Thread
:
Power Animals
View Single Post
01-24-2012, 11:26 PM
#
2
duexjepevef
Join Date
Oct 2005
Posts
422
Senior Member
Excellent question rmauersr
Once you know your power animal you have to study that animal in general. Understand it, learn his pros and cons and then it becomes useful to you.
Shamans in Mexico call them Nahual. (sounds like this....Na-wal)
Nahual is your spirit or force life. Not an easy subject becuase it could be bad or good thing, depending on the people.
In
Mesoamerican
folk religion, a
Nagual
or
Nahual
(both pronounced [na'wal]) is a human being who has the power to magically turn him- or herself into an animal form: most commonly a
donkey
,
turkey
, or
dog
,
[1]
but also other and more powerful animals such as the
jaguar
and
puma
.
Such a Nagual is believed to use his powers for good or evil according to his personality.
[2]
Specific beliefs vary, but the general concept of nagualism is pan-Mesoamerican. Nagualism is linked with pre-Columbian shamanistic practices through Preclassic Olmec depictions which are interpreted as humans transforming themselves into animals. The system is linked with the
Mesomerican calendrical system
, used for divination rituals. The birth date often determines if a person will be a Nagual. Mesoamerican belief in
tonalism
, wherein all humans have an animal counterpart to which their life force is linked, is also part of the definition of nagualism.
[3]
In English the word is often translated as "transforming witch", but translations without the negative connotations of the word
witch
would be "transforming
trickster
" or "
shape shifter
".
[4]
Contents
[
hide
]
Quote
duexjepevef
View Public Profile
Find More Posts by duexjepevef
All times are GMT +1. The time now is
10:55 AM
.