Listen to the Animals: Walrus

For this new Tarot Notes feature, I am planning to pull one card each week from a different animal-themed deck to represent an important message from that animal.

If you are interested in finding out who your own Animal Guides are, you can get an Animal Guides Reading through my _Etsy shop_ or my _Web Site_.

This week my deck is Steven D. Farmer's Messages from Your Animal Spirit Guides Oracle Cards, illustrated by Bee Sturgis (Hay House).

Before I draw a card, I want to share a wonderful dream I had last night (or early this morning). In the dream, I was introduced to two large owls and two tigers. All four creatures were basically tame and affectionate with humans. I learned a command (which I cannot remember) to call the owls to me. The dream was vivid and realistic in a tactile sense when it came to the softness of the owl's feathers and the tiger's short, somewhat coarse coat.

Let's see which animal comes forward for me in this one-card reading.


It's the walrus, the perfect animal to lead off this series! This creature has long been one of my totems and favorite animals. I even have a collection of walruses of all kinds. Here are a few of them:

If you can read the card, above, you will see that it says:

"Remain vigilant about the current situation;
pay attention to signs and omens, and let
them dictate your choices."

I confess that I do not strongly associate "vigilance" with walruses. What stands out with them for me is the fact that they are clumsy and awkward on land, but very graceful in the water. Symbolically, this may refer to the importance of being emotionally "fluent" with less (if any) emphasis on physical or material skills.

Here is a picture of a walrus I took gliding on his back through his "swimming pool":

Although adult walruses have few predators, they still need to be vigilant just as any animal needs to be vigilant. A young, weak, or sick walrus can easily fall prey to a killer whale or polar bear.

According to _Wikipedia_, in an article that boasts a great many credible references, the walrus appears in several myths and stories of the Arctic peoples. I especially like the story of the old walrus-headed woman who rules the bottom of the sea, who is in turn linked to the Inuit goddess Sedna.