Can I find my Animal Guide/Totem using the DAO?

[Boadicea]

Hi there everyone,

I was just wondering… Would it be farfetched to try and identify my animal spirit guide and/or totem animal (some people view those as two different things) through using the Druid Animal Oracle? By that, I mean, directly asking, "Which animal is my spirit animal totem?" and then shuffling and drawing one card. I suppose it eliminates a lot of species not included in the deck, though. I wonder if you could rephrase it, "Which animal in this deck guides me more than any other?" or "Out of the animals in this deck, which is most suited to me as my totem animal?" What do you all think? I posted this on Druidspace as well.

[Boadicea]

I ended up phrasing a DAO reading about animal guides and totems in this way, [instead of trying to find the my one totem animal], "Which of the animal archetypes in this oracle am I best suited to work with right now at this period in my Druidic studies?" I got the Wren, right-side up. We don't have wrens in Northern California and I don't think I've ever seen one before, let alone what it looks like, what it's like in general, how it acts, what sounds it makes, or what behaviors it enacts - I'm going to research the general stuff (taxonomy, behavior, biology) and then look at pictures and videos of them on Google and YouTube… Just so I know what the animal is, in the academic sense. Then I'm going to go into a deeper, more archetypal and shamanic study of the wren.

[Crinia]

These are our local wrens http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Malurus-cyaneus
Totally delightful to watch as they gather food and the males are a very pretty blue. They are very sociable and you never see one on it's own.

Boadicea, if you put an RSS feed or "follow" on your blog it would make it much easier for us to know when a new post goes up.

[Aphritha]

We have wrens. They're so tiny, fast, and pretty clever. They blend in easily with the sparrows, but are smaller by a good shot.
I wouldn't be discouraged by the fact you haven't had a physical experience with one. I have a wolf that guides me in the grove from time to time, but have yet to see one in person.

[Boadicea]

I haven't used my blog in quite awhile, but planning on posting a new entry sometime soon. I will get the RSS going before I post it
Thank you for the link on the wrens!

[Crinia]

I didn't use the DAO to find my animal. It's something I've just "always known". The name Crinia I use on this forum is short for Crinia Signifera which is the Common Eastern Froglet which we have on our farm. The DAO card for the frog does a good job at describing my personality.

I draw a DAO card for the month and find that the card for the period always shows me what is needed most, for example I got the fire dragon card a few times last year which showed me what I needed was courage. It was good to have it sitting on my alter to remind me what I needed to concentrate on when things got really tough.

[Boadicea]

Today I was walking in the arboretum down by a local creek and I saw a river otter! Two, actually! I've never seen a fresh water otter ever before in my life and I didn't even know we had them here. Since I'm on a search for my totem animal, it seems like maybe it wasn't a coincidence… In the least, maybe an omen? Ironically I just reread the story of Cerridwen and Taliesin the night before today. Go figure.

[babblebeth]

I actually felt compelled to do this with my oracle set the other night. With the plant oracle as well.

I pulled Bramble for myself with the plant one which is totally clear and easy to understand as I am stubborn as hell and prickly to boot. For the animal one though I pulled frog and I have no idea what part of me that represents (and I can't get pregnant so it can't be that lol)

[DaRC]

The Frog, in my experience, represents transformation and re-birth. If you think of the changes a frog goes through from egg to tadpole to adult. Heqet was the Egyptian Frog Goddess and I think this quote may be relevant

it was said that it was Heqet who breathed life into the new body of Horus at birth, as she was the goddess of the last moments of birth. As the birth of Horus became more intimately associated with the resurrection of Osiris, so Heqet's role became one more closely associated with resurrection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heqet