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Divining with Animal Guides: Answers from the World at Hand
A chance encounter with a shy or beautiful animal is an auspicious sign, but a sign of what? Divining with Animal Guides explores animal divination from a process perspective rather than providing generic lists of meanings. Nine animals are given in-depth treatment, many more are mentioned in passing, and all are presented with the aim of developing tools for personal insight. You will be encouraged to examine symbolic and metaphoric encounters as well as physical ones, making the material useful in both urban and wilderness settings.
352 pages, Paperback
Published February 23, 2018
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About the author
Hearth Moon Rising
4 books9 followersHearth Moon Rising lives in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, where she practices a nature-based craft. She is an ordained priestess in two traditions (Dianic and Fellowship of Isis) and has taught magic for over twenty-five years.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 1, 2018
An interesting additional tool to add to working with animal deities.
It is funny how memories flood back when you pick up a book and you think, “I’d forgotten that information”. That’s how it felt when I opened this book. I chose my totem animals over twenty years ago and they are still very active in my life. However, I realised thanks to this book that I need to open my vision to see the bigger picture and, by studying the various chapters, I aim to reconnect myself to the animal kingdom.
We, humans, look at our pets or the birds that fly overhead or the deer we are sometimes lucky enough to spot while out walking, as simply being “there” for us to enjoy, not giving them their full due.
Hearth Moon Rising (yes, that is the author’s name) has written a comprehensive guide that takes in the sacred history of each animal she writes about and, at the end of each chapter, she’s added a section on questioning your own interactions with what has been said in the chapter.
To clarify, in the first chapter the questions relate to cats and the interaction with the cat family. I found one of her questions particularly interesting in this section: “Does having your pet close by help with your divination?” It reminds me of my black cat, who made sure he was always in the room (regardless of how many times we tried to throw him out) when I was facilitating a Heart and Soul session or a geomancy session. It was as though it was his “job” to be around to ensure that things were done “correctly.” His twin brother used to deliberately lie on top of any crystal layout I made.
I’ve only mentioned the chapter on cats and their place in history simply because they’ve always played such a huge part whenever I’ve meditated or been doing esoteric work but the other chapters on horses, bees, scorpions, ravens, woodpeckers, deer and the crane family are equally mentally or meditatively stimulating. Making a connection to the animal deities seems to bring a completion to any work we engage in.
This is truly an extraordinary book, which will help whoever studies it to gain a new perspective on animals and the sacred role they have played throughout history. It is not a book to simply read; it is a book to work through and gain enlightenment and acknowledge the power of animals.
Treebeard
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.
It is funny how memories flood back when you pick up a book and you think, “I’d forgotten that information”. That’s how it felt when I opened this book. I chose my totem animals over twenty years ago and they are still very active in my life. However, I realised thanks to this book that I need to open my vision to see the bigger picture and, by studying the various chapters, I aim to reconnect myself to the animal kingdom.
We, humans, look at our pets or the birds that fly overhead or the deer we are sometimes lucky enough to spot while out walking, as simply being “there” for us to enjoy, not giving them their full due.
Hearth Moon Rising (yes, that is the author’s name) has written a comprehensive guide that takes in the sacred history of each animal she writes about and, at the end of each chapter, she’s added a section on questioning your own interactions with what has been said in the chapter.
To clarify, in the first chapter the questions relate to cats and the interaction with the cat family. I found one of her questions particularly interesting in this section: “Does having your pet close by help with your divination?” It reminds me of my black cat, who made sure he was always in the room (regardless of how many times we tried to throw him out) when I was facilitating a Heart and Soul session or a geomancy session. It was as though it was his “job” to be around to ensure that things were done “correctly.” His twin brother used to deliberately lie on top of any crystal layout I made.
I’ve only mentioned the chapter on cats and their place in history simply because they’ve always played such a huge part whenever I’ve meditated or been doing esoteric work but the other chapters on horses, bees, scorpions, ravens, woodpeckers, deer and the crane family are equally mentally or meditatively stimulating. Making a connection to the animal deities seems to bring a completion to any work we engage in.
This is truly an extraordinary book, which will help whoever studies it to gain a new perspective on animals and the sacred role they have played throughout history. It is not a book to simply read; it is a book to work through and gain enlightenment and acknowledge the power of animals.
Treebeard
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.
September 21, 2023
3.5/5, rounded down to 3
This book dives into the spiritual and cultural significance of different animals, and I appreciate that it goes much more in-depth with history and tradition in different cultures. The cultures mentioned are mostly Greek, Roman, Celtic, and Mesopotamian. Other cultures (such as Asian, Indigenous, and Latin American) are either overlooked or mentioned only in passing. There was some information that I had to cross-reference with other sources, and there’s some inconsistent or straight-up incorrect information that the author presents as truth. When looking at the bibliography, there are some useful sources but also some very questionable ones (personally, I don’t consider personal blogs to be a very reputable source for cultural history, especially a culture that someone was not raised in.) I also don’t really appreciate how the author takes cultural stories and re-writes them (with dubious accuracy — the author even admits for one story that the ending is unknown, but she makes one up for the sake of storytelling). Overall, this book gets a 3.5 for being more in-depth than your typical animal spirituality book and diving into cultural tradition, but this book is rounded down to 3/5 for the many issues I had with the information presented.
This book dives into the spiritual and cultural significance of different animals, and I appreciate that it goes much more in-depth with history and tradition in different cultures. The cultures mentioned are mostly Greek, Roman, Celtic, and Mesopotamian. Other cultures (such as Asian, Indigenous, and Latin American) are either overlooked or mentioned only in passing. There was some information that I had to cross-reference with other sources, and there’s some inconsistent or straight-up incorrect information that the author presents as truth. When looking at the bibliography, there are some useful sources but also some very questionable ones (personally, I don’t consider personal blogs to be a very reputable source for cultural history, especially a culture that someone was not raised in.) I also don’t really appreciate how the author takes cultural stories and re-writes them (with dubious accuracy — the author even admits for one story that the ending is unknown, but she makes one up for the sake of storytelling). Overall, this book gets a 3.5 for being more in-depth than your typical animal spirituality book and diving into cultural tradition, but this book is rounded down to 3/5 for the many issues I had with the information presented.
March 1, 2018
On the norm, we would not read or look to a book on the topic of divination. However, we do get signs from God from the animal world. As one can imagine Christian book coffers are not brimming with such books. Hence, we reach out into this realm.
We state that not to slam this book, in any manner. Not at all. Not for a second.
Rather, we begin our review with this information as a statement of who we are.
In the interim, we find this to be an incredible book. In fact, we cannot remember a time when we have perused a book which contains so much information about animals. What this book is not is an encyclopedia. Rising's goal was to offer up data about specific animals and what your experience's with them can mean.
Sometimes, we just have to push past what we think we know, to challenge our beliefs, our knowledge and our sense of reality.
We state that not to slam this book, in any manner. Not at all. Not for a second.
Rather, we begin our review with this information as a statement of who we are.
In the interim, we find this to be an incredible book. In fact, we cannot remember a time when we have perused a book which contains so much information about animals. What this book is not is an encyclopedia. Rising's goal was to offer up data about specific animals and what your experience's with them can mean.
Sometimes, we just have to push past what we think we know, to challenge our beliefs, our knowledge and our sense of reality.
November 13, 2021
The last part of the book "Holding the Thread of Destiny" is worth the price of the book itself. One criticism is that there is just too much information to absorb in a straight through reading. Perhaps better to approach it as a reference book and look at each section when that particular animal calls to you.
April 27, 2018
Impressive and well written, but thick, heavy and a little confusing at times. I would like to read something else from the author, but now I'll be more careful with my choice.
Impresionante y bien escrito, pero grueso, pesado y un poco confuso a veces. Me gustaría leer algo más de la autora, pero ahora seré más cuidadoso con mi elección.
Impresionante y bien escrito, pero grueso, pesado y un poco confuso a veces. Me gustaría leer algo más de la autora, pero ahora seré más cuidadoso con mi elección.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews