The Asceni Method
Totem Friends:
Theos uses the terms Help, Helpers and Friends to indicate our Animal, Plant and Mineral Totems. For help in understanding your Planetoid Friends, consult the Foundational Astrology section in the Library. There you will find information on the Luminaries, Planets, Asteroids, and Signs which are used directly in our work with Moon Cycles.
In preparation for your Moon Cycle study, you will need to choose 9 Animal Totems, 9 Plant Friends, and 9 Stone Beings. Their purpose is to help you ~ contributing their unique gifts and energies to your growth on your journey through the Phases.
For information on the qualities of these Kingdoms, consult information from sources such as Jamie Sams’ Medicine Cards or Ted Andrews’ Animal Speak for animal qualities; Melody’s Love Is In The Earth series for mineral qualities; and Matthew Woods’ The Book of Herbal Wisdom or Gurudas’ The Spiritual Properties of Herbs for plant qualities. You can also check online as many sites contain ideas about the significance of these Friends.
Choose those animals, plants and minerals which have qualities you feel will help you most or those to whom you feel some kind of special bond or interest. You can also choose those Beings you fear or feel repelled by, trusting the reason for these feelings is important to learn. Trust that those Beings you are drawn to work with are intuitive choices and right for you.
One word about our Stone Being Friends. Not only do you need to choose Stone Beings you feel are appropriate help, you also need to find small specimens of those Stone Beings in order for them to physically sit on your Wheel. They need to be an inch or less in size.
After you’ve chosen your Friends, take some time to familiarize yourself with their qualities. Make a list of the qualities for each Totem Friend and keep these lists handy, as you will be reviewing them at least 9 times every Moon Cycle, and probably more often.
During each Moon Cycle you will choose a total of 9 Totem Friends from each group: Mineral, Plant, and Animal to work with you in that Cycle. At the beginning of each Phase you will assign the one Animal, Plant and Mineral Friend you feel is most appropriate for the energies and intents of that Phase, equaling 8 Totem Friends from each group.
The 9th Totem from each group stands with you at the center of the Moon Wheel. When considering the focus for the current Moon Cycle, they are those Totem Friends whose qualities you feel will be most helpful to you throughout the Cycle. What we often refer to as “walking the Wheel” with us.
As you gain more experience in working with the Cycles, you may find it helpful to change your Helpers to different Phases in subsequent Cycles and that’s appropriate. One of the goals we have for Moon Cycle work is to find that “perfect” arrangement of our Help so we will have a smooth, rhythmical and orderly growth experience.
In honor of the importance of our Totem Friends, we have constructed a special section of the Library called Avalon’s Garden which offers information on Totem Friends who are our partners during the Moon Cycle. The information on these pages has been gathered by individuals in the group from various sources. After you’ve been a member of the TAM study group for a year, your Totem Friends and their qualities will be added to Avalon’s Garden.