Octopus Spiritual Meaning

Are your thinking process getting interrupted more often by the scene of an octopus?

The movements of the water and the octopus together create an aura of mystery surrounding the octopus. This is the influence created by the symbol of an octopus in your thoughts. The octopus is always on the move. Mystery surrounds its home and habitat. But though it is in constant motion, it remains at the bottom of the ocean. This means that it is always grounded. For a person with a spirit animal of the octopus, means living in an environment where everything is in motion around you just like the waters in an ocean; you should not get carried away because you are not grounded. You may need to spend time meditating or have solid down time so that you can cast off negative energy that you pick up from day to day. The totem makes you keep your cool and remain fully aware of the circumstances surrounding you.

This is symbolic for you and it indicates that the typical traits of the octopus are spreading its tentacles over your thought processes. The octopus as an animal totem can have a vast amount of influence on you whenever you see the symbol in your thoughts. Some of the key symbols which are attributed to an octopus totem may be as follows:

• Willpower.
• The use of the psyche.
• Focus on the goals.
• The creation of an illusion.
• Creation of mysterious environment.
• Strategy used for defense.
• Knowledge of surroundings.
• The use intelligence.
• The unpredictability of attack.
• The complexity of actions.
• The power of regeneration and evolution.

As the octopus does not have a spine, it has flexibility to extricate itself from very tight spots. The symbol of its flexibility teaches you to be flexible enough to get out of tricky situations. The fluidity of the motion when octopuses moves may create a hypnotic environment where the smooth way it escapes makes the octopus seem like part of the water itself. The octopus totem teaches you to move away smoothly from awkward situations without disturbing others.

The octopus totem reminds you to take a stock of what beliefs you need and what you do not. It tells you the get rid of these old-fashioned and unprofitable beliefs in order to attain your goals. The lack of armory makes the octopus save itself by withdrawing with as little damage to itself as possible. The octopus symbol teaches you to leave the scene of any conflict as quietly as possible. Just like an octopus which detaches a part of itself to keep the predator engaged while it escapes; the symbol asks you to do the same by letting go of useless convictions so that you can go forward.

The octopus willfully detaches a part of its body when it is under attack from a predator and leaves that part behind as a distraction so that it can make good its escape from the scene. This part is regenerated to make the body a whole again. Because of this, regeneration and transformation are also part of the spirituality of the octopus. As surely as it moves through the waters of the ocean, it represents a need or a process of moving fluidly through emotional states.

The totem of the octopus reminds you that any emotional parts of your life which you discard can actually help you change your mental outlook. You pick up new ideas and beliefs which become more fruitful to you. The intelligence shown by the octopus in forming a strategy to attack may teach you to do the same when faced with unsavory situations. It tells you to use your intelligence and reasoning abilities to find out the best possible solution to all kinds of problems.

The octopus changes its colors to merge into its surroundings making it hard to spot. The symbol of the octopus teaches you to use your knowledge as camouflage to do the same disappearing act. It can also represent fitting in, blending in, or adjusting yourself to a new situation. This color changing effect can also be a defense mechanism to avoid conflict. When this fails, and the octopus is seen, it reacts quickly and tries to escape fast. It ejects a cloud of black ink which confuses its enemies. The ultimate message of the octopus is that it is not time to attack your enemies head-on, but rather, to use deceptive tactics. The spiraling motion often created by the tentacles of the octopus has been interpreted by the ancient cultures of the Celtic, and Greek people as the signs of evolution. The same holds true for you also. Usually when the octopus comes to you, it will be a sign of spiritual or emotional evolution. Times like these can be very trying but the octopus will help you grow and transform in a healthy manner.

Octopus shows up as a spirit guide when

• You are in need of a spiritual teacher.
• You are being too aggressive or direct.
• You have to give up emotional aspects of your life.
• There is a feeling of being bullied or attacked.

Call on an Octopus as a spirit guide when

• You need to regroup or re-energize your emotional being.
• You need sneakier ways to deal with your adversaries.
• Strategy is needed.
• You need to pool your resources.
• You need to focus on goals.