Therioshamanism: Oak Moss Lichen as Totem →
[Lupa’s additional note: I lichen totems <3 )
Lichens are a unique set of beings. Rather than being a kingdom of their own, lichens are a combination of plant (either algae or plant-like cyanobacteria) and fungus. While it is possible to separate the plant and fungal parts of a lichen in a laboratory, and some of these plant and fungus species also live independently, for all intents and purposes lichens are singular beings rather than colonies.
I’ve long paid attention to lichens when I’m outdoors. Part of this is because they’re really good indicators of how polluted the air in a given location is. Lichens are very sensitive to airborne pollutants as they gain some of their nutrients from the air, and the more lichens you see and the bigger they are, the healthier the air is. I also try to take care to not step on them, as they take a long time to grow back.
Oak Moss Lichen. Photo by Lupa, 2013.
But from a spiritual standpoint they’re also fascinating! When I’ve worked with the totems of lichen species, I’ve noticed a curious phenomenon. Sometimes the lichen totem itself shows up; other times, I work with the totems of the individual plant and fungus species that make up the lichen. I’ve even had meditations where the lichen switched back and forth between the forms. I haven’t noticed a pattern, such as older species of lichens preferring to stay singular. Each lichen totem has its own preference, and for the purposes of my writing I’m going to refer to each one in the singular from here on out.
One of the lichen totems that seems to like shapeshifting is Oak Moss Lichen (Evernia prunastri).
Therioshamanism: The Human Body as a Bioregion →
We humans like to think of ourselves as individual entities, moving autonomously through a world populated with other individual entities. We think of our skins as the boundaries between ourselves and everything that isn’t us. Symbiotic living is left to the like of the Portuguese man-of-war and lichens, colonies of group minds are for bees and ants. We might recognize consciously that we rely on other living beings for our food, oxygen, and the like, but we view ourselves as rugged individualists.
Or so we think.
Truth be told, our bodies aren’t entirely our own. Take bacteria, for example. We have plenty of human cells and the like, but for every cell in our bodies there are at least ten bacteria. As Anne Maczulak said, “Microbiologists are fond of pointing out that if all of a person’s DNA were mixed with the body’s entire bacterial DNA, that person would be genetically more bacterial than human” (1). Thousands of species of bacteria live in and on our bodies, creating films that coat pretty much every surface inside and out. Most of these live more or less in harmony with us, as we have co-evolved over time. For the most part, scary-sounding bacteria like Eschericia coli and Staphyllococcus aureus occur naturally in our bodies, and they are not the evil enemies that they’re often made out to be in the media. Problems predominantly arise when one sort of bacteria ends up in a place where it shouldn’t be (such as gut bacteria entering the abdominal cavity at large through an intestinal perforation) or overpopulating and causing infections (such as tooth decay caused by an overabundance of certain mouth flora).
Along with bacteria, we have various tiny fungi and protozoa throughout our systems. Many women know the hell that is a yeast infection, when Candida albicans and other fungi that normally inhabit the vagina along with a host of other living beings suddenly overpopulate and create a rather unpleasant result. We usually only think of amoebas as the little single-celled beings that often represent asexual reproduction in basic biology textbooks, or as the cause of amoebic dysentary (which in truth is solely due to an invasion ofEntamoeba histolytica). Yet several non-pathogenic species of amoeba make up part of our internal communities; E. histolytica‘s cousins Entamoeba coli andEntamoeba dispar are rather benign. While eyelash mites (Demodex folliculorumand Demodex brevis) usually don’t cause a problem, their overpopulation can cause itching, swelling, redness, and other symptoms of the eye.
And these are just the welcome (or at least neutral) neighbors. We also host outright parasites.
Kudos to sunandfog for telling me about this! I LOVE the animation in this video, with its animal people and bizarre quasi-celestial settings. Very awesome.
The Green Wolf: Reminder: Free Live Animal Totem Guided Meditation Workshop this Friday and Saturday! →
Just a reminder, the next workshops I’ll be offering for free via Livestream will be Feb. 8 and 9. This time instead of just a workshop with Q&A, I’ll be leading viewers on a guided meditation to find a totem animal. Here’s when they’ll be happening (you can use this site to determine what time…
Alright, tonight’s meditation went really well—thank you to everyone who showed up on Livestream! Here’s the information for Saturday’s version thereof at 11am PST—again, there’ll be an introduction followed by the meditation itself, and then a Q&A/comment session after.
In the meantime, here’s the archived version of tonight’s workshop. And for those whose meditations didn’t go as well as they liked tonight, or who want to use it again in the future, this video features just the meditation itself, so if you like you can use the audio for your own meditation.
Enjoy :)
Therioshamanism: Black Cottonwood as Plant Totem →
By far the most common tree at the riverside beach I volunteered to keep clean is the black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa), also known as the western poplar. A young-ish forest of these tall, lanky trees crowd up almost to the edge of the river, stopped only by the sandy beach itself. I’m used to hiking through forests of aged conifers, Douglas fir and Western hemlock and the like. The energy of these fast-growing poplars was almost frenetic in comparison (though certainly conifers can contend well in the upward race to the sun).
Photo by Lupa, 2012
I spoke to the totem Black Cottonwood about this, and found that because these trees are relatively short-lived, they tend to be more “sped-up” than some others. It’s worked to their advantage in several ways, to include in competition with other plants. A stand of new cottonwoods can create a young canopy in less than decade, quickly (and literally) overshadowing smaller, slower-growing trees and shrubs.
This comes at a price, of course.
Want to review my new book, “New Paths to Animal Totems”?
Woohoo! Just got my first review of New Paths to Animal Totems on Amazon over the weekend—and it’s five stars! If you’ve read it yourself, I’d love to know what you think, since I went in some new directions with this one, and I’m looking forward to the feedback.
And if you’re a book reviewer for a magazine, blog, etc. and you’d like to request a review copy, please email Publicity@llewellyn.com:)
Introduction to Animal Totemism video workshop video now available for free viewing!
If you missed the Intro to Totemism video workshop, here’s the URL where you can view the recording: https://new.livestream.com/accounts/2367635/jan4intrototem - and there’s another session tomorrow, Jan 5, at 11am Pacific Standard Time at https://new.livestream.com/accounts/2367635/jan5intrototem
Just uploaded a version to YouTube as well, for those who don’t like Livestream—here it is!
And here’s this morning’s version of the Introduction to Totemism video workshop , which I’ve edited and added to YouTube! You can also see the original here on Livestream (for some reason both last night’s and today’s session ended up on that page). Yesterday’s may also be found at that link, or here on YouTube.
I’ll have info on the next set of workshops on Monday or Tuesday; they should be held later this month, probably at the same times on a Friday evening and Saturday morning. And thanks again to everyone who tuned in to my first foray into video workshops—the feedback’s been appreciated!
Introduction to Animal Totemism video workshop video now available for free viewing!
If you missed the Intro to Totemism video workshop, here’s the URL where you can view the recording: https://new.livestream.com/accounts/2367635/jan4intrototem - and there’s another session tomorrow, Jan 5, at 11am Pacific Standard Time at https://new.livestream.com/accounts/2367635/jan5intrototem
The Green Wolf: Free Introduction to Animal Totemism Workshops with author/artist Lupa! →
Hey, folks!
I am hosting two FREE sessions of my Introduction to Animal Totemism workshop in January! The workshops will be held on Livestream, where you can participate either via video or chat. Here are the relevant dates and times (the links also have more relevant information):
Friday,…Also, reblogs are highly appreciated—the more people who know about this, the more who have the opportunity to participate :) Thanks in advance!
Just a quick bump as a reminder that the first class is tomorrow!
The Green Wolf: Free Introduction to Animal Totemism Workshops with author/artist Lupa! →
Hey, folks!
I am hosting two FREE sessions of my Introduction to Animal Totemism workshop in January! The workshops will be held on Livestream, where you can participate either via video or chat. Here are the relevant dates and times (the links also have more relevant information):
Friday,…
Also, reblogs are highly appreciated—the more people who know about this, the more who have the opportunity to participate :) Thanks in advance!
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