As introverts, HSPs and Empaths, we often feel more comfortable with the animal world than we do with the human one. As such, there is a special place in our hearts for sea animals because the sea represents the power of emotion.For us introverts, HSPs and empaths, the sea is a source of power, strength, calm, hope, and rejuvenation. Therefore, it only makes sense to embrace the creatures of the sea as part of our totem powers.
Introverts - Hermit Crabs
As a child playing on the beach, I preferred to watch the hermit crabs than to build sand castles or bury my friends in the sand. I was an introvert. I liked to go out and explore the "outside world" and then scurry into my little "hermit hole" to process everything I had done.
I think at some point in childhood, all children on a beach become curious about hermit crabs. However, the introvert children are the ones who become obsessed with hermit crabs and want to learn everything about them. This is because we relate to these abundant and elusive creatures.
Solitude
Its name, hermit crab, implies comfort with solitude and living like a hermit. However, hermit crabs are rather social creatures. They do like to come out and explore and adventure in the world, but they quickly scurry into holes if they feel overwhelmed or threatened. Us introverts do the same. We love to explore and gather experiences and information from the outside world, but when threatened or overwhelmed, we will quickly retreat to our shell or hole to feel safe and process what we just experienced.
Resourcefulness
As a hermit crab grows, they need to find new shells to match their new size. They do not grow their own shells. Symbolically, this means that hermit crabs are both adaptable and resourceful. We introverts are good at exploring the outside world, and adapting ourselves to work with the elements of the world in which we live. Nothing ever quite fits us perfectly, but we know how to make do. We take in the "stuff" from the world around us, and we figure out how to fit.
Perseverance
Hermit crabs are tenacious creatures. While they will often retreat to their shells or caves, they will come out tie and again, facing their same challenges over and over and over until they achieve a desired result. As a result, we introverts are known for perseverance. We push through difficulties and always trust in our strengths and abilities to get us where want to go.
HSPs - Sea Anemone
At the "petting zoo" at Underwater World, I could never bring myself to touch the sea anemone. Everyone else raved about how beautifully soft they were, but I just cringed every time I watched someone touch them.
This is because I know what it feels like to be hyper-sensitive, and to be touched without permission, or without warning, or even when I'm expecting it. Yet, everyone is attracted to the anemone because of their beauty, their colors, their softness, and the gentleness they provide. We sensitives get it. No one understands our sensitivity completely (except other sensitives) but everyone enjoys the benefits of it, abundantly, and often without our permission.
Patience
Sea anemone can't move by themselves, they have to attach to a hermit crab (introvert). No wonder HSPs and introverts get along so well (and are often embodied in the same person). As a result, they have to be very patient for both their food and their movement. We HSPs know that moving too fast on things can be extremely uncomfortable to our senses, so we have learned to be patient, to take things at our own slow and steady (and non-painful) pace.
Grace
Because we are so sensitive in all our senses, we have to move gracefully in order to protect those senses from extreme experiences. As a result, we are extremely graceful. But we aren't just graceful in our movement and actions for ourselves, we also offer GRACE to others simply because we know too well what it is like to be raw and vulnerable. We are gracious to all, but especially to those who may be experiencing rawness. Just as the sea anemone offers a beautiful respite and hiding place for clown fish, we offer a beautiful graceful reception to vulnerable people in our worlds.
Sensitivity
While sea anemones are very soft and sensitive and delicate, they are by no means fragile. Rather, they are extremely strong. In fact, as HSPs, our ability to be vulnerable and withstand the repetitive pains that come with overstimulation is exactly what makes us strong.
Empaths - Mermaid
While mythical, I never believed that mermaids don't exist. Even as little girl I believed that mermaids have the ability to make themselves invisible to humans. I almost thought of them as the unicorn of the sea.
Mermaids swim deep in the sea, exploring the deepest depths of emotions, spirituality, and thus possess the subtlest of magicks. In essence, the mermaid gently holds space for anyone who is facing their biggest shadows, deepest fears, and most trying times. They bring a gentle fluid beauty to the scariest and ugliest of experiences, and teach us that when we express our rawest emotions the most beautiful energies are shared.
Depth
Mermaids can walk the shallow shores of the beach, but they prefer to dive to the deepest depths of the sea. In that depth is where the darkest of our shadows hide, our greatest fears, or darkest demons, our fiercest foes. Yet these beautiful mythical creatures shimmer and shine through the darkest of darks. When life brings us to the deepest depths of life, we empaths somehow inherently know how to bring grace and beauty to the depth.
Expression
Ariel, the Littlest Mermaid, was known for her beautiful voice. Yet her song was its most beautiful when she sand of the deepest pains of her experiences. Mermaids know that the most honest and authentic expressions come from the most emotional experiences. Thus, us empaths somehow know how to give voice to those experiences that are filled with contradictory and fullest of feels.
Magick
Embodying the upper body of a human female and the lower body of a fish, mermaids are mythical creatures who float in two worlds, thus able to dance between the gates of transformation and change. As empaths, without effort or action, we magically guide people through the transformational processes of traumas and tragedies into the places of great evolution and change. Through a subtle magical process of expressing emotions (as mermaids do) a true transformation and growth occurs. We empaths may not understand this process intellectually, but we know it in the depth of our bones.
Connect with Your Spirit Sea Animal
Many clients ask me what they spirit animal is, but I think the real question they should be asking is how to connect with their spirit animal. The bond and connection with spirit animals is sacred and powerful. When cultivated, you can develop a familiar relationship with your spirit animal(s) that is deeply fulfilling. With a series of simple meditations, contemplations, and daily practices you can enter a deep ritual process that results in a spiritual and self-awareness. This can be done in as little as 3 one-hour mentoring sessions.
Are you an Introvert, HSP, or Empath who is drawn to the animals of the sea? What's your totem animal? How do you connect with your spirit animal? Book an Appointment to explore your animal familiar.
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