Spirit Animal Caps

What is a Spirit Animal?

“Spirit animal” is a modern English umbrella for older, specific traditions in which an animal spirit serves as a guide, protector, or emblem of identity. Among many Indigenous peoples of North America, relationships with animal helpers or clan totems are established through ceremony, dreams, or visions and carry duties, teachings, and taboos; details vary by nation and are not interchangeable. Related ideas also appear in other animist and shamanic cultures (e.g., Siberian guardian spirits), and in totemic or heraldic symbols elsewhere. The popular phrase simplifies these diverse, sacred systems; used responsibly, it should acknowledge their cultural origins and context.