Threshold Anecdote - Totems or Power Animals

She noticed a couple main ones - the first one kind of surprised her. She said she was seeing a huge female bird and it was showing her its very large talons. Joanne then asked me if I knew what an Andean condor was. I told her that it was found in the high reaches of the southern Andes and that it was the largest of the condor family.

Joanne pulled out her book on totems or power animal, but condors were not listed there and she did not recall it eslewhere in her shamanic material. Coincidentaly I had recently read about condors and the family of birds they are a part of. I told her they are the largest of the vulture family of birds. Joanne knew about vultures and explained that they represent and support reaching the higher spiritual abilities. It was obvious to her that the Andean condor was reaching for the highest of these.

The other power animal, one that I did see an outline of during Joanne's work, was a large silver tipped grizzly bear. But Joanne didn't quite know what was special about that type of grizzly. At the time my neighbour was a taxidermist and one day when I was visiting I asked if he had ever heard of such a bear. He said he actually had one of those in his shop. He said that those types of grizzlies (largest of the bears) tend to live in the higher elevations of the mountains, especially in northern British Columbia and Alaska. It seemed to me that it was kind of a balance to the condor since it lived only on the land.

I've since learned to see these 2 totems as assisting me in my energy and personal pursuits. Both live in the high level mountains, and at opposite ends/poles of the planet. One reaching the higher etheric realm and the other walking about in the higher grounded realm. I realised how both spirit totems complimented each other.

Several years later in 2005 a couple from southern Chile, Jacqueline and Alex, contacted me for some distant Reiki training. Jacqueline worked in a local hospital and Alex was a ship builder. After taking a couple distant classes, they happened to be traveling to the USA. They asked if they could come up to Vancouver and take some more classes. I agreed and they proceeded to spend a week with me, learning other master level classes I offer.

On the day they were to leave, Alex looked at my large bookshelf behind him and said "I notice that you are missing one book." I was a bit surprised and asked him what he meant. He then gave me a gift and asked me to unwrap it. Inside was a beautiful crafted wooden book. On the outside was carved a note of gratitude to me from Jacqueline and Alex. Inside, in the left was carved a Chilean flag aboe a Canadian flag. On the right side was carved an Andean condor perched on a rock in the mountains. Alex said they had read about my relationship with the Andean condor and they wanted to show their appreciation for my teaching and my sharing. I was very surprised and extremely grateful for such a loving caring gift from my 2 new friends.