Could we get clear on this "totem" thing?  A lot of well-meaning but ignorant white folks seem to have muddied the waters, starting possibly with Jamie Sands .

If you are a Native, and the clan you belong to uses an animal to symbolize that clan, that animal is your totem.  You belong to the Bear Clan, your totem is a bear, and so on.

If you  do not belong to a clan, you CANNOT have an animal totem, strictly speaking.  You may well have a power animal, a spirit guide in animal form , a familiar,  a pet, whatever--anything BUT a totem.

I think you will find many 'folk'  white or otherwise, totally disagree with your post.  And the person you may be referring to is Jamie Sams?

There are many clans, tribes and wanderers, and far more DO believe in totems. It's fine if you don't, but please don't try and force your views on others in such a condescending and patronising way please.

If a million people are incorrect, do they suddenly become correct?

Here is a short quote from wiki on totems, if you don't want to take my word on it:

Totemism (derived from the root -oode- in the Ojibwe language, which referred to something kinship-related, c.f. odoodem, "his totem") is a religious belief that is frequently associated with shamanistic religions. The totem is usually an animal or other naturalistic figure that spiritually represents a group of related people such as a clan.

Jamie Sands is a popular author who has preoduced books and various divination or guidance cards, using animal imagery, which may have contributed to the misues of the word "totem."  I do not know what tribe she belongs to.

I belong to the Muskogee Nation, and have worked and taught as a shaman for about twenty years--how about you?

Titles do not a man make.

I have no idea why you are so hostile to the idea that others may have a different belief or form of knowledge to you. To be quite honest I do wonder who wrote that entry on 'wiki'! After all, anyone can and does get their entries accepted onto wikipedia, it  doesn't however, make them fact.

You also seem to keep bringing up Jamie Sams, who is a Santa Fe-based writer, artist and teacher of Seneca, Cherokee and French descent. She is the granddaughter of Seneca elder and author Twyla Nitsch.

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~*~Gem~*~