Power Animals and the way of the Heart

Power Animals and the Way of the Heart
with Brooke Medicine Eagle
by Aluna Raphael

I interviewed Brooke Medicine Eagle during a warm August day in the summer of 2002. While we spoke on the phone, Brooke told me, an eagle circled the sky outside her office, silenting recognizing, honoring, and affirming our work together.

Aluna: Where did the idea or recognition of Power Animals originate?

Brooke: Primary peoples recognized that, because we're all related in the Circle of Life, animals will reveal themselves in visions and share their power or energy. Shamans and primary peoples have always been connected to the animals, both physically and psychically. They possess a spiritual connectedness, an inner knowingness, as well as living closely and harmoniously with animals.

It is a fact that as the human fetus develops, it recapitulates the whole of life, the entire phylogeny, including all the animals. We recapitulate as we move through our whole formation, from single cell to double cell to our many-cell system, through the states of fish, reptile, mammal — our body literally move those stages during its formation. So animals live in us. We are, in part, all of them. One can plainly, for example, see that we possess the territorial nature of the reptile along with the emotional body of a mammal.

Aluna: I understand that we have or can attract Power Animals, and that we can identify what our Power Animals are through visions. Could you tell us more about this?

Brooke: Animals live from the heart, with a deep instinctual knowing that is firmly connected to the entire circle of life. Because they live from the heart and are not entrapped by their reason, they can be powerful spiritual and emotional allies.

Power Animal allies are wonderfully useful to us Two-Leggeds, because we so need that direct, unedited, unmitigated connection with All Life that animals possess. We often work from our heads, trying to figure out everything, not allowing ourselves to live from the heart.

But the energy that comes in from Source is directed through our hearts, and Power Animals live in that direct connection and serve to remind us of what is innocent and truthful.

We come into our own power when we are in flow with the whole Great River of Life. The heart is the way to tune in with this power. All animals live their life in tune and in this flow, and can come to us as Power Animals to offer this much-needed medicine.

In the beginning, animals, and All Our Relations, were physically and psychically connected to the primary peoples on this planet. Unfortunately, we no longer have a relationship with what we call the "wild" animals: They keep their distance from us out of fear, and we do the same.

As a result, Power Animals have become for most people a theoretical construct rather than a relationship with a real animal.

I recommend that people who have a vision of an animal make an effort to get to know it. What are its habitats, its habits, its lifestyle? Go visit the animal, in the wild or in captivity. Research it. Truly get to know this animal, not just from a theoretical level.

And give back for what it offers you. Help protect its habitat through conservation efforts and so on. Be proactive about making the connection with a Power Animal that calls you.

We can become good friends with our Power Animal by extending it honor and respect, not just waiting for something to "come in," but interacting with it. We can give energy and actively seek good communication.

One simple way of doing that is to make offerings. Cornmeal, for example, is a traditional offering that carries a prayer for nurturing. Tobacco carries a prayer for communion and heart-felt communication.

Aluna: Does everyone have a Power Animal? Do some folks have more than one?

Brooke: Sometimes Power Animals come as visionary help through a specific stage or challenge in one's life. People may also seek or be gifted