Animal Speak: The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small

Such a well written book. I find myself going back to it often! It's like a must have encyclopedia for understanding your encounters with animals in both waking and sleep.

I've bought this book several times to give as a gift to others after I tell them about it. Every single time I give the book to someone, I hear from them later about how they go to it almost daily, and how they start seeing more animals that apply to their lives. This book here is no different, I read about Cardinal to my friend, and she was blown away at how "on" it is, so I'm giving this book to her. I have my own book fully highlighted, dated, and I think there's more bookmarks than pages by now! I highlight what is significant to me at the time, after I see a certain animal, and date it, maybe put a note about the sighting of the animal and what's going on in my life, and when I go back to flip through the pages, I remember the meaningful sightings as soon as I see those notes. I encourage you to do the same with your book. If you don't have this book, and you have a certain animal that means something to you (I'm not talking cat/dog/fish), and you're aware of the different animals and birds that come into your life, you should get this book. I'll give you an example, if you're interested. Two summers ago, my father and mother helped me and my family buy a house. They got the loan, we pay it. Right after that, he became extremely abusive towards me, verbally and mentally, and would lord over me about the house. At the same time, my 16-year-old son was going with my father (Papa) to the local hospital doing music ministry through the pastoral care. They became the best of friends almost as soon as my son was born, and me being an only child, and a girl, I felt that Papa was getting all he ever wanted in my son. My son could do no wrong, yet I could do no right. I became aware that as long as Papa loved my son more than he hated me, we would be able to stay in our house; but if his hatred toward me became greater than the love he had for my son, he would probably throw us all out into the street. My father used me as his doormat, his punching bag, in the verbal, mental, and emotional sense. I spent a lot of time sitting out on the deck right outside my bedroom, there's a full wraparound deck around the house, with a place that's sort of shaped like a circle that I would sit and look out at the woods behind our house along with the wild flower gardens the previous owners had planted. The house is on a road in which people love to drive fast, and we do have neighbors across the road, although we're out in the country, we keep everything clean and well-maintained, especially the garbage so we don't get raccoons or opossums or whatever. So I'm sitting there one evening, watching the lightning bugs and moths, crying, crying, crying about the latest argument my dad and I had, begging the Universe to tell me why he was being so cruel to me and asking what I could do to make the abuse stop. I hear a soft noise, and I look over to my right, and there is an opossum, sitting on the deck, looking right into my eyes. He startled me, because although I've seen opossums around (mostly squashed on the roadways), I never saw one up close, despite being a country girl all my life. He sat there a moment, then ambled off the deck and into the garden, disappearing. I was shocked. I ran right in the house and grabbed up my Animal Speak Book and looked up Opossum, and learned exactly how to fix the issue with my father. I "played dead." Every time he came to my house, I'd slip out the back door and drive away, or I'd go to my bed and act like I was asleep. Mostly my daughter and I would hightail it to my room and put a movie on, quietly, and keep out of sight of the windows, while he was here visiting my son. For months I "played dead," and refused to respond to phone calls, emails, visits. He finally gave it up, and after a few more months of complete silence where he only would call for my son, my father finally started being nice to me and for about 6 glorious months before he died, I had the relationship with my father that I'd only dreamed of my whole life. He was NICE to me, genuinely interested in my life, truly invested in our GOOD relationship. I learned from my Animal Speak Book that I didn't need to defend myself. I only needed to "play dead" in order to make my father change his twisted perception of me. So, yeah. Animal Speak is my Bible. I've learned to see the meaning in animals, birds, feathers, even insects, and once you start understanding these things, different animals come to you, giving you guidance and support. I thank Ted Andrews for all his books, I have them all, and love them, but THIS book is the one that everyone should have.

Animal Speak by Ted Andrews Spirit Guides and Totems I discovered this book on a trip through the White Mountains of Arizona, where I was born. After reading the book I have purchased several more copies as gifts and had them sent direct from Amazon. For anyone interested in Native American culture, shamanism, connecting with and understanding the creatures that share the Earth with us, this is a "must have" book. Animals speak about the events and emotions in our lives. For a writer the book brings a wealth of background character information. Have you ever dreamt about an animal, a panther, a snake, a bear or a hawk? Did you wonder why the dream seemed important. Have you ever glanced out the door or window to see a spider casually weaving an intricate web or a raccoon or dog glancing back at you? What does a totem mean and do the inhabitants of this modern civilization have personal totems? Do you have pictures of a particular animal scattered throughout your house? I have many pictures of panthers and jaguars in the rooms in which I spend my time because I feel connected to the jaguar of South American history, especially the Mayans. Why? My answers were in this book, but even without questions I have found Animal Speak is loaded with wonderful information about so many different creatures. Plus, it is a delight to discover what the underlying emotions may be when someone tells you that they like (or hate) dolphins, woodpeckers, ants, bees or perhaps a coyote which is actually linked to the dog. For the mystic the answer is yes we have totems. The animals (perhaps pets) in a totem can change as they bring messages that are to warn, protect, comfort, guide, remind or whatever is needed.

I enjoy reading in this book. Purchased one for my sister. We love nature.

My favorite book. I used to have one of the first prints, unfortunately lost to a fire. I was so happy to be able to buy again.

Since I was very young I have had experiences with animal spirit guides. Dream and vision shifting into the wolf, speaking to wolf guides ect. Recently the coyote and bear have come into play. Anyway having these experience and being aware of this kind of thing for a long while I decided to give the book a go. I like it. It's simple straight forward and leaves the reader with room to have their own personal experience with whatever their guide may be. Rather than telling the reader what should and shouldn't be ect. Some parts are left vague, which is good to me as spirituality is a personal path and something one discovers for themselves. It gives some decent visualizations and practices for those who don't know where to start. Now I notice many reviews ranting about "Not Native American", "Ted has No Native training" or blah blah. I'd like to know where in the book does he even claim such things? Also the concepts of animal spirituality are unique to and owned by Native Americans now? No one is allowed to explore the general concepts behind it unless they've undergone some approval by some "shaman"(a Siberian word that has nothing to do with Natives by the way)? The answer is no and the notion is absurd. This is coming from someone who actually happens to be of native(Tsalagi) and African decent. This book is simply a man writing his personal experiences and sharing with other a basic guideline to explore the journey of animal spirituality in their own unique and deeply personal way. For those who do had not seen the natural world in a spiritual light before this will be a good way to open doors to a spiritually enriched life. If you are interested in this book go ahead and read it, but understand that it is simply a stepping stone to open your mind and spirit to a new path. The book is not the end all be all on this subject, it is not about *the many* Native American practices, nor does the author present it as such. For those already on a path with experience, like myself, it could possibly spark some new ideas for your practice.

Very comprehensive guide to spirit animals. The book is full of many types of animals to understand and how they relate to you as a spirit guide animal. I haven't started reading it yet but upon inspection it seems to be exactly what I was looking for.

Lot of information that was fun to read. Makes a great gift. I've given this book many times.

Análises profundas dos animais de poder. Gostei muito! Achei este mais completo e profundo do que os da Jamie Sams.

This book is like an encyclopedia. The information here is amazing! I would like to have unabridged audio added to ghis and ALL of Ted’s other books.

Abre nuestras mentes y nuestros corazones a la sabiduría animal. Toda la información es relevante y se presenta de forma sencilla.

Spiritualità e trascendenza del mondo ancestrale.

Great book! Very informative. A great book to have if you are interested in understanding animal signs & symbols.