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Originally Posted by KinkyVixen
I mean, I figure I could say I'm like this animal, or whatever...but what fun is if there's no signifigance behind it?
What purposes do totems fulfill?
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Totems were often just identifying features of a group or clan of people that distinguished them from another, but often at a personal level, they provide direction and insight in times of uncertainty. The significance (spiritual or not) comes from whatever you or your culture assigns to it. The last anthropology book I read even went as far as to draw the parallel between totems and sports teams mascots by showing that even in modern, western culture it is still accepted to rally identify a group of people with an animal and rally around it.