Totem Spotlight: The Intelligent Bird Kind – Part Four

Totem Spotlight: The Intelligent Bird Kind – Part Four

The Intelligent Bird Kind Part Four:  The Domesticated Animal and Closing Thoughts

All things considered, the Intelligent Bird kind are animals that do fairly well in the human world.  As discussed, they make reasonably good pets and companions.  They do well coexisting along side human populations, as the prevalence of Ravens and Crows who raid trash bins will illustrate.  And they can sometimes do well in feral populations, making a home for themselves in places where pets were discarded by humans. 

We believe there is an important link between an animal and its level of success in the human world.  We, as humans, must survive in that human world, that realm of indoor activities and abstract ideas, offices and classrooms and supermarkets with fluorescent lighting, as opposed to the natural environments in which we evolved.  Many of us have difficulty reconciling our innate, wild, spiritual natures with this human world, and anyone who has ever wrestled with depression, anxiety, purposelessness, disconnectedness may well understand. 

However, that is not necessarily everyone’s battle.  It is our belief in our totemic tradition that the easier time an animal has adapting to life in the human world, the easier time a human who bears that animal as a totem (particularly their Primary totem) will have surviving in this domesticated modern world.  Many animals are unapologetically wild and cannot be otherwise, while others have within them the potential to adapt, even to thrive in the human world. 

The Intelligent Bird kind does well in domestication, provided their rather specific needs are cared for.  They are not the sort of animal who can slip into the rhythms of a household without missing a step, like the first House Cats did.  Rather, a home welcoming one of the Intelligent Bird kind in must make many accommodations for a new feathered member: the correct food and cage, a constant stream of safe and chewable toys, and a human family who are patient with their idiosyncratic behaviors. 

Therefore, Intelligent Bird kind people are far less likely than others to feel existentially discontented with the modern human world the way other animal kinds may, such as the Panther kind or the Bear kind.  They can find a comfortable niche within their own lives with far less fuss than others. 

However, if disharmony of the spirit is experienced, the Intelligent Bird kind person is advised to look to the world of Parrot ownership to identify how their environment might be corrected to better serve them.  A destructive bird is a bored bird; a lethargic bird could be a malnourished bird; a bird who plucks its own feathers out is an anxious and socially isolated bird. 

A person with one of the Intelligent Bird kind as their totem should take comfort in the fact that their kind can thrive in captivity, and live a long and happy life in the human world — provided the voice of the Parrot kind or the Corvid kind is respected. 

Totem Spotlight: The Intelligent Bird Kind - Part Three

March 3, 2020

Drumming the Totems: A Ritual of Honor

March 3, 2020

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