Do you have one animal or a few that you identify with?

[kyst]

Do you have one animal or a few that you identify with?

• Posted by Leila Raven 

If so, what are they, and how would you define your connection to them?

For myself, I have always felt kinship with the black panther/jaguar.

As a little girl I would play act I was a panther in the jungle, lounging in the trees in our backyard with a friend who would pretend to be a monkey. I would dream I was a panther, or could transform into one. Friends sometimes said a vision of me as a panther appeared to them. So I've always felt a strong panther connection.

Also I formed strong connections to crows and ravens, a loner in elementary school I would share my lunch with the crows in the far field. It was a catholic school and the nuns thought ill of me for it. Alone in an area supposed to be off limits because they didn't keep it mowed. The crows starting to circle and come down to meet me at the sound of the lunch bell, and taking food from my hands. If caught I'd be doing time in the chapel on my knees. (parents were atheist and I was a non-believer in the concept of a catholic God, but it was high standards scholastically)

Later when my husband and I wed, we decided to choose a new name for our family together, rather than I take his name or he mine. so we became Ravens.

So the panther and the raven are my primary ones...

What about you?

Have you made any personal spiritual connections to any animal archetypes?