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I'm not a great expert in wolf spirituality; that is, spirituality using the wolf as a path, a totem or similar. It's something, however, that is important to me, and so I'm presenting it here in the hopes that others to whom wolves, and the spiritual side of them, are important, might find something useful. Please don't take any of this as gospel. Since I'm still learning, this page can probably be best viewed as my 'thoughts in progress'. Expect it to change.

I've always felt a certain 'kinship' to wolves. Not that this means I'm about to sell my worldly posessions and go and live in a wolf pack, as nice as any movie might make that seem. However from a very early age, so early that I don't remember when it started, I've been fascinated by them. I've learned all I can about them: reading, watching, researching. I've even been lucky enough to see a few up close (which, since I live in Australia, isn't easy). None of this, however, has quite 'satisfied' me. I always felt there was something more to know, to learn. Something beyond that which you can find out reading a textbook on biology, or a documentary on wolves.

Then one day I found out about Native American beliefs, and how wolves fit in there. Now I don't pretend to understand those beliefs in their entirity. I barely understand their culture, though I'm trying to learn. However, something about the wolf as a totem, as a guide, as a teacher, resonated with me. In many ways I'd been 'using' the wolf as that all along. I'd studied the wolves, their pack structure, how they react and adapt to their environment, and tried to learn from them. I learned about loyalty, and how you can be part of a pack and still be an individual, about how a pack can work to survive when one alone couldn't. And I learned many more lessons. In my reading I found that some of these 'lessons' were in fact associated with the 'wolf totem'. It seemed to me, that wolf had been guiding me all along.

I'm not, however, a Native American, and despite my fascination with the little I understand of their beliefs, I'm not a part of their spirituality. My own path brought me to Wicca/Paganism (though where I fit in there is a little unclear). Some of what I'm seeing in Wicca these days is those who have strong interests in a particular culture, or an affinity for it, are bringing that culture into Wicca; or melding the two. To me this seems right, as Wicca isn't simply a monolithic belief system, and it's constantly being changed by events and it's 'believers'. The only nervousness I have is when someone with little understanding tries to 'pick and choose' what they incorporate into their belief system. To come back to my own situation, it's no good me taking just the parts on the Wolf Spirit, cutting it neatly from the Native American belief system, and plonking it down into mine. It may work, but I'm sure there's a lot of danger there, because I simply don't understand how melding two possibly different sytems will work; especially when I don't understand one of the systems fully.

That's now part of my quest. Wolf has guided me this far, and now, like a wolf puppy, I have to start learning not only what Wolf teaches me, but also where Wolf has led me. In effect, I'm now not only studying what Wolf has shown me explicitly, but also what's beside the path it's led me, what's in the place is' led me to, and Wolf itself. But then, isn't studying your teacher usually a good way to learn?

In order to understand Wolf, I'm going to have to learn, and understand, Native American beliefs; and not just those parts pertaining to Wolf, as I mentioned above. This seems logical. Nothing exists in isolation. To take a simple example: Wolf is affected by Rabbit, just as Rabbit is affected by Wolf. Now, expand that out to include all the creatures and spirits, and you have one heck of a mess.

Native Americans have had many centuries to sort out this mess; and even if they don't have a full understanding, they're a lot closer to it than I am. And therefore it's there I have to turn my studies.

I've mentioned Totems, and in connection with that, you'll often hear the word 'Medicine'. What do these terms mean? Well, let's take a small step back here.

The 'mess' I talked about above, this 'link' between the animals, is sometimes known as the 'Web of Life'. Everything is somehow connected to everything else. In some ways, like wolf and rabbit, they're connected in an obvious way; at other times, the link is more subtle. Regardless, the link is there.

Now, part of our link, as two-leggeds, to the animals is through Animal Totems. There are various ways to think of them; as the representative spirit of their species; as a 'familiar' and so on. Regardless of how you think of them, the Animal Totem is what guides you and protects you. It's one of our links to the Web of Life. However, don't think that this is all one way. You can't just take from a Totem, just expect it to do all the work. You have to give as much as it does, or things fall out of balance.

Each Animal Totem has associated with it 'Medicine'. This is the abilities and lessons unique to that animal. So, for instance, one of the 'Medicines' of the Wolf is 'Teacher'.

Here, collected from various sources are the many attributes associated with the wolf. Many places list different attributes and I've just collected most of them:

Eliminating weakness, commitment, loyalty, preserverance, success, individuality, guardianship, spirituality.

• Animal and Bird Totems
• Animal Totems
• The Animal Totems
• Camlyn's Haven for Pagan Elders - Spirit Animals: Wolf
• Totem Animals
• ~Life Paths~ Animal Totems
• Familiars and Totem Animals

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