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My Totem Animal

by Casey Clayton, Denver, Colorado, USA, Age 14

Direction comes in many ways and different forms, such as totem animals. Also known as power animals and familiars. Each person has a totem animal. Many people discover their totem animals in dreams. I discovered my totem animal in a way that I'll never forget.

I was at church camp for a week in Pueblo, Colorado. I'd never been to a church camp before and it was really interesting. We did a lot of spiritual related activities. One of these activities was having our oldest member there pick a totem animal from a deck of totem cards. The animal that person picked would be the whole camp's totem animal for the week. Since Sharren was the oldest, she got to pick the card. I watched carefully as her hand shuffled through the deck of cards. As her hand landed on a card she thought suitable, Sharren grasped the card with her finger tips and brought it up to her face. Once she had a good look at the card herself, she turned the card around and showed it to the rest of us. It was a yellow looking frog with dark green bumps all over its body. At the bottom of the card in bold print it read, Peace, Fluidity, Water, Rain , Cleansing and Tears.

Later on that day, all of us kids where told to split up and had to find a place, with-in boundaries, to write about what animal we thought our personal totem was. I hadn't decided what animal might be my personal totem animal yet. I chose my own space by the river's edge located fairly close to camp. The river pooled under cliff overhangs, so I was covered in shade. Where I sat down, I could see a few trees over to the left and to my right a forest filled with chirping birds. As I started writing about what I thought my totem animal might be, I paused trying to decide if I should pick a cat or a snake.

Suddenly, I saw something jump out of the water and land right next to my left thigh. I turned my head all the way around to my left side and looked down. Right beside me was a tiny frog. It was yellow and had dark green bumps all over its body. At another time I might have been scared to pick up the little frog, but this time I didn't even think about it. I put my hands around the frog and cupped it gently. I carefully put it on my lap.

All of a sudden everything started coming together. This frog looked exactly like the one on the card and it had jumped out of the water right next to me. Did it just so happen that this was my totem animal? I examined the frog some more. It never moved from my lap. It just stayed in the same place.

As I was about to pick it up, it bent down low and, "plop", jumped back into the river. I sat there a little while longer just staring at the place where my frog had broken the water's flow, experiencing a peace like I'd never know before. Tears formed at the edges of my eyes. I quickly jotted down my experience with my frog and once I had finished I closed my dream book and headed back to camp.

As soon as I got to camp, I told one of the adults, Stephen, about my frog and how I came to discover my totem animal. It was so nice to be out in nature and touch the hands of God in my own way. I told Stephen that it had been so long that I'd been indoors, that when I held that frog, it was like God had spoken to me. He had given me a break from the city and showed me a wonderful experience. God had cleansed my soul from the past, and it was like I was re-born and ready to live life in a whole different perspective.

That night, Stephen, had me go last on telling what my totem animal was. I was grinning from ear to ear when I got done telling my story. How I discovered my totem animal was an experience I'll never forget. Holding that frog was a dream coming to life. Experiencing something like that doesn't happen everyday. Never let that moment go. Let the hands of God hold you and let Him embrace you as you come to understanding. Remember a totem animal isn't just an animal you admire or like it is a animal that tells you about yourself. A totem animal is a symbol of who you really are!