon?

Ccey I'm afraid I'm not entirely sure what your question is.

Totems and guides - in my understanding - don't usually roam around in packs in the Otherworlds. You can certainly get wolf spirit packs in the Otherworlds, but that is not the same as a totem, which is the collective spirit and manifestation of all wolves - the lone wolf and pack wolf in one.

It could be that you are having experiences with spirit wolves, or even that you are experiencing something known as therianthropy, which is where you have a wolf spirit within your body, as well as a human spirit. If you PM me, I will send you a link to a therianthropy forum which may be better equipped to assist you.

Hello? What do u mean by A wolf spirit in me? and that it could be part of me?

Hi, ccey!

Have a look at the following thread strictly devoted to Therianthropy:

http://magickaschool.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6683&highlight=therianthropy

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PM me any time!

Excellent, thank you Torey.

I've also PMed you with a link to the therianthropy forum as well Ccey.

Oops! Ahhh well mission accomplished, eh! Hehe!

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PM me any time!

I have had wolves with me since was a little girl. My house is surronded in Wolves. My spirit is much like the spirit of an Wolf. I think I have a much higher regards for a Wolf than most . Almost to the point of being godly like. Is this bad but I have been searching for this answer for some time. Any thoughts on this is very welcome.

I have wolf spirits with me. My twin died and he comes to me in the form of a wolf sometimes or himself. My guide is a shewolf.
What Ravenari has said sounds all to true for me. With a wolf guide falling from any path can be easy. Especially spirituality. Most of my life has been loss and disappointment. It has left me rather un-feeling. The only time I really feel any joy is when my wolves come to me.
In this physical world, I am a lone wolf. But I'm glad to be one.

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Shewolf