Pagan Book Reviews

Power Animals: How To Connect With Your Animal Spirit Guide
Steven Farmer
Hay House, 2004
267 pages (plus CD)

This book was excellent; I really enjoyed it! (The review is ONLY for the book, by the way, not the accompanying CD, which is a guided journey for finding your power animal). The author provides the basic info on working with power animals–while it could be more in-depth, it’s sufficient for a 101 level text. Don’t take it as traditional totemism, though–he seems to draw a lot from Medicine Cards-style New Age totemism, though he doesn’t cite his sources so I’m not sure where each piece of info comes from. Still, as a reference to neopagan totemism it’s a good one.

This one also avoided my “Just Another Totem Animal Dictionary” ire, as it at least presented the material in a creative way. He starts with a meditation-derived quote from the animal, then traits of people who resonate with that animal, and further ideas for strengthening the bond. In addition, the illustrations are absolutely lovely!

While it’s not the only totemism 101 book out there, it’s one of the better ones I’ve seen. Additionally, if you like his work he has a second book on the topic out, Animal Spirit Guides, which is a much larger dictionary with a lot less how-to info.

Four pawprints out of five.

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