Native American Spirit Animals and Polarity Animals
I recently discovered that many Native American tribes had something similar to the Zodiac. They associated specific animals to the time of your birth. You were assigned a Spirit Animal at birth that traveled with you through life. This animal would possess certain characteristics similar to your own. They could teach you how to navigate life and help you access gifts and strengths.
In addition to your Spirit Animal you also have a Polarity Animal. Your Polarity Animal is the opposite of your Spirit Animal. Just like the Chinese Yin / Yang, these two opposing animals represented the duality of nature and the opposite forces within each of us. These two animals would bring you into harmony and balance as you learned from each of them. Your Polarity Animal is there to bring balance into your life.
For example, according to my birth date, my Spirit Animal is a Beaver and my Polarity Animal is the Snake.
The Beaver Animal Totem
The Beaver is hardworking, does well collaborating in teams, is industrious, a builder, and a creator. Beavers love staying busy and enjoy structure. They’re always doing something, working on a project, creating something or building something. They love to have projects and find joy in them. Once they’re set on a task, it’s hard to get them to quit.
When they’re wounded or hurt, beavers tend to isolate. As Beaver people, it’s important to be careful not to isolate ourselves so much that we build emotional dams to keep others out. We can also be prone to dam up our own emotions.
The Northern Tribes viewed beavers as good luck. Their dams were believed to keep danger away and were considered protection against evil, invaders, or predators. Learn more about the Beaver here.
The Snake Polarity Animal Totem
My Polarity Animal is the Snake. Kind of creepy – eh?! The interesting thing I’ve learned about Spirit Animals is that everything in nature serves. Everything has it’s positive qualities – even a snake.
Snakes represent duality and a quest for balance. They represent things like fertility, cycles, rebirth, transformation, balance, cunning, patience, intuition, awareness, intelligence, hidden knowledge, and even healing.
Snakes teach us to strike a balance between the practical and the spiritual.
In Biblical times, God told Moses to put a brazen serpent on a pole, and if the Israelites looked at it, they lived and were healed from poisonous snake bites. This snake healing metaphor also shows up in medicine with the The Rod of Asclepius (the pole with the snake on it). Aesculapius was the Greek god of healing.
The idea of hidden knowledge most likely comes from the Garden of Eden. Satan appeared as a snake, tempting Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit so that their eyes would be opened, and they would have knowledge like God has.
The snake awakens us from our naïve and innocent nature, opens our eyes so that we are more aware, alert and embrace the duality of life. In the Eden story, the snake got Adam and Eve to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. There’s the duality.
As I’ve studied my Beaver Spirit Animal and my Snake Polarity Animal, I see a lot of myself in here. I am most definitely like the Beaver. I enjoy staying busy with a project, being productive, and creative. I also am prone to isolate when I’m stressed or wounded. I love people and collaboration, but when I’m stressed or hurt, I love being alone. I also have a tendency to dam up my emotions and shut people out if things are too difficult.
My life also shows a lot of the snake themes:
- I have to consciously work to create a good balance with work and relaxation
- Life’s difficulties have taught me to look for the compensating blessings in the challenges, embracing the duality of life.
- I also wrestle with being so busy with my own thoughts or projects that I am not alert and aware of the evil that might be around me. I’ve gotten into relationships that were not healthy because I didn’t see the evil lurking. I was too busy with projects that I ignored warning signals.
- I’ve been known to dam up my emotions so much that I discounted my own intuition.
- I have an insatiable quest for hidden knowledge and love making the spiritual practical.
Both the Beaver and Snake really fit, so studying them has been very enlightening.
Native American Spirit Animal and Polarity Animal Chart
Here’s a Native American Spirit Animal Chart I got from LoveToKnow.com. I recommend visiting that link to learn more information about Polarity Animals.
| Birth Animal | Dates | Element | Polarity Totem |
| Falcon or Hawk | March 19 – April 19 | Fire | Crow |
| Beaver | April 20 – May 20 | Earth | Snake |
| Deer | May 21 – June 21 | Wind | Owl |
| Woodpecker | June 22 – July 21 | Water | Goose |
| Salmon or Sturgeon | July 22 – August 21 | Fire | Otter |
| Bear | August 22 – September 22 | Earth | Wolf |
| Raven or Crow | September 23 – October 22 | Wind | Falcon |
| Snake | October 23 – November 21 | Water | Beaver |
| Owl | November 22 – December 21 | Fire | Deer |
| Goose | December 22 – January 19 | Earth | Woodpecker |
| Otter | January 20 – February 18 | Wind | Salmon |
| Wolf | February 19 – March 20 | Water | Bear |
What is your Spirit Animal and your Polarity Animal? Take some time to research them. If you’d like, email me yours, and I’ll do a post on your combination.
- Beaver Featured Image Copyright: Anjo Kan / BigStockPhoto.com
- Snake Image Copyright: Nuk. M / BigStockPhoto.com
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