Vulture Animal Totem Spiritual Meaning And Interpretation

Vulture Animal Totem

The vulture represents birth and death as well as new beginnings, this is an effective and positive animal totem.

It represents energy - all year round. The vulture has been connected with prophecy of the future, Love of the Mother goddess, new visions, and of course, protection. There are 22 types of vultures in the world. They live in many places but you can find them in rain forests, cities, the countryside or even deserts!

As part of the raptor family, the vulture is related to other birds such as the eagles, hawks and owls. They eat meat - but not rotten meat, normally cow’s or deer. The vulture normally finds carcasses to eat, rather than killing their prey themselves. This is why they are known as garbage collectors. They are true scavengers. With no feathers on their head - they can look rather ugly.

Black vultures are the smallest of their type, the wingspan is about 5 feet long. The largest is the Turkey vulture which has a wingspan of 9 feet across. So why are vultures heads bald? They are bald because when vultures eat they get their heads inside a dead animal and this means that the head is bald to prevent bacteria from spreading. To protect themselves from predators they vomit. It makes there stomach lighter and means they can fly away faster.

Vultures also urinate on their legs, this helps them get rid of the bacteria after food, it can also make their legs look rather white. As an animal totem, the vulture indicates a strong positive energy. Vultures are extremely wonderful wild birds! They should be treasured and understood.

The Vulture is known as CATHARTES AURA meaning GOLDEN PURIFIER because as this creature purifies the land and atmosphere in it's own natural way. It represents the positive energy that is required to conquer life’s problems. It uses the earth’s energy to ride the winds. It soars high in the sky and looks on. The vulture is always searching for something, food or a place to rest. It will stop at nothing. The vulture knows that it can use the energy of gravity to it’s advantage. Do you have the image of vultures shadowing your thoughts? The thought of a vulture makes you think of its power of navigation in the air currents. The vulture teaches you to patiently think over everything in sight and be sure before you take action

The Vulture is really a promise that difficulty is temporary and essential for a greater purpose. When a Vulture makes its way into your life through meditation, like a totem or guide, it'll remain you of life and possible existence.

Vultures live and interact, in groups - they show friendliness. They contact other vultures once they catch something to consume - then share. They allow the other vultures to know where the food is kept.

The vulture can be rather friendly, too. A women who lived in in Los Angeles drove five miles to walk her dog. Once there, a vulture would join her. He would fly above her and watch her as she took her walk. Then the women broke her leg. She did not take her dog for a walk for some time. One day she looked out of her back yard and to her amazement the vulture was sitting on the fence, to say hello. She was on crutches. The vulture found her among all the people in LA. Thus, the vulture is clever.

The vultures love playing with each other. They sour high in the air chasing each other. High up to the sky. The vulture is very patient while it coasts overhead for hours on end before deciding on the time and place for a tasty meal.

The way the vulture scavenges its food may remind you of how resourceful it is. It is very patient while it coasts overhead for hours on end before deciding on the time and place for a tasty meal. The way the vulture scavenges its food may remind you of how resourceful it is.

The symbolism that can be related to the vulture are:

Sense of allegiance.
Very earnest.
Perfectly patient.
Highly tolerant.
Looking to renew everything.
Making everybody equal.
Cleaning the environment.
Acute perception.
Highly protective.
Immune to heat.
Out of the ordinary.
Overtly resourceful.

A vulture reminds us to grab an opportunity whenever it appears. This means that you should use your wisdom and resourcefulness instead of hard work. The vulture symbol in your thoughts signifies that you are as flexible and perceptive as it is and highly aware of the situation. The heightened senses like sight and smell helps the vulture to zero in on fresh meat very easily. The symbol tells one to use the keen eyesight to target the best.

The renewal aspect of this symbol is the dawn of a fresh day.

As the dawn breaks, the vultures can be seen perched on trees and high ground with the wings spread wide. They try to dry their wings and cleanse themselves of the bacteria with help of sunlight. It seems that they are welcoming the new day and that is what the vulture symbol reminds us of rebirth. Open your arm to welcome the new day is the symbolism it stands for. The use of sunlight is an indication of its resourcefulness. The vulture symbol reminds one of smart work and not hard work.

As we have touched on before, vultures clean their feet of bacteria by urinating on them. This is also a sign of resourcefulness. The vulture shows extraordinary and imaginative use of opportunities and resources to get rid of bacteria. The symbolism indicates to you to take advantage of your resources to get rid of all things that may harm you.

The vulture is the majestic symbol of things with intelligence that do not conform to normal standards. The following are some of the interpretations of the vulture symbol found in the history of ancient cultures:

The ancient Zoroastrian culture of Persia, presently Iran, and Buddhist culture of Tibet, used to leave their dead on platforms raised high above the ground so that vultures may feed on them. This was seen as an honourable way to replace the dead bodies with new ones.
Unlike most other birds, the vulture is very protective of its babies and do not abandon them as early as the other birds do.
The Egyptian goddess Nekhbet and Mut, both of whom stand for protection of the weak, have a relation with the vulture which was seen as a protector.
The vulture was related to the ancient gods in the Roman mythology. Saturn, the god of time, had the vulture as his steed. Mars, the god of war, and Apollo, god of the Sun, also had a connection with the vulture.
The ancient culture of the native people of America used to interpret the flight patterns of the vulture to forecast the weather. They also related the dawn of the new day to be connected with the vulture.
The ancient Mayan culture considered the vulture as a symbol which cleans and renews the earth of the dead thereby transforming it. They also considered the vulture as a sign of rain and water, as rain stood for life and the drought stood for death.
In ancient times vultures feasted on the dead, they were considered to be fearless when confronted by death.