The Green Wolf


Be aware that this Tumblr frequently includes pictures of art made with animal remains, as well as rampant feminist opinions, corgis and bats, and lush landscapes.

Artist, author, (neo)shaman, and wannabe polymath living in the Pacific Northwe(s)t.

I discovered neopaganism in the mid-1990s, and shortly thereafter began my work with animal totems and neoshamanism. Over the years I've wandered through various paths, ranging from Wicca-flavored neopaganism to Chaos magic, but for the past few years I've been creating Therioshamanism, a post-industrial neo-shamanic path. I've also been creating various neopagan ritual tools and other sacred art from hides, bones, beads and other such things since about the same time. And I've written several nonfiction books on totemism, animal magic, and related topics. Currently working on "New Paths to Plant and Fungus Totems".

A few places to find me, as I'm all over the internet:


http://www.thegreenwolf.com
http://thegreenwolf.etsy.com
http://therioshamanism.com
http://paganbookreviews.net
https://www.facebook.com/TheGreenWolfLupa

Ask me anything

15th August 2012

ramblingsofadistractedteen asked you: I have been reading alot of your writing about animal spirits and one thought has been on my mind for awhile, what about dinosaurs? Dinosaur spirits is probably a strange idea, which is why I haven’t brought it up yet. But still dinosaurs were the first titans of the still forming Earth, The first to have truly adapted to fill every niche and partake in every resource the Earth has to offer, and now they are the Earth itself. I have some strange feelings and I want to know your thoughts

Oh, believe me, there are still the totems of animals extinct on this plane of reality! They often have a different, sometimes archaic, way of viewing this world (and us upstart humans) because they’ve lost their connection to the physical world, but they’re still around in spirit. 

In DIY Totemism I spend a chapter talking about more uncommon groups of totems, to include extinct ones, and I detail some of my work with the totems of paleolithic megafauna like Mastodon and Dire Wolf, but also some work with dinosaurs like Allosaurus and Compsognathus. I also tried contacting more recent extinctions; my experience with Dodo Bird was one of the more surprising and sad ones because that totem is still very angry about the loss of all her children. And another totemist, Virginia Carper, has been doing dictionary-style entries on a number of extinct totems for some time. 

As with any totem, my personal experience is that it’s best to talk directly to the totem rather than just going on someone else’s information or try intermediate forms like totem cards/etc. If you’re interested in more work, here are a few relevant blog posts from my Therioshamanism blog that may help (and you’re always welcome to ask questions!)

—This post includes the guided meditation I use to contact totems and keep in touch with them over time.

—Here’s a more in-depth look at what makes a guided meditation actually work, the nuts and bolts of it.

—Here’s an explanation of why guided meditation is not the same as journeying.

—And in case you want to try going deeper than guided meditation, here’s an introduction to drum journeying.

Tagged: totemismshamanismanimal spiritsjourneyingextinct totemsdinosaur totemsdinosaurs

  1. mediocrewitch reblogged this from duskenpath
  2. duskenpath reblogged this from thegreenwolf
  3. spiritscraft reblogged this from thegreenwolf and added:
    And actually when I did the DIY totem deck with Lupa a few years back in one of her test groups, I did get an extinct...
  4. thegreenwolf posted this