The Land Slug Is My Spirit Animal

The Land Slug Is My Spirit Animal

Once upon a time in my younger years, I prided myself – nearly to the point of arrogance – of lunging ahead of trends. As a high schooler in mid-1980s Alabama, I listened to Two Tone, punk, and alternative. Later that decade, I explored independent cinema. I became an online journalist way back in the 1990s.

Now a middle-aged man, I often find myself arriving late to trends in memes, Internet fads, and Pokemon Go. By the time I knew about ice bucket challenges and Harlem shakes, the world had already moved onto Tide Pods and cat videos. I still don’t know jack about TikTok. Nevermind the fact that I am launching my first blog – in 2021 – with this very piece.

“A comedic classic!” – SKitW

Blogging aside, I’m extremely late to spirit animals. (Although I was right there with the majestic stag in the Chris Farley-David Spade road comedy Tommy Boy… my musings on the brilliance of this movie can wait for another day.) I completely missed the trend’s transition from the metaphysical appropriations of Native American totem animal traditions to fodder for Internet comedy (Samuel L. Jackson/whiskey/golden doodle/etc. is my spirit animal.”) to subject of academic examination. See the definitive “cultural investigation” piece in the Atlantic posted here way back in 2014!

So my apologies for weighing in even after your grandparents became exhausted about spirit animals. (I should note an upcoming movie and art exhibit may bring about a resurgence of interest in spirit animals, so maybe I’m not too late and actually ahead of the curve again.)

But I have my own reasons for my fascination.

Since moving out to the Rhino Ranch in rural Douglas County, Georgia, a little more than a year and a half ago, I have come across dozens upon dozens of different animal species across the hundreds of acres surrounding our new home. At some point, the thought of spirit animals shot across my mind, leaving me to contemplate whether any of these creatures I see on a regular basis may be a metaphysical connection to my own personal well-being.

A herd of four deer frequent our yard … with the occasional buck also making his way through the trees and bushes. I’m told there is a fox den somewhere in the woods. Bass, brim, and some elusive catfish fill our pond. Thousands upon thousands of bees buzz about the hives I placed a little more than a month ago. And there are lizards, mice, squirrels, and more. Currently, the Rhino Ranch has a rhino population of zero but we feel a presence.

Tommy – named after Petty although we do call him “Tommy Boy.” (Photo by Melissa)

We also have a buff cat named Tommy and a merle-coated Australian Shephard mix named, yes, Merley. I like to think I am their spirit animal, so I don’t expect them to reciprocate.

Which leads to the question: How does one go about finding their spirit animal?

This is Merley!

Left to our own whims, we no doubt choose the grandest, most dynamic creature of land, air, or sea. We choose the horse not the field mouse, the eagle not the mosquito, the dolphin not the plankton. We select powerful vertebrates. No one ever choices animals with boneless bodies or exoskeletons. Sorry, cockroach!

In some cultures, the elders choose the animal, which supports taking care of our senior population or else they might assign an earthworm to your spiritually growth.

Shamans and spiritualists often suggest that we let the animals themselves choose their associations with people. Author J.K. Rowling clearly took this cue in the Harry Potter series. While she never explicitly uses the phrase “spirit animal,” a wizard’s Patronus appears when threatened by Demontors, but that specific animal is chosen by the wand not the wizard. Yet again, they are always fantastic beasts.

Others still associate your spirit animal with the Zodiac, which is already populated with a dozen animals but then align– with no clear reason – with 12 more animals. As an Aries, my spirit animal would be the hawk, which is cool with me especially as I am recently trying to watch a growing hawk clan that has nested in one of our oak trees.

And, yes, there remain online tests to determine your spirit animal. (Check this general Buzzfeed one here – mine’s a hedgehog – and this one attached to the Myers Briggs personality test – mine’s a meerkat here). And there is a site that regularly updates details about nearly every spirit and totem animal imaginable, leaning heavily upon the vertebrates although to maintain updates, it has begun to include a number of invertebrates such as ants and spiders.

Perhaps others – not elders but co-workers, neighbors, spouses … you know, folks who actually know us and claim to like or even love us – should be the ones to designate our spirit animals. Yet that would probably bring a rise to snakes, leeches, and dung beetles among the ranks of spirit animals. I know that the slug – more specifically and scientifically, the Laevicaulis alte – represents too many people I have known or worked with personally.

Some slugs have, indeed, been pests for agriculture, destroying foliage and even killing plants. They can feed on fruits and vegetables, and according to researchers in Nebraska, they have even rallied together in wastewater treatment plants to block processing of sewage.

While the slug brings to mind such undesirable descriptive words as lazy, gross, and moist (a disgusting word deserving to be a subject of an entirely differently blog), perhaps we need to step back. We may be giving short shrift to the land slug.

While they – in great numbers – can be a pestilence, they have been known to clean up garden debris and yard waste, albeit at a slug’s pace. And their feces leave behind a nitrogen-rich, mineral-laden fertilizer that enhances plant nutrition. So there is a great benefit to being a slug.

In sum, I try to take lessons from all of the animals that frequent the Rhino Ranch. As this guide allows, we can benefit from multiple spirit animals.

That means today, my spirit animal may indeed be majestic, like the visiting eight-point buck. It may align with my Zodiac sign and be the hawk. Although they aren’t residents of the Rhino Ranch, they could be the hedgehog or the meerkat.

But on the gloomy days when I just need to get through the shit, the land slug is my spirit animal.