Working with TOTEM Animals: Flicker

Breaking down the details of TOTEM Animal work

This totem animal business is bonkers right now, isn’t it? I mean, in all of my years of doing shamanic work, I’ve never witnessed such as explosion of totem animals— and their Spirit Guide “handler”: the Ancient Egyptian Goddess Hathor.

Hathor, who is featured in our TOTEM Tarot Deck as a reimagined Strength tarot card, has been popping up in all over the place for TOTEM clients, appearing in meditations and dreams to introduce them to their very own totem animals. I’ve never had so many clients reading the Egyptian Book of the Dead, trying to get their arms around Hathor’s presence in their life!

While there is usually a a bit of a pop of totem animals and related shamanic “animal medicine” with the changing of every season, this September’s totem animal presence can only be described as a surge for the record books. And, in addition to these animals showing up in one-on-one client sessions and TOTEM coaching clients’ Shamanic Journeying Meditations, they’ve also been showing up for me.

So, what does this all mean? And how can we harness this energy to amplify and accelerate our spiritual growth? Improve our mental and physical wellbeing? Expand our awareness and reconnect to our life’s purpose?

Well, it all starts with a flicker.

A visit from a flicker

True story: I found myself eye-level and just a few feet away from a large golden flicker on my morning walk today.

I knew this was a meaningful animal message because I have not seen one single flicker since moving to Austin. What’s more: right when I saw this stunning bird, I was literally thinking about shifting gears with TOTEM and my daily workload for the rest of the year.

Fun fact: flicker totem animal governs new rhythms with work.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

And, as I started to remind myself of flicker’s totem animal message— courtesy of Ted Andrews’ incredible resources— it occurred to me that it serves as a great case study to share in the hopes that you can leverage as a blueprint for your own totem animal work this fall and winter.

Anatomy of a totem animal’s meaning

So, for starters, it’s important to note what animal family your new friend comes from— this is the first big data point that indicates the totem animal’s role in your life. In my case, flicker is a member of the woodpecker family.

Woodpeckers have always been frequent totem animal visitors in my life. When I lived in the West Loop of Chicago, I rescued multiple woodpeckers that would fly into my loft building’s windows. On one such occasion, the man who arrived to take the shoe box of the recuperating bird turned out to be a shamanic client of mine. Even stranger? He had attended a group guided Shamanic Journeying workshop in which the totem animal revealed to him was….drumroll please….woodpecker.

And that totem animal experience had inspired him to start volunteering for a bird rescue charity, which in turn brought him full circle into my house.

In a city of three million people, the odds of this confluence happening are slim. So slim, in fact, that some may suggest it constitutes what Carl Jung referred to as a synchronicity.

For years after this bizarre rescue experience, I would see and hear woodpeckers all over the city anytime I was talking about a new work project or plan, particularly around the time I was incubating and operationalizing TOTEM Readings while still in corporate. It was like a little spirit message to keep drumming on the tree, looking for grubs.

Key totem takeaway: You may find that different members of the same animal species emerge to work with you over time, and there is a meaningful theme to the overall animal group. Is it the woodpecker family? The bear family? Weasels or fish or marine mammals or snakes? What common characteristics do all of these related friends have, and what might they mean for your broader work here on planet earth?

I think one of the reasons woodpeckers of all stripes and spots have emerged for me over the years is my intense focus on work— especially when that work is spiritual in nature. For all of my faults— and there are many— one attribute I’ve always embodied is a consistent work ethic that can, on occasion, border on stubbornness.

I guess you could say woodpecker and I just keep hammering away;)

Getting into the specifics

Drilling down into the meaning of the flicker in detail beyond being a woodpecker gives us even more nuanced insight into this dynamic totem animal.

Of first note, flickers are migratory birds. This indicates that the changing of the seasons is going to be of particular importance to me this fall and winter, and I may need to shift and pivot my approach to work in balance with the changing rhythms of nature. To be totally honest, I’ve been dragging ass all week: feeling healthy but tired, and seeking out some unusual (at least for me) downtime. Flicker might be confirming my suspicion that I need to pivot (and relax a bit) this fall and winter.

Key totem takeaway: Read up on the migratory and behavioral patterns of your totem animal and extrapolate what these nuances can mean for you in your life. Is there a certain time of the year they take flight? Where do they go? Or do they hibernate, like bears? What are their eating habits around these cycles? Take notes and integrate some of this animal wisdom into your life— at least for a season;)

Flickers have a beautiful, bright red patch on the back of their heads, which shamans believe corresponds to a stimulation of the crown, third eye and throat chakras when this totem animal comes to visit you. A meaningful encounter with one of these totems could ignite or grow particular latent psychic talents. As a working shaman, I’m taking this to mean that I’ll have a very psychic fall and winter, demanding that I pull back from constant client sessions, podcast interviews and other work to create the negative space required to receive psychic messages.

What’s more: flickers have a black crescent on their chests. This mark is associated with psychic growth in the heart chakra, particularly around New Moons. Now, we have a New Moon coming on September 14th, and I had long ago been given (via a channeling session) the window of September 14th- 24th to be a particularly noteworthy and magical time, so this lines up.

And totem animal work kind of never not lines up, for the record.

Key totem takeaway: Generally speaking, each totem animal has a particular correlation to a particular chakra (or a few chakras). This, in turn, gives us a clue as to what “medicine” the animal is bringing us at this time. Flicker is going to make me extra psychic (cue the sarcastic “yay!”), but snake might bring kundalini awakening and rabbit could bring heart chakra healing and expansion. Take notes of any key physical or magical attributes of your totem animal and see if you can connect the chakra dots.

Other signs and symbols

It’s also worth noting that, for the last several weeks, I have been pulling the Hathor tarot card from our TOTEM Tarot Deck, alongside two other specific cards: the Two of Crystals and the Mistress of Moons aka Medusa.

Now, Hathor is the Ancient Egyptian Goddess of totem animals— among many other things— so her presence in the reading was an overt sign that I was going to get a new spirit animal friend. The Two of Crystals card further emphasizes the energetic/ physical impacts of this totem animal, particularly on my evolution. And the Mistress of Moons card is all about emotional expansion as a part of broader psychic development, so the crescent on the flicker’s chest makes perfect sense.

Outside of tarot cards, we can also get signs of a coming totem animal from our dreams, our intuition, and even mundane elements of waking reality like repeating symbols, references or patterns. All of these breadcrumbs count, and can make all of the difference in helping us open our eyes and pay attention to our surroundings.

Working with TOTEM Animals Workshop 10/14

With all of this totem animal fun, I couldn’t be more excited for our upcoming Working with TOTEM Animals online workshop on Saturday, October 14th.

In this workshop, I’m going to distill the key takeaways from 20 years of lessons learned and best practices doing totem animal work within the framework of shamanism. This workshop will leverage ancient techniques—including a guided shamanic journeying meditation— to GO DEEP on TOTEM Animals in meaningful, life-changing ways.

Do you want to know what your TOTEM Animal is? How to ask it meaningful questions in a vision quest? How to build a meaningful dynamic with this energy? Translate it into your everyday life? Experience the mystical phenomenon of biolocation shifting, animal "medicine" and more? Do you want to receive a premium PDF reference document with details, recommended readings, and more to reference moving forward?

Then this online workshop is for you. This three hour immersive is only $30 per person, so it’s a great way to tap in and commune with spirit. I really hope to see all of you guys there!

Learn more and register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/710312181857?aff=oddtdtcreator

If nothing else, keep your eyes and ears open for totem animal visitors this fall. They are making their presence known in small and large ways, and I’m personally stoked for the goodies promised by my red-headed flicker friend!

-Rachel