Toads or frogs are creatures that have been an important part of many cultures and civilizations. Toads were considered extremely lucky in some cultures, all to the poinnt that their images and sculptures were held in homes to bring more luck to the people living there.
In today’s article we are going to talk about toad as a spirit animal and totem and see what kind of influence it has on us.
Toads are amphibians that can be found almost anywhere in the world – from Europe to North and South America to Australia, Japan and China. In contrast to the frogs, they do not necessarily prefer a life close to freshwater waters such as small lakes, ponds or ponds.
Although they need water to spawn, they are generally less likely to be in wetlands, but rather in forests, meadows, and sandy and eroded regions. In contrast to the fish, toads are also much larger and have a dry, almost leather-like skin, which is often covered by warts. Frogs are smaller and have smooth skin, webbed skin and prefer life on and in the water.
Therefore, toads do not have webbeds like frogs because they have adapted almost completely to a life in the country.
Spirit animal and Totem
Spirit animals and totems are terms that date back to history when people believd in the power of nature and creatures that live in nature. People belieeved that honoring a specific animal can help you gain her traits and characteristics and become almost like that animal. This is the reason why people painted images of certain animals, made their sculptures, came up with special rituals to honor certain animals all to invite the special powers of this animal and make themselves stronger.
Toad as a spirit animal and totem is a symbol of family, fertility, luck, prosperity and change. This small animal is a strong symbol of family and bonds that exist betweeen people. Toads might seem like gentle creatures but their power doesn’t lie in their strenght or speed, it actually lies in their ability to chang and adapt to ifferent situations in life. They are masters of change and disguise and nobody can compete with them in this discipline.
If you have a toad spirit animal or totem, then you are also a very skilfull person who can easily adapt itself to any situation and problem. Instead of running away from the changing situation you simply look it straight into the eyes and make necessary changes to solve the issue.
Toads are also symbols of family and bonds between people. You are a person who values friends and family members and you always try to be there for them when they need you.
You are the type of person who likes to have a lot of children and you see the beauty and worth in life through family. Toads have big families and so do people who have them as their spirit animals and totems. Even though you don’t have many children you like having close relationships with other members of your family. They mean a lot to you and you would never risk loosing this connection.
Another characteristic of a toad that is really important is its intelligence. Ou can’t rel on your physical strenght so you have to rely on your brain to survive. This is wxactly how people who were born under this totem or this spirit animal get by. They use their minds to get themselves out of trouble and rarely ever get into physical confrontations.
Meaning and Symbolism
Toads have an important role in Chinese and Indian culture. You can often find statues of toads and frogs in authentic Chinese and Indian shops, that have a slot for a coin in their mouths. These statues are actually lucky charms and people often buy hem to invite some luck and prosperity into their lives. These statues are usually held in offices or living rooms, so that the prosperity comes right into these areas of living.
Toads were also very important in middle Ages when people often associated them withwitches. The reason for this way the fact that witches usually used frogs in their potions and they started getting a bad reputation over the years, because they were associated with the dark arts.
While the frog is associated with the element of water and the water spirits, the toad is directly related to the element earth and the earth spirits. Because of her earthiness, the toad often appears in fairytales as a guide, counselor and teacher, which makes her a messenger of Gaia, our Mother Earth.
From a mythological point of view, the frog rather embodies the masculine aspects and the toad rather the feminine qualities. As a thoroughly earthbound creature that loves moisture and darkness, there could not be a more appropriate symbolic animal for the Earth Mother.
According to folk belief, some toads sitting on the wayside are said to be an enchanted witch from the underworld, just waiting to lead travelers or unbelievers off the right path and lead them astray. From an ethnological and symbolic point of view, it is no wonder that the toad is associated with mischief or witches – where it does not conform to the well-known ideal of beauty and is only so covered with ugly warts.
For in the past, many people with disabilities or those who did not conform to the ideal of beauty were considered to be bewitched, cursed, and born of darkness, who were supposed to be in contact with the devil in the covenant or witchcraft. Almost always such people were treated like lepers and sometimes even accused of witchcraft or devil worship and burned at the stake.
In addition, the toad should also like to sit on stones and mushrooms, and earth spirits like goblins and dwarves like to turn into a toad according to popular beliefs. So it is no wonder that the toad hopping around on Earth is also directly connected to the lower earth – the underworld – and thus also a symbol of the lower world, Mother Earth and Gaia.
In our ancestors, the Celts, the toad, as well as the frog and its stages of development, was another symbolic image of the threefold goddess and her three faces (and thus also the stages of human development): childhood – adulthood – age; Grow – fertility – offenses.
The toad was also an important teacher and guide to the earth, to the lower world and therefore to Mother Earth. Those who sought contact with Gaia only had to turn to a toad because they knew the right paths up and down the earth leading to Mother Earth.
Among the Aztecs, the natives of Central America, the earth deity embodied a toad-like monster. In many other natural religions the toad is also said to have a connection to the earth and honored the aspect of the life giving and taking mother. Overall the spiritual siginificance of a toad is very improtant not just in one culture or two, but in many of them.
Toads are interesting animals and their spiritual siginificance is far greater than anyone thinks. It should be respcted as an important totem animal and its powers can certainly help you though life.
