American Mink - Complex Thoughts and Philosophies Neovison vison
American mink energy is one that is drawn to complexity in life, and those who have American mink as a guide or totem will find themselves drawn to complex concepts and philosophies. Ideas that have more than one philosophy attached to them will be embraced. Those with American mink as a totem or guide will often find themselves enjoying the ability to hold multiple contrasting or polarised opinions / philosophies in their heads, and can often argue these with other people, jumping from place to place and weaving complex counter-arguments and often changing their own internal positions with further examinations into the complexity of a subject.
In continuing with the theme of enjoying complexity, those that are scholarly, who have American mink around them, will find that they much prefer dense study over lightly skimming subjects. It might be that they find several subjects (or one subject) they are most interested in and seek to devour as much material on those subjects as possible. This will often be reflected in other areas of one's life. Instead of playing many video games a little, you might find yourself devoting a significant amount of time to one and learning all its ins and outs. This can extend to hobbies, and focusing on projects in the workplace.
American mink - being one of the world's most desirable and most-farmed animals for its fur - draws one's attention to the pros and cons of being desirable for what you produce and not who you are. What you produce can include output in a workplace, creative projects (art, writing, dancing and so on), what you produce in the home (cooking and so on), and on a less literal level, can indicate the facade that one produces around other people; so that people learn to desire this, instead of the self-reality that is hidden behind the facade. Discovering the pros and cons of this process is intensely personal for each person, but when American mink is in your life, it's either something you're still struggling to understand and/or something that is a part of your life in many ways.
American mink energy has the possibility to clash with those who carry with them the energy of European mink and otter energy. In particular, American mink people can find themselves subordinated or easily dominated by those who have otter energy. Sometimes otter can be a shadow totem for those with American mink energy as a strong force in their lives.
Those with American mink energy want to have a surplus of energy in reserve, and feel very out of sorts without it. Most animals that cache food for later, tend to teach us to prefer to have stored up energy so that they know they can attend a spontaneous event or devote energy to unexpected internal and external upsets. Wanting a surplus of energy in reserve can also extend to desiring savings in the bank, food in the cupboards, bills paid in advance and so on. However, the presence of American mink tends to focus this specifically down to reserves of internal energy.
Any animal that burrows into the darkness for its food, not knowing exactly what awaits it there, is one that teaches us how to go into the deep and sometimes painful places for wisdom. American mink people tend to be quite self-aware, and as a guide, American mink is unafraid to drag one hunting for nourishment and wisdom in the dark recesses of the unconscious. These journeys are often painful, unfathomable and unknowable. American mink's additional connection to water wisdom means these journeys are often extraordinarily life-changing for those who experience a great deal of general internal unrest and anguish. These journeys can take place spontaneously throughout the day, but also commonly occur during dream-states, and can be disturbing and 'dark.'
Esoterically, the American mink has connections to the ability of mind-to-mind spiritual contact, and telepathy. Those who have American mink energy available to them often find that they are better equipped to understand other's motivations, where people are coming from, and to intuitively pick up on unspoken thoughts. This can be deliberately expanded upon with spiritual work, but tends to occur spontaneously anyway. Care must be taken not to use this energy invasively.
American mink people tend to use hostility as a weapon, to get people to back off, or keep their space. Those who have American mink around them as a temporary guide will find that mink actively encourages them to use hostility to get people away from them, where in the past they may have used other, more peaceable methods.
American mink energy is highly competitive, and also filled with incredible intelligence and knowing. Those with American mink energy around them often find that their intelligence has been, or is being underestimated by others. People often perceive what they want to, and don't see the brilliance that hides within. This can be advantageous in competitive industries, but also disadvantageous if the person in question also underestimates their own intelligence as a result of what is being reflected back to them. In these cases, American mink - not one for general insecurity - will encourage confidence and faith in these abilities.
The Shadow Aspects:
Those who fear or dislike American mink often find that they're strongly against having multiple viewpoints of any one issue, and prefer to have one opinion for each topic. If they change that viewpoint, they change it completely, and dislike holding two opposing viewpoints in their head for any length of time and seeing the merits of both. These people are often uncomfortable in cerebral debates, or debates where people often play 'devil's advocate' to their own opinions. American mink comes into the lives of people who fear or dislike it, to teach them that it is not as threatening or horrible as they think to hold two or more different viewpoints in their mind.
Additionally, those who have issues with American mink, may be avoiding confronting painful truths and feelings that they hold within themselves. These people may conduct the appearance of self-work, but skate past the truly painful places within themselves. American mink often comes within their lives to harry a person into confronting these places without skating past them or looking through them. American mink always comes with the assurance that searching these places leads to profound transformation.
Communion:
American mink is often easy to access, or 'see' in the mind's eye during visualisation, but rarely speaks or makes its wisdom easily known. Living in a well-sheltered, cryptic environment, has given it cryptic habits as a totem and guide (your mileage may vary). So, despite being commonly spread throughout its natural environments, and naturalised in many others, it is still quite rare as a totem animal, and hard to understand as a guide. Visualisations that focus on rockpools, rock-ledges, sheltered platforms and woodlands filled with dense understorey can be especially favourable places to start working with American mink, since these are their favourite hunting grounds.
In situations where mink shows up, s/he will often teach by getting you to observe them, or simply to be around their energy. However, it's possible to be taken deeper into their dens or underwater with them, those these encounters can be draining but insightful. American mink energy can also be contacted or discovered during initiatory journeys, and states of mind that involve transformation of dysfunctional thought processes or stagnant states within the body-mind. American mink does not provide much by the way of 'aftercare' after tough lessons, and it's recommended that you have other totems or guides you can work with for aftercare purposes.
which I bought for the giggles of its double entendre. I actually very much enjoy that the turtle became my totem (it was cats / tigers up until then) right about the time that I lost my virginity. No, not to a turtle.
