I did a search for 'jackal' in the search bar and it led me to the Anpu's Staff group.  

Has anybody found any information regarding the jackal as a spirit animal/power animal/totem?

My spirit animal is the jackal, specifically the golden jackal, but I've not been able to find much information.  It seems to me, based on the little bit that I have read, that Jackal is an amalgamation of Wolf, Coyote, Fox, and Dog, yet still has its own unique wisdom.  I know it's a scavenger, and as such, deals with life, death, and rebirth, as well as its connection to Anubis, but I've not really found much beyond that.

I'm really happy I found this group!  :)  Anubis is one of my deities, with the other being Hecate/Hekate.

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I think the best way to learn about a creature that might be your totem/spirit guide/whatever you want to call it, would be to learn about it's earthly life. So, check out some Nature Documentaries about Jackals if you can find them, read some non-fiction books about the animals. Might not find anything magical, but you'll learn a lot about them and might hit on some personal insight into them as your totem.

That said, this group's been pretty quiet for a long time. ;-; hopefully it'll pick up again.

Sounds like you got a good start then. I dunno how 'new' you are to this so here's some advice: Take everything with a grain of salt, Everything. Wherever you got that 'Spirit Animals are traits you need to learn' thing, that fit for THEM. Yay for you if it fits for you as well, but something I've noticed among Kemetics is that we really are a VERY Different group in a lot of ways. It gets sharper when you focus in on one or two Deities (or a small handful!) as well as if your crossing Cultures, Kemetic AND Greek, or Roman, Or  Wiccan (Sorry to anyone who might be offended by the broad-spectrum terms, but I dunno what to call people who follow Greek or Roman Deities O.o ) So don't blindly accept each new bit of info. Evaluate it and sort it out for yourself and see if it really does fit for you. 

As for 'cultural appropriation', that's a fine hair to split and it'll really be up to you. Kemet was a long time ago, they MAY have used Totem instead of Spirit Animal for such a thing. I dunno if anyone's ever dug into the proper terminology for that, so I'd say go with what you feel is right for you. A lot of Kemetics (whatever their flavor) have to make this decision on a lot of things because hey, there's probably a number of us without a drop of Kemetic blood in us at all. We are drawn to this path though, and try to be respectful as best we can, but sometimes you just gotta make that choice on what's the better word (Or whatever the issue is at the time) for yourself and not anyone else. *shrugs* Personally I see nothing wrong with Spirit Animal and Totem being inter-changeable, they both, to me, mean an Outside (As in not one's own) Spirit Helper. If this doesn't sit right with you then that's fine and you just need to choose your own word that does feel right for you. Just something to consider.


Next Section! I don't know much about the different kinds of Spirit Animals (Tricksters, Scavengers, Ect), or what anyone else thinks about them, it's never been something I've been drawn to look into. I do have a preference for Wolves and the Black-Backed Jackal though, since that Jackal in particular is, I feel (and it's okay if you disagree, lol!) that's closest to the 'Black Jackal' Anpu is usually shown as, if you stick it on a sand dune at night as a shadow and the heat radiating off the sand elongates the shadow some. But that's just my thoughts, it's what I find fits best for me (Though Goldens are VERY pretty animals and I could see the connection there). On the other hand, Wolves are the Closest Creature I can come up with LOCALLY though, I don't live in an area that has Jackals of any kind, but there IS a history of Wolf here (even if the animal itself might be long run-off) and they feel like a better match for Jackals, more then Coyote or Fox (to me at least, feel free to keep your Coyote and Fox vibes if they work for you. :D ).

Overall though I think being Kemetic is very much a 'Personal Flavors and Twists' type of thing. A lot of how we see and interpret and apply the info we find and learn and seek, won't work for many others. It's like... like being a Solitary Practitioner. There's this whole big group of Other Solitaries to hang out and share info with, but you're really working on your own a lot of the time. There's far more groups who follow Isis and Osiris then there are that follow Anpu that I've found (Not that they aren't out there, I just haven't found them yet! X3), so it makes this whole thing a little harder sometimes, cause you have to decide for yourself what's best for you, like with your Spirit Animal Vrs Totem thing. It's easier to go with the flow of someone else's explanations, specially when they have so many more years of figuring this stuff out! But it's worth it to still take a good hard look at whatever's in front of you and go 'Does this fit Me, can I Use this and still feel Connected/Right/Good/whatever-word-you-want-here about this?'.

For the 'Too Long; Didn't Read' Answer - Welcome to the Struggle of being a Jackal Child! :D

I'm not wise XD I'm just well worded today or something ;P I've seriously slacked off on my learning c.c; Whoops!

I think your right about this part here - 

At the end of the day, I don't think Anubis cares how we see him, just as long as we see him, lol.  I just got a thought..."You (Luna) are concerned about what to view me as, but you're not seeing the forest for the trees."  I think he's right, lol.

One of the things I noticed about Anpu is He tends to shift himself around to make others comfortable with him. You get the blend vibe coming from him, I get the Black-Backed Jackal/Wolf Vibes, I think he just picks up on how we'd be most comfortable interacting with him and becomes that to some degree. ^^ He's awesome like that. I've read other people's blogs and so, where sometimes they see him as a hyper child, 6 or 7 human years old, I've seen some that view him as his Animal Self, the Black Jackal he's shown as in art, I've read about people who see him as a silent Guardian type  and a Curious, lean over your shoulder 'OOOOHHH What does this button do?!' Type. XD All the wonderful different ways people are familiar with Anpu. ^^

There's actually quite a large collection of Groups who say Hecatate and Anpu work well together. :o You'll have better luck finding others to chat with then I will. XD

"And while it seems in my experience that people focus more on the 'death and/or underworld' aspects of Hekate and Anubis, that isn't the entirety in which I see them."

I know those feels! I always end up a little 'Grr' when I hear People be all 'Anpu is Evil! EVIL!'. (Specially Hollywood.) I tend to see him more like a guardian more then 'Ruler of the Dead/Underworld'. Hades I can see as Ruler of the Underworld, no problem, but Anpu... there's more to it then that, it seems. At least to me.

 As for my jackal spirit animal being outside of myself, I can see that, but I also consider myself a jackal-person, meaning someone with the spirit of jackal (and I mean the golden jackal).  What I mean when I say "I am a jackal", or "I am Jackal", I don't mean that I am an actual jackal, I just mean that I embody what I feel are the traits of jackal spirit animal / jackal spirit, those qualities which mirror my own that I have found in jackal spirit animal, traits that I have always had, and that are "me", but that are also "jackal", and I see no separation between myself and (golden) jackal in that sense. 

Hey, I get a little of this too! Though I don't call myself a Jackal Person per-se, not the way you seem to at least. X3 I think of myself more as a Jackal Child. Not quite Jackal -Spirit, but still Jackal-Born, if that makes any sense? I got almost no connections to Dogs XD other then having them around all the time while growing up. My Chinese Zodiac is Rabbit,  so no help there X3 I just, ever since I was little, it's been all about the Canines, y'know? (And Felines, cause c'mon, kids and kittens. :3 ) but you know how Kids always have that favorite animal at the Zoo, or a favorite animal toy? For me it's been wolf, so I guess if Anpu changes to best fit his followers, it's no wonder I feel the pull to Wolf Specifically, and not Canines in General (Fox, Coyote) like you do. :3 But see? Different flavors of  Kemetic! XD We're just an oddball bunch of mixed nuts I guess (and I mean that in the most awesome way possible. X3 )

Oh! Before I forget, I saw you use the Anubis Oracle? :o I picked that deck up a while back :D it's beautiful! I don't actually use it much for readings but it's much easier to connect to for me then my Tarot Cards (Though, it might have been the deck I picked? I grabbed a deck when I was JUST starting out and I think I picked out a super complicated one XD Whoops!) Do you find that deck easier for readings, or is that deck and Tarot about the same for you?

I agree about Anubis being a 'shapeshifter', so to speak.  (I have some thoughts about that...shapeshifting, I mean...may I send you a private message?  I don't want to get off topic.)

Sure! I wouldn't worry too much about going off topic though, you're new to the site right? It's gonna be moving to a shiny new site at some point, so everyone will be going over to the new site once it's open and we find out the http address. 

Got the request and accepted! It should work now.

Luna Bloodmoon said:

Hey, I tried sending you a private message, but it said I had to be your friend before I could write you, so I sent you a friend request.  =)


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