Turtle Spiritual Meaning

A turtle totem animal means one needs to “slow down.” If you meet a turtle on the road, in a pet shop, then you are being given the indication not to speed up but to “sure and steady” move forward.

Just like in the rabbit and the turtle race, where the rabbit loses the race even though he is faster - you are being given an indication to follow the pace of the turtle in order to achieve your goal.

The turtle uses its shell for survival when attacked by a predator. When in danger, it retracts its head and feet into the shell. The turtle has little armor for offense, hence it can only be defensive. This is there method of defending themselves from enemies. The turtle symbol teaches you to withdraw into your shell - when facing adverse circumstances.

Most of the predators on this earth have found the turtle to be a bad choice of food once it adopts its defensive strategy of retracting itself into its shell. This is the reason why turtles have very few enemies. This means turtles live long life’s -so the symbolic meaning held by many cultures regarding the turtles is that one will have a long life.

The symbolisms with respect to the turtle are:

• Orderly fashion.
• Highly creative.
• Highly patient.
• Very strong.
• Absolutely Stable.
• Great longevity.
• Completely innocent.
• Greatly enduring.
• Absolute defence.

The turtle’s wide eyes, its ability to live long and its casual and slow gait makes it look like the wisest of all animals in the whole of the animal world. The symbol of the turtle teaches one not to hurry but move at a slow and steady pace in order to achieve goals.

The turtle has a very slow movement over the ground. This time-taking crawl of the turtle seems natural for those who are wise and consider one thing at a time without reacting. The symbolic meaning of the turtles “slow” motion signifies that one should move slowly and take into consideration only one thing at a time before moving on to the next project.

The symbol of the turtle has many meanings and connotations. It is related to water which itself stands for emotion, movement and the use of your intuition.

Possible meanings of a turtle animal totem include

• Life giving water.
• The cold of the winter.
• The humidity of the atmosphere.
• Venus, the Roman goddess of love.
• Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of desire.
• The direction towards North.
• The phases of the Moon.
• The femininity or the masculinity in different mythologies.

The turtles are symbolic for their long life in China and Japan .

The turtle stands for the order of the cosmos in the ancient Asian mythologies.

The heavens are symbolized by the shell of the turtle.The earth is symbolized by the body of the turtle.

The underworld is symbolized by the shell underneath its body.

In some mythologies it was believed that the different body parts of the turtle have been used to create the different heavenly bodies.The turtle stands for the meaning of being a mother and a creator.

Forecasts can be made by reading the shell and the underbelly of a turtle. The shell and the underbelly of a turtle are supposed to be full of sacred writings. They are said to contain a map of the stars.The shells of some of the turtles sometimes have thirteen sections. These sections are supposedly related to the thirteen phases of the moon which occur yearly.

The turtle totem can guide you when

• You think you are going too fast.
• You are losing sight of your objectives.
• You feel vulnerable.
• You feel that you do not have enough time.
• You are not able to read the writings on the wall.

Callingon the turtle totem will

• Make you slow down and take one step at a time.
• Make you observe your options better as you slow down your hurried movements.
• Protection.
• Make you more confident of the ability to survive circumstances.
• Make you read people better.