From the author of the groundbreaking work Fang and Fur, Blood and Bone: A Primal Guide to Animal Magic comes a new work that redefines the modern concept of animal totemism. Free from totemic dictionaries and encyclopedias, streamlined without tons of prefabricated spells and rituals, DIY Totemism is the ultimate guide to a personal relationship with totem animals.
There are some familiar topics for those who have read Fang and Fur, Blood and Bone; totemism, of course, was a featured topic, and in this new work Lupa delves even deeper between the potential interaction between therianthropy and totemism. However, you'll also find out how to use entheogens in conjunction with totemism (with legal examples given), how to work magic to aid totems and their physical representatives, and how to make a deck of totem cards that will literally get you in touch with the totem of any animal species. Best of all, rather than relying on yet another animal dictionary with someone else's interpretations, there are exercises at the end of every chapter designed to help you compose your own dictionary for your personal use.
While a basic working knowledge of magic and totemism is helpful, DIY Totemism is written in an approachable fashion. Solid research and proper citation methods are paired with thorough practical results showing Lupa's work, and rather than being a dogmatic guide to what you should and shouldn't do, once again Lupa provides you with tools you can integrate into your own practice.
Table of Contents
Foreword by S. Kelley Harrell
Introduction
Chapter One: Rant On! Some of the Problems With Neopagan Totemism
Chapter Two: Starting At the Source
Chapter Three: Some Totems You May Not Have Considered
Chapter Four: The Last Totem Card Deck You'll Ever Need
Chapter Five: Everyday Totemic Work
Chapter Six: Animal Totems and Chemognosis
Chapter Seven: Therianthropy and Totemism
Chapter Eight: Magical Shapeshifting With Totems
Chapter Nine: Ask Not What Your Totem Can Do For You…
Chapter Ten: Creating Your Own Totemic System
Afterword: The Future of Neopagan Totemism
Appendix A: Animal-Friendly Nonprofit Organizations
Appendix B: Are We Just Splitting Hairs? (Therianthropy and Totemism)
Appendix C: Shamanic Journeying and the Totem by Ravenari
Appendix D: Working With Extinct Species by Paleo
Appendix E: An Introduction to Therioshamanism
Appendix F: My Frank Appraisals of Totemic Literature
Bibliography
Index
Here's what other folks are saying about the book:
DIY Totemism is a must for anyone interested in nature spirit work. Lupa offers her readers a wonderful blend of practical material, direct experience, and sensible advice. Although written for animal spirit work, the exercises and ideas Lupa provides could easily be adapted for other nature spirit work as well. If you want to develop your own grounded, balanced practice in these realms, DIY Totemism is a great place to start. Buy this book, read it, enjoy it, share it. Highly recommended!
--Clare Vaughn, coauthor of Learning Ritual Magic and Pagan Prayer Beads
DIY Totemism is Lupa's newest foray into the world of animal magic and spirituality. She is a fine author and her care and expertise show on every page of this book. No armchair occultist, Lupa tackles difficult questions with experimentation and practical, down to earth advice. This excellent book will be a wonderful resource for anyone interested in the modern Neopagan practices of totemism, shamanistic work, and animism, developed within and for 21st century western culture. Lupa rightly points out that we have no need to appropriate the rituals or identities of other cultures in order to practice a valid totemistic path -- we have all we need for this work within our own relationships with spirit and our engagement with the natural world.
--Erynn Rowan Laurie, author of Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom
I found this a wonderfully personal and immediate direct route into the heart of magical experience. Lupa is the finest animage whom I have ever met, and her book a perfect mixture of the deeply sensible and the deeply sensual.
--Dr. Ronald Hutton, author of Triumph of the Moon
You may order this book from Amazon, or you may order directly from Immanion Press/Megalithica Books.
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An autographed copy of DIY Totemism: Your Personal Guide to Animal Totems is available for $21.99 plus priority shipping in the U.S. and air mail in Canada..
An autographed copy of DIY Totemism: Your Personal Guide to Animal Totems is available for $21.99 plus media shipping in the U.S.
An autographed copy of DIY Totemism: Your Personal Guide to Animal Totems is available for $21.99 plus air mail internationally.
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