Simm, and other thoughts on totemic work

[Kell Wolfe]

There's been some discussion the FB site about the Urglaawe approach to totems (the difference between the Simm and the Folyer, for instance).  It's an area I'd like to go deeper into, if anyone is up for carrying it on here. Working with allies has been an important part of my previous practice, and the more I consider the Urglaawe approach to the Simm, the more I see similarities.  I'm also curious about how the Folyer aspect might relates to family lines/ancestral bonds (including whether anyone has any UPG on this count). 

For some background, my introduction to Urglaawe coincided with a personal crisis, after getting a sort of "breakthrough" on my biological information (both through DNA testing and genealogical research) that all but disproved the Native identity my biological father had claimed, which had become the foundation of my own identity since I started training in my teens under a traditional folk healer (of Native descent) here in the Ozark region. During the process (aka breakdown), I made offerings to my unknown ancestors asking for guidance, and within the span of a week or so, discovered both Urglaawe and my Deitsch ancestry through the Wolfe family.  While I don't think that things have to necessarily be based on an ancestral connection, for me it was an important link to being able to re-root myself and - thanks to the similarities between Urglaawe and everything I'd been learning so far - find ways to continue with the practices in an ethical way.  

Working with allies, in the way I'd been taught, was a lot more complicated than the single "my totem is a ___" that was common thinking in the pagan circles I was around.  Plants, animals, and stones were like people, with individual personalities. Some you forged lifelong close relationships with, some were more formal teachers or helpers, some were more like polite acquaintances.   In dream work, the relationships could intensify into taking on the forms or nature of an animal as part of the work - in the way I was taught this, it was part of the ally's teaching relationship, and it could change as one's awareness changed over time, until one started reaching one's full potential in this lifetime and the bonds became more solid or permanent.   If I'm understanding the concept of the Folyer correctly, the Folyer would be an even deeper attachment - not so much the animal itself, but the spirit that communicates through the form and meaning the animal represents? 

It's been interesting to me that during my current relocation crises (definitely not an easy move, as it has pushed me to have to dig deep!), I've found myself surrounded by reminders of wolves - the local sports team, Wolf family heritage sites, as well as really needing the extra help in a lot of areas (such as social bonds) that fall within wolf-related teachings.  At present, I'm approaching this as I've been taught about family-level ally relationships; there is often a family "inheritance" of traits that attract specific allies over time, or which can be passed down along with spiritual gifts (by blood or initiatory adoption).

Is there anything in the Urglaawe lore about how one negotiates or honors either the Simm or Folyer spirits? 

[Rob]

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