Lexicon of spirit animals: seal

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Mode of life:

The seal, also called the common seal, is home along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. Most distinct traits are their v-shaped nostrils and tiny auricles devoid of ear flaps. With their pinna they are capable of moving about even on land, where they spend a decent part of their life. Female seals have a longer average lifespan than males: they become 30-35 years old, while males only become 20-25 years old. Thanks to blubber under their skin seals are able to keep up their body temperature irrespective of the ambient temperature. They prefer rocky areas for resting because here they find protection against potential predators. During mating season male seals often engage in fights with each other to win the females' attraction, while each male usually ends up gathering about 50-60 females in its territory. Over a period of two months the male mates with each female without eating anything. Young seals normally only start mating once they have reached 12 years of age, until then they live very much at the territorial borders. After birth, baby seals learn swimming very quickly and like to build groups within which they enjoy playing together. Seals' main diet consists of several fish species, sometimes also crabs and mollusks.

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Spiritually light aspects:

As an animal that annually travels specific distances and routes across the oceans to finally return back to its home, the seal connects us with the flow of the seasonal cycles. Each season comes about with certain major themes relevant for us and our inner work: while fall and winter is a time of introspection, tyding up emotions that hold us back from expanding, spring and summer are meant to be the months where we sow fruitful seeds to then reap the rewards of our Soul work. Adjusting to the flow of the seasons is like learning to ride a wave in the most balanced way, therefore an art. Even though we are all part of nature, many people have become out of alignment with the natural cycles, clandestinely entailing a disconnection from their inner compass that inherently knows which time is best to achieve certain results. Furthermore, seals' wandering nature helps us to mentally stroll back into past experiences and places to refresh our perspective on life's course thus far, hence allowing us to see the overall context. Very frequently the true reason of happenings and events doesn't reveal itself to us when we are too focused on the matter. It takes detachment from the situation, especially emotionally, to allow conscious insights to transpire as to the real "why", which depending on our perceptual openness can take more or less time; sometimes days, sometimes years. Ultimately, seals are very good guides when it comes to aligning with the ebbs and flows of life.

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Spiritually dark aspects:

People with the seal as their spirit animal might have an insatiable wanderlust. Even though at first glance this might appear harmless, at its core an extreme wanderlust can also indicate an inability to feel at home or even a fear of feeling at home: no matter where we are, we feel melancholically dragged to faraway places, hence depriving us of the ability to enjoy ourselves where we are right now. Another sideffect of that is a low boredom threshold which makes people lose interest in subjects very quickly. In the end, all of this points at not having found yet what really brings deep and lasting Soul satisfaction. Balance is imperative in anything we do, and any extreme hints at something in us that is being neglected and suppressed.

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Much Love and Light,

Alex