Rabbit, Hare

• Guile
• Paradox and contradiction
• Living by one’s own wits
• Receiving hidden teachings and intuitive messages
• Quick-thinking
• Humility
• Moving through fear
• Strengthening intuition

Raccoon

• Understanding the nature of masks
• Disguise
• Dexterity
• Seeking guidance and confidence
• Questioning without fear
• Balancing curiosity

Rhinoceros

• Learning comfort in solitude
• Connection to ancient wisdom
• Knowledge of self
• Proper use of ancient wisdom
• Trust of instincts

Sea Gull, Gull

• Spiritual messengers
• Communication with deities
• Behaving responsibly
• Ability to see from above situations
• Friendship

Sea Eagle

• Carries souls back to the dreamtime
• Soul world memory
• Retrieves lost soul parts
• Oversees soul retrievals

Seal

• Protection during change
• Lucid dreaming
• Protection from danger
• Movement through emotions
• Creativity

Sheep, Ram, Ewe

• Maintaining balance in dangerous situations
• Confidence in ones abilities
• Fertility
• Courage needed to maintain balance
• New beginnings
• Abundance
• Assurance in new areas

According to the Correspondence: Animals of the Bible by John Worcester, “It is a peculiarity of sheep that while they are so easily led by one whom they know, they are driven with difficulty. They huddle together as if frightened, and the more they are pressed, the more frightened they seem; but if the leaders start forward, the flock follows.

Another noteworthy trait is their memory of kindness. They never forget a little present of salt or grain, or a kind act of protection from danger; every benefit they repay with affection, confidently expecting renewals of it. Sheep are remarkable also for their mutual affection. They love to feed with their heads close together…” (page 10).

“Another characteristic of sheep is patience. When a sheep is caught by the shearer, at first there is a short struggle, until she finds that she is
firmly held and cannot get away. Then she gives up entirely. Even if she is hurt, she shows neither resentment nor resistance; she is, in the hands of
the shearer, perfectly resigned and patient.

Upon the wool of sheep we depend for warm clothing  more  than  upon  all  other  materials together. Fine, soft, long, with a useful faculty for matting or felting into a compact texture, it grows thick and heavy, and is retained by the sheep until it is a great burden to herself, evidently for the use of man. All that she is, the sheep gives in our service: her wool, her milk, her skin, her flesh, and even her bones and entrails; not a particle is useless.” (page 12).

Skunk

• Understanding how to “walk your talk”
• Reputation
• Sensuality
• Understanding energy flows
• Self-respect
• Courage
• Will-power
• Self-confidence

Snake, Serpent

Traits: Power, Life force, Sexual Potency

• Messenger of the Rainbow Serpent
• Elusiveness
• Manipulates lightning
• Transmutation
• Exploration of the mysteries of life
• Primitive or elemental energy
• Protection from religious persecution
• Goddess energy
• Psychic energy
• Creative power
• Immortality
• Connection to or forms the magic cord by which the shaman travels to the soul world

In Bible Animals: Project Gutenberg, Wood ascertained that “the first mention of the serpent or stank occurs in Gen. iii., in the well-known passage where the Serpent is said to be more subtle than all the beasts of the field, the wisdom or subtlety of the Serpent having evidently an allegorical and not a categorical signification. We find the same symbolism employed in the New Testament, the disciples of our Lord being told to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (page 92).

Of particular interest for Wood was associating the forked tong of the snake with its venom. He theorized, “the poisonous nature of some of the Serpents is mentioned in several passages of Scripture; and it will be seen that the ancient Hebrews, like many modern Europeans, believed that the poison lay in the forked tongue. See, for example, Ps. lviii. 4: “Their poison is like the poison of a serpent” (nâchâsh). Also Prov. xxiii. 32, in which the sacred writer says of wine that it brings woe, sorrow, contentions, wounds without cause, redness of eyes, and that “at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. The idea that the poison of the Serpent lies in the tongue is seen in several passages of Scripture. “They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips” (Ps. cxl. 3). Also in Job xx. 16, the sacred writer says of the hypocrite, that “he shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.” (page 92 and 93).

Snow Leopard

• Understanding one’s shadow side
• Trusting one’s inner self
• Agility
• Strength
• Ability to stalk
• Understanding the power of silence

Spider

• Master weaver
• Weaver of the web of fate
• Wisdom
• Creativity
• Divine inspiration
• Shapeshifting
• Understanding the patterns of illusion
• Female energy for the creative force of life

Squirrel

• Ability to solve puzzles
• Resourcefulness
• Quick change of direction
• Storing for the future
• Balance in giving and receiving
• Power of rest during times of non-movement
• Warning
• Discovery
• Change
• Avoiding danger by climbing to a higher place

Swan

• Awakening the power of self
• Understanding dream symbols
• Seeing into the future
• Understanding spiritual evolution
• Developing intuitive abilities
• Divination
• Grace in dealing with others

Tiger

• Power
• Energy
• Strength and will-power in the face of adversity
• Acting in a timely manner
• Action without analysis
• Creature of dreams, shamans, mystics and visionaries
• Defense and revenge

Turkey

• Sacrifice of self for a higher purpose
• Understanding the gift of giveaway
• Honoring the Earth Mother
• Harvest bounties

Turtle, Tortoise

• Symbol of the earth
• Connection with the center
• Navigation skills
• Patience
• Self-boundaries
• Associated with the feminine
• Power to heal female diseases
• Respecting the boundaries of others
• Developing new ideas
• Psychically protecting oneself
• Self-reliance
• Tenacity
• Nonviolent defense

In writing about his observations of the anatomy of turtles, in Bible Animals: Project Gutenberg, he stated that “tortoises [turtles] have no teeth, but yet are able to crop the herbage with perfect ease. In lieu of teeth the edges of the jaws are sharp-edged and very hard, so that they cut anything that comes between them like a pair of shears.” He adds further, “this is the species from whose deliberate and slow movements the familiar metaphor of “slow as a Tortoise” was derived, and it is this species which is the hero of the popular fable of the “Hare and the Tortoise.”(page 44).