My daughter has discovered her totem.

[Snow]

She just got back from a field research trip of two weeks duration in Baja California (look up Pasadena City College & check out the Baja Science course if you're curious). On one hike when everyone (7 students, 2 professors) was out just by themselves, she came across a bobcat, sitting on a rock just looking at her, straight ahead of where she was walking. She stopped, lowered her head, dropped her hands and backed up a couple of steps so as to look submissive. She guessed the guy was 30-35 pounds, easily twice the size of our large orange tabby housecat. She and the bobcat looked each other over for a couple of minutes, then she reached into a pack for a camera, and the cat vainshed. She thought about walking back to camp, but decided to go look at the rocks where it had been. As she continued walking, she kept seeing flashes of the cat here and there, which had to have been deliberate. The bobcat was letting her see it.

Later that evening, while she was talking about it with the other students, one of the - well he wasn't really enrolled in the class, he was more like a TA - told her this meant the bobcat is her 'totem animal'. This guy's authority is that he is an apprentice shaman with an Indian tribe that lives right in that area, and has lived there for thousands of years, based on cliff and cave paintings in the area. This guy (he's Indian, of course) is also taking a degree in anthropology, and while not getting paid for being on the trip, got a free ride because he speaks, in addition to English & Spanish, several local Baja Indian languages and could provide access to some areas that are otherwise unknown. And he could inform my daughter, with authority, that the bobcat is her totem. Pretty cool story, eh?

[villager]

1. that's a good totem to have, Snow...

May Bobcat energy keep your daughter's spirit fired up!