OTTER: Represents ~ Woman Medicine
The medicine held by Otter is a set of lessons in female energy. This applies to both men and women, as all of us have female sides. Otter’s hide is very often used to make medicine bags for powerful women because it represents balanced female energy. However today, only hides from natural death are used.
Otter is very caring of its young and will play for hours, performing all types of acrobatics. The River Otter lives on land, but always has its home near water and is in the water. Sea Otter lives primarily in the sea… The elements of Earth and Water are the female elements. At home in both of these elements, Otter is the personification of femininity: long, sleek, and graceful, Otter is the true coquette of the animal world.
Otter is always on the move and is very curious. Unlike some animals, Otter will not start a fight unless it is attacked first. This joyful little creature is adventuresome and assumes that all other creatures are friendly – until proven otherwise.
These character trails are the beauty of a balanced female side, the side of us that creates a space for others to enter our lives without preconceptions or suspicions. Otter teaches us that balanced female energy is not jealous or catty. It is sisterhood, content to enjoy and share the good fortune of others. Anchored in the understanding that all accomplishments are worthwhile for the whole tribe, Otter people express joy for others.
Woman energy without games or control is a beautiful experience. It is the freedom of love without jealousy. Envy, or the fear of being replaced, has no space in Otter’s balanced understanding of sharing goodness. It is the joy of loving other people’s children and their accomplishments as much as we love our own.
If Otter has shown up in dreams, in nature, and/or we feel a kinship:
People with Otter as a life totem tend to be quite empathic, sensing the needs and feelings of others and knowing just what to do to help bring healing, loving support, and harmony. One warning comes with this: to grow strong personal boundaries, as we cannot fix anyone. Mature Otter people have learned how to bring joy, sharing, or kindness to any situation without drowning in someone else’s murky pond.
It may be time to examine our feelings about sharing the bounty of our life with others. Otter may be saying that the finer qualities of woman need to be striven for in both men and women so that a unity of spirit can be achieved. This would involve the destruction of jealousy and of all the acts of anger which stem from that fear. It would mean keeping a Hawk-eye on our ego and maintaining total trust. It would mean a world full of people coming together to honor the right of each person to “be”.
It Otter has come playfully swimming up to us, it may be telling us to become like the playful child and to simply allow things to unfold in our life. It may be time to stop our addiction to worrying.
When Otter energy arrives, we may have forgotten how to receive, and are blocking a gift from the Universe with our male side. In this case, we may be embarrassed to receive compliments, to have someone hug us, or to allow our genuine personality to come out. Fear of being rejected is the contrary message of Otter. It may be time to drop the seriousness on all levels and play at life so that the fear rolls off our back. We must realize that the only flow is the flow of love from the Great Spirit to us, from us to others, and from others back to us!
Otter also teaches the importance of not hanging onto material things that would bind us or become a burden. In looking at how we can learn from Otter’s habits, we might look at the joyousness of the receptive side of our nature. Have we given ourselves a gift recently? Have we received any messages in our meditations? Become Otter and move gently into the river of life. Flow with the waters of the Universe. This is the way of balanced female-receptive energy. Honor it! In doing so, we will discover the power of woman and the Divine Feminine.
Information/excerpts on Otter is from the book “Medicine Cards” by Jamie Sams and David Carson
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