Mythology overview
Animal Symbolism in Mythology
One mythology at a time. No smoothie.
Animals carry specific meanings in specific mythologies, and the meanings rarely translate cleanly across traditions. Ovid's Metamorphoses, the Prose and Poetic Edda, the Táin Bó Cúailnge, the Ramayana, and the Pyramid Texts each treat animals differently. The entries below keep those mythologies separate.
Animals in this list
Wolf spirit animal meaning, traced from the modern pop-concept back through Ted Andrews's Animal Speak (1993) to Old Norse sagas, Anishinaabe doodem tradition, and the Roman foundation myth. Named-nation specific. No pan-tribal framing.
Raven spirit animal meaning, from the modern pop-concept back through Odin's Huginn and Muninn, the Morrígan in the Táin, the Haida and Tlingit Raven cycles, and Ted Andrews's 1993 synthesis. Named-nation specific.
Eagle spirit animal meaning, traced from the modern courage-freedom reading back through Ted Andrews's Animal Speak to Zeus's eagle in Homer, the Roman legionary aquila, the Vedic Garuda, the Mexica founding of Tenochtitlan, and Lakota eagle-feather protocol.
Snake spirit animal meaning, traced from the modern transformation-and-rebirth reading back through Ted Andrews's Animal Speak to the serpent in Genesis 3, the Greek Asclepius rod, Indian Nāga and the Buddhist Mucalinda, and Mesoamerican Quetzalcóatl.
Owl spirit animal meaning, traced from the modern wisdom-and-intuition reading back through Ted Andrews's Animal Speak to Athena's Little Owl on the Athenian tetradrachm, the Roman strix, Lakshmi's vahana uluka, and Japanese fukurō folklore.
Horse spirit animal meaning, traced from the modern freedom-and-power reading back through Ted Andrews's Animal Speak to the Vedic Aśvamedha, the Greek Pegasus, the Welsh Rhiannon of the Mabinogion, the Gallo-Roman Epona, and the Plains horse cultures that began with the 1680 Pueblo Revolt.
Lion spirit animal meaning, traced from the modern courage-and-royalty reading back through Ted Andrews's Animal Speak to Sumerian Inanna and her seven lions, the Egyptian Sekhmet, the Hebrew Bible's Samson and the Lion of Judah, and the Buddhist singha temple guardian.
Bear spirit animal meaning, traced from the modern strength-protector reading back through Ted Andrews's Animal Speak to Finno-Ugric bear ceremonialism, the Ainu iyomante, the Greek Brauron arkteia, and Anglo-Saxon kenning tradition.
Dolphin spirit animal meaning, traced from the modern joy-and-intelligence reading back through Ted Andrews's Animal Speak to the Homeric Hymn to Apollo at Delphi, Arion's rescue by a dolphin in Herodotus, the Minoan Knossos dolphin fresco, and the Amazonian boto encantado tradition.
Butterfly spirit animal meaning, from the modern pop-concept back to the Greek psyche, the Mexica goddess Itzpapalotl, the Zhuangzi butterfly dream, the Japanese chō, and Ted Andrews's 1993 synthesis.