Humans all have higher souls called thetans, but animals are a bit different. They have a vital life force called anima that allows them to be alive, sentient, and build relationships with the living. Anima is not inferior to Theta, but it is a different kind of aspect that a soul flame can take. Traces of anima are present in leather, bones, meat, milk, or anything that comes from animals. Anima can manifest as spirits of animals and become angry at anyone who mistreated them, wasted their life, or angered them in some way causing them bad luck. Many anima stay around the forest where they lived in life, and these may be visible in certain conditions as wisps or spirit animals. The anima of pets and other animals you cared for are the ones who will guide you and other family members to the underworld when the time comes. Anima is associated with the shadow self in psychology, and this is accurate because anima is present in humans and can manifest as animalistic tendencies that may not contribute to spiritual development or the wellbeing of humanity. Some may seek to detach from anima, but we must have it as long as we are physically alive since the human vessel of the thetan is technically an animal even if it is a highly evolved primate, and a lack of anima would make us unable to hold on to the physical vessel we have.
Being vegan makes you have less anima and brings you closer to the thetan, the higher self and asceticism. Eating a meat heavy diet gives you more anima energy from the flesh of dead animals, and is useful in witchcraft and primal dark magic. There is no right or wrong way to work with anima, because the king of animals several thousand years ago made a deal with the first humans that he would allow those who successfully hunted or bred animals that he would give them their feathers for arrows and crafts, their pelts for clothing, their meat for eating, and their bones for magic and religious ceremonies. During this time humans hunted large animals that were as large as houses, and lived off of an abundance of meat, milk and blood. However, they soon found that the king of animals did not make this contract solely out of the goodness of his heart. Some of his animals had been seeking to consume humans such as the crocodiles, bears, tigers or other predators that would attack and consume humans, reversing the roles between animals and hunters.
For those who have angered an anima by wasting its meat or killing it in sport, it can be appeased with offerings, burying of its body to rest its soul, or acts of kindness to other living animals. Consuming meat or fruit on its behalf will nourish and feed the anima, which will allow it to forgive any small grievances. Other grievances such as prolonged abuse of animals, abuse of pets, having animals fight each other for sport, etc. are too large to be appeased in simple ways, and the person who committed the wrong can be sent to the land of punishment after their death if the animal’s soul wishes. From there, they will be punished for a time based on their actions.
Your totemic persona affects the way that your anima manifests itself. When you choose to say “My animal is the Owl, Bear, Deer, etc.” that allows your anima to manifest in the form of that animal. It can be literally anything. As an owl persona, I feel urges to collect bones, eat messily, and to be active at night. I have also inherited from the owls a connection to death, knowledge of the spirit world most would not have, and connections to necromancy and working with the ghosts of the dead. Your astral form is also influenced by a totemic persona as the anima changes form, so you may have the claws of a bear, an owl’s wings, or a deer’s antlers depending on which persona you choose.
