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Joel:
Recently, I have been trying to find information on Native American culture, to trace my roots, etc. During my search, I happened to find this, which is a description of aforementioned fox medicine, which actually describes me a lot... hmm....

(This is the main website which I got that from...

Here's another one...^.^

Benjamin:
That's neat.
We've also been discussing totems a little bit over at the furry.ca forum.
It's a fascinating topic, and there's a fair bit of material on it if you go for a hunt for it online.
 
Benjamin

WhiteShepherd:
That's neat Benjamin.  A discussion here as well for those interested could be cool.  I know there are some here with experience/interest in native American culture.  Lets add our own experiences into the pot and enrich discussion here too.

Are you related to native Americans Joel or are you just interested in the culture?  My mother is basically half Cherokee and I was adopted Lakota.  I've spent time and lived on a couple reservations out west.  So I may be able to answer some of your questions.  

From native stories fox is considered a teacher.  There are many stories of Fox and Coyote.  Coyote would never listen to fox and always wanted to be someone or something else.  Coyote who didn't learn from his mistakes and would get himself into trouble and sometimes killed.  Fox would then "jump" over Coyote and Coyote would come back to life.  But Coyote never learned from his mistakes.  So Coyote though considered a trickster is also a teacher.

There is also a Spider-Man called Iktomi that is in a lot of children’s stories.  He also does not learn from his mistakes and is one of often tries to take advantage.  Sometimes it worked and a lot of times Iktomi got in a lot of trouble.  I remember telling those stories out on the South Dakota plains.  Sweltering nights under the stars and hearing the children laugh as I carried on.  It was a very hard time back then.  But it was also one of the very best as well.

My Lakota name given in a sweat vision with a Lakota elder.  In English it’s: "Wolf in the Grass".

Feel free to ask more questions if you like.

Joel:
Well, I'm approx. 5/12 Native American, about 1/4 cherokee and 1/6 Choctaw; I was basically curious as to the place of the fox in Cherokee and/or Choctaw Culture... as well as more general things about m'background.  I'm also partially Irish and English, other cultures where foxes figure relatively prominently, so...

I'm basically a blank slate as it is, minus what you just said, and what I had found previously, so I'd love to hear whatever y'have to say, shepard!  

WhiteShepherd:
I can give some info here on the Fox totem.  

The some of the fox totem attributes are female magic of  camouflage/invisibility, and shape shifting.

The site you gave gives some common points so I'll try and give some others.  The fox has a reputation in native American cultures as a trickster and a teacher.  The fox can often lead someone into the spirit world as the fox is often between both worlds.  The Cherokee uses fox medicine to help against frostbite.  The Choctaw see the fox as the protector of the family.  The Lokota often see the fox as a teacher and is a companion to Coyote in many stories.

During ceremony in sweats (I cannot speak of any "specific" events as recording of ceremony in any way is absolutely forbidden and would anger the helping spirits).  Ancestors can  arrive as animals and spirit animals.  Again to get specific on what could/would of been seen would be a breach.

Joel the Fox is one of my Totems as well.  I think I knew it for a long time.  Shortly after a summer in South Dakota I saw a fox laying in the grass.  He must of been there for some time as he was as in plain site a fox laying out in the open in the grass looking around and watching.  I caught my breath and looked again and I could not find him.  A few min passed and suddenly he was there again plain as could be.  I felt as if something inside "See this is how you can be.".  To explain I more than saw it.  I "felt" it.  The fox was not invisible because of it's coat.  It was something of nature in it's presence that caused my eyes to skip over it over and over again no matter how hard I tried.  The best way I could explain it was some like a "gravity of attention" that pulled my attention to things in that spot were missing on the fox by his presence.  And it was all in the "presence" of this fox laying calmly looking around.  The fox then got up and took off.  But I felt his presence and I understood through what I felt.

Joel it's a way of contacting what is in side of you.  I'm sure you've felt it before.  Like you could chose how and what is seen around you.  Reducing the focus on yourself with your presence?  These are common traits this totem teaches.  There are ways to practice in groups of people as well.  Following a totem is learning to listen to it and recognizing it's there.  That's how you learn.  The rest is trust and following a unique path.

Oh yes something else I remember.  The Cherokee lore believe that some foxes could turn into people.  Some would turn into women and marry men.  This often led to a disaster according to stories.

So who here also has a Totem animal/s?  How did you find out and how does it affect/reflect in you?

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