Cultural Teaching article: The Wolf

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

Wakan Tanka & The Wolf

In the beginning, Wakan Tanka (the Great Spirit) created the wolf along with all animals. The wolf was quite a wild animal that Wakan Tanka thought would end up extinct due to its foolhardiness.

Man was afraid of the wolf because of its nature. But one day long ago a man was lost in the wilderness and starving. This man encountered a wolf on the hunt. He said to the wolf, "Won't you please hunt me something to eat?" The wolf became full of sincerity because the man was actually in need of him. The wolf hunted out a rabbit and brought the catch back to the man to share with him.

Wakan Tanka, seeing the act of friendliness knew that the wolf was changing his ways. So Wakan Tanka gave a gift to the wolf. He turned the wolf's eyes into the eyes of a man.

He told the wolf that it and man would always be able to see eye to eye from then on. Today the wolf is still a powerful TOTEM animal, teaching man skill and the importance of group integrity, as well as WISDOM.

Taken from: http://members.aol.com/akashaspirit/wakan.html

[fascinoma]

How do you get your totem animal?

I identify with Dragonfly... I want a tattoo of a dragonfly in the Salish style. My dad says that Dragonfly is likely my totem animal. His is Orca, his online nicknames are Laughing Whale and Thunderwhale.

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

How do you get your totem animal?

Here are a few web sites to help you answer this question.

http://www.starstuffs.com/animal_totems/finding.htm

http://www.tarotstar.net/totem_animals.htm

http://www.animaltotem.com/find-your-totem.html

http://www.sayahda.com/cycle.htm

[WOLFE, BSN, RN]

Thanks for the interesting links.