Committing to a Power Animal means choosing to enter a deep, committed, likely lifelong relationship with it, a sacred marriage rather than a friendship. The Power Animal is already fully committed to you; your commitment is what lets the relationship grow, and what makes it your Power Animal rather than just another animal guide.
What does commitment mean here? #
It means choosing a lifelong bond rather than a passing acquaintance. Many animal helpers come and go in a person’s life, but a Power Animal in the full sense is different: “Think of the difference between friends on the one hand, and a lifelong, committed, deep soul bond on the other.”1 Commitment is the decision to enter the second kind of relationship. The friends can stay; the Power Animal is the one the bond is made with.
Why is it called a sacred marriage? #
Because that is the depth of the relationship, and the Power Animal’s side of it is already given. A Power Animal is “a great and profound gift of love from Mother EarthMother Earth. The sacred Feminine pole: pure potential, from whom all the Peoples arise. The Lower-World is her realm, and she is all the realms: “The Earth is indeed our Mother.” More about this”, and “Your Power Animal though, is already fully committed to you. But if the relationship is to develop then you need to open up and commit to it too.”2
Unlike human relationships, it is unconditional. “In this physical world, no matter how deep and loving a relationship may be, the reality is that all human relationships are conditional… By contrast, your Power Animal loves you unconditionally.”
Why does commitment matter? #
Because without it nothing much grows. “Should you choose to bond with your Power Animal, you will gradually come to realise that, second only to the gift of your precious life itself, your Power Animal is probably the greatest gift you will ever be given. However, all the wonderful things that it brings will remain seeds that never grew unless you commit to bonding with it.”3 Commitment is what makes the difference between a Power Animal and a helper: “you need to make a heartfelt and soulful commitment to your Power Animal, if you really wish it to truly be your Power Animal, and not just another animal guide.”
Is it a choice? #
Yes. “In the end, with a human partner and with a Power Animal too, it comes down to choosing to commit.”4 Waiting for certainty that an animal is ‘the one’ can become a way of never committing at all. In Paul Francis’s experience, practitioners who claim many Power Animals, or whose Power Animal keeps changing, often “seem to have commitment issues in terms of relationships in this physical reality too.” Holding back, always wondering whether a better partner might come along, means that “the healing, growth and learning that comes from risking opening up to a deep and committed lifelong relationship will forever evade you.” See How do I find and choose my Power Animal?
Is there any risk in committing? #
None. With a human partner, commitment always risks being hurt, and “it is usually the fear of being hurt that holds people back from commitment. By contrast, with your Power Animal there is no risk. It will never hurt you. There is nothing to lose. There are only things to gain.”5 The fear, where it exists, belongs to our human history. Someone who “finds it difficult to commit in relationships because you are frightened of being hurt” will tend to bring the same pattern to their GuidesGuides. The Lower-World and Upper-World beings a practitioner works with and learns from, of whom the Power Animal is the first and foremost. True Guides are ethical to their core; the shaman’s power comes from the depth of these bonds, not from the shaman. More about this.6
How do I make the commitment? #
Simply, or with a journey. “It may be enough for you to simply choose to do this. Or you may want to do a shamanic journey and express your commitment, and ask what the two of you can do in a journey to symbolise and cement this commitment. Be led by your Power Animal in doing this.”7 The form is worked out between you and your Power Animal; what matters is that the commitment is real.
Is the commitment lifelong? #
It is likely to be. If you choose to work with your Power Animal in these ways, the bond between you will be strong, steadfast and deep, and it is likely that you will find that it is a life-long relationship. It may not be, of course: there are no rules, and you will find your own path and your own way.8 For Paul himself, it is: his relationship with Panther is for life.
What if I want to change, or other Animals appear? #
Other Animals come and go through life, and that is natural. Paul had Fox and Lynx in childhood, then Eagle, then Dolphin, before Panther, and could have committed to any of them had he been ready, but he was not ready to commit then. When Panther came, he could have chosen to be a serial monogamist, moving from one Animal to another. But he chose to commit instead, and what has come out of that is immeasurably deeper and richer than anything he had before.9 Animal helpers can remain friends without displacing the Power Animal.
Can a Power Animal leave me? #
Not in Therapeutic Shamanism’s teaching. “Your Power Animal will never fall out with you. It will never abandon you. If you abandon it, or drift away from it, or get distracted, whenever you do come back to it then it will always welcome you when you return.”10 The relationship may need tending, but its love is not conditional on our behaving well.
