The power of the animal is the nature of that animal. It is simple. You know the story of the animals for you by looking at them, dreaming about them, worshipping them. There are still animals all around us. We see them in the wild, in zoos, and on TV in nature films.

If you ask a child what is the power of the bear, they will tell you. Let's place the Bear in the West and ask a child what is its power.

The children say:

The bear is a fierce loner, a great hunter. It is not mean but it is powerful and strong. It is a protector of children. It is successful in getting food. The bear knew how to live, it had nothing t to be afraid of. The bear had allot to teach..

What about the Turtle?

The children talk:

The turtle is consistent. It is slow deliberate. It is about home and shelter. It carries it with them. It is close to the ground, to the earth.

What about Owl?

The children say:

That owls are about the night. The owl sees out of the darkness. It can catch its prey, move quickly, perch high. It can see and witness. It is about wisdom. It sees from a distance. It flies silently, it emerges to the day at dawn.

So ask yourself what any animal means, if the children can do it, so can you. Write down what animals means to you. Make seven lines on a page and write the first seven things about the animal that come to mind. If you can't do that, go see your animal in the wild, in a zoo, or on TV and then write down what it means to you.  The more you see your animal, the more you know about its power and its spirit.

After its body speaks, its spirit speaks in shamanic songs to you in your visions. That is how you hear that the bear is a healer, the owl about seeing inward, the turtle about grounding.

Then remember what animals live near you. In Florida it is the Alligator, Snakes, Dolphin, Horse, Deer. And then remember what animals were there, but are now gone. Like the Buffalo, the Bear, the Mastodon.

 And remember the animals that are almost extinct like the Florida Panther. The way to populate your own medicine wheel is to call forth the animals that live here or once lived here.

Call forth the ones in danger and the ones still around. Listen for their calls, the Hawk, the Owl, the Crow.

See their footprints. Walk in their footprints. The medicine wheel is simply a spiral into earth to see what is. Populate your medicine wheel with your own animals.

The animals teach us our own characteristics. They teach us what is its element and essence in the earth.

For example, the Eagle is independent, it is about freedom. It flies high. The animal's message is the nature of the animal itself in the outer world. You learn its nature and then what part of you is like that. The animal speaks to you in the inner world deeper. It tells you who you are and what you are to do. But it always speaks from within its own nature.

An exercise for looking out of the eyes of your animal;

 We are telling you to do a ritual today. It is called, "you can only see what your animal can see."

To do it, you need to go somewhere. Go the a sacred place near your house. It can be within a couple of hours drive or nearer. Pick a place that is the most sacred to you, that resonates with your soul. If you want to, you can pick a place to the East, and then to the West, and use the directions, or of course go to the North and South too.

And in this special ritual, you can only see what your animal can see. You can only go where your animals can go. All day during this sacred ritual, be them. Repeat over and over again as you drive, as you walk, "I can only see what the animal can see, I can only go where the animal can go".

 It is like a mantra, a refrain, a chant. Look at your landscape like you were that animal. Imagine that you were the animal and you were looking out of its eyes.

You can do this in the present or in the long past when that animal lived there in the place where you are. You can imagine the landscape was what it once was, the houses and cars and road are gone or you can leave it the way it is.

You have plenty of time so you can look out of the animal's eyes in the present and in the past and in many times.

Now listen for the voice of your animal or even the voice of your animal as the animal shaman. They will speak to you and you will hear them tell you stories.

 This is when they; come the strongest. There are really four animals in spirit space. The actual animal, the animal shaman, the animal spirit, and the human as the animal. You can see out of the eyes of all of them as you go through your day.

 Remember you have plenty of time. You can do your meditation all day. When you reach your destination, act like the animal. Let them run to the water, play in it and as they do it they will speak to you. When you walk, let yourself make the footprints of the animal. See your footprints as theirs. Let them speak to you and tell you what to do next. They will run the ritual if you let them.

Remember they are magical animals so they can talk, fly or soar and are not limited by the actual animals ways. So walk in the footprints of your animal. Chant all day, "I can only see what the animal can see" and listen.

If you want to you can smell and feel too. You can only smell what the animal can smell, you can only feel what the animal can feel. Feel the animal's heart rejoice when she sees something.

 Feel her sadness when she sees something else. Remember this is a sacred meditation an exercise, do it all day. If you want to, put on a costume of the animal, even one feather or one object helps. If you want to dress completely as the animal, you can do it.This is what the shaman of old did. She put on the bear skin, a bear mask, and that is how she saw out of the eyes of the bear. She did.

You can only see what your animal can see, see out of their eyes as a shaman animal, out of their eyes as an animal lover, out of their eyes as a visionary animal.

Then listen and see if your animal will sing a song to you or speak to you in an inner voice and listen. They may tell you to do a certain ritual or to do something to save that animal.  They may tell you prayers or chants, or tell you what they did as animal shaman. You can only see what your animal can see. You do.