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Totem
A totem is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe. The totemic symbol may serve as a reminder of the kin group's ancestry or mythic past.〔(''Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary'' ) and ''Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition''.〕 While the term "totem" is Ojibwe in origin, belief in tutelary spirits and deities is not limited to indigenous peoples of the Americas but common to a number of cultures worldwide. Totemistic beliefs are found in regions of Africa, Arabia, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Arctic. Contemporary neoshamanic, New Age and mythopoetic men's movements not otherwise involved in the practice of a tribal religion may appropriate and use "totem" terminology for the personal identification with a tutelary spirit or guide.〔Hobson, G. "The Rise of the White Shaman as a New Version of Cultural Imperialism." in: Hobson, Gary, ed. ''The Remembered Earth''. Albuquerque, NM: Red Earth Press; 1978: 100-108.〕〔Aldred, Lisa, "Plastic Shamans and Astroturf Sun Dances: New Age Commercialization of Native American Spirituality" in: ''The American Indian Quarterly'' issn.24.3 (2000) pp.329-352. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.〕〔Harner, Michael ''The Way of the Shaman.'' 1980, new edition, HarperSanFrancisco, 1990, ISBN 0-06-250373-1〕
==Native North American totems==
The word totem comes from the Ojibway word ''dodaem'' and means "brother/sister kin". It is the archetypal symbol, animal or plant of hereditary clan affiliations. People from the same clan have the same clan totem and are considered immediate family. It is taboo to marry someone of the same clan.
The Ojibway scholar Basil H. Johnston defines dodaem, or totem, as "that from which I draw my purpose, meaning, and being," and states that "the bonds that united the Ojibway-speaking people were the totems." He further asserts that the feeling of oneness among people that occupy a vast territory is based not on political, economic, or religious considerations but on totemic symbols that "made those born under the signs one in function, birth, and purpose." This means that men and women belonging to the same totem regarded one another as brothers and sisters having kinship obligations to each other.
In North America, there is a certain feeling of affinity between a kin group or clan and its totem. There are taboos against killing clan animals, as humans are kin to the animals whose totems they represent. In some cases, totem spirits are clan protectors and the center of religious activity.〔Encyclopedia of Native American Religions, page 307.〕
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