Animal-Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small
by
Ted Andrews
(Llewellyn, 1993)
“There was a time when humanity recognized itself as part of nature, and nature as part of itself. Dreaming and waking were inseparable realities; the natural and the supernatural merged and blended. People used images of nature to express this unity and to instill a transpersonal kind of experience.”
I have been looking at my old, dog-eared copy of Animal-Speak for a couple of weeks now, thinking I should do a review on this classic text for the Cool Stuff section of gazehound.com. And then, two things happened. Yesterday, a friend emailed me to ask if I’d ever read this great book by Ted Andrews, and this morning I picked up the book and read the first paragraph again … quoted above.
If you visited yesterday, you would have read my post about none other than “The Dreamtime”.
I’ve often been heard to say “there are no coincidences”, so, here I am, doing as the Universe dictates, and letting my visitors know about a really marvelous resource.
Animal-Speak, first published in 1993, has been a standard resource, since it first hit the stands, for all who wish the opportunity to glimpse into the wisdom of nature though the symbolic imagery of the animal kingdom. Tribal peoples the world over have watched and listened to animals, gaining signs and wisdom from their appearance, their actions, their habits. Native tradition states that the spiritual world is reflected in the natural, and thus by observing nature we can learn more about our higher, and our inner, selves, and grow closer to both Creation and the Creator.
Animal-Speak, through it’s nearly four hundred pages, covers the natural symbolism of mammals, reptiles, insects and birds, as well as giving the reader many tips and suggestions on how to use that knowledge. Andrews gives solid suggestions, gleaned from ancient practices, about finding your spirit totems, reading signs in nature, and working with various types of animal medicine. Each main section then ends in an alphabetical reference on various animal species, and what their symbolism represents.
Not only will you learn about the symbolism and spiritual application of animal medicine, you will also gather a great deal of information about the animals themselves.
Ted Andrews
.
Animal-Speak has long been a classic text on the topic of animal wisdom, and a title that everyone who is interested in gathering wisdom from the natural world should have on their bookshelf.
Animal-Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small
