Next Level Soul Podcast (NLS 641) Summary

Indigenous Psychic REVEALS the MYSTERIOUS Spirits GUIDING & PROTECTING You Every Day with Shawn Leonard
Host: Alex Ferrari | Guest: Shawn Leonard
Date: November 22, 2025

Overview

In this deeply engaging episode, Alex Ferrari welcomes back Indigenous psychic and medium Shawn Leonard to discuss the profound spiritual connection humans have with animal totems. Drawing from indigenous traditions—his own Mi’kmaq heritage and cross-cultural wisdom—Shawn explores how totem and spirit animals provide guidance, protection, and life lessons throughout our journey. The episode covers everything from the ancestral roots of the animal nation to personal stories of animal encounters, practical tips for connecting with your totems, and expands into interdimensional beings like Sasquatch. Shawn shares insights from his new book "Walking with Your Spirit Totem Animals," weaving personal narratives, indigenous teachings, and mystical experiences to help listeners deepen their own connection to the animal kingdom and their own souls.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What Are Spirit Totem Animals?

• Indigenous cultures globally honor the "animal nation," believing certain animals serve as spiritual guides and protectors (06:32).
• Totem animals represent spiritual energies; they aren't confined to one ethnicity or location—examples span from Mi’kmaq Bear Clans to Hindu and Celtic traditions.
• Animal clans were also early forms of societal organization, dictating marriage rules for genetic diversity (07:44).
• This ancient knowledge was almost lost to colonization and is now reawakening (09:15).

Quote:

"We can't walk through life in harmony without the animal nation... I feel like they carry messages for us."
– Shawn Leonard (06:52)

2. Totem Animals Across Cultures & History

• Similar traditions exist in Latin America ("Coco" spirit animals), Africa, Aboriginal Australia, Egypt, and more (06:09, 10:27).
• Even Christianity, Shawn notes, graphically depicts angels as winged beings, blending human and animal imagery (11:27).

3. Personal Connection & Initiation to Spirit Animals

• Shawn shares his own Mi’kmaq roots: identified with the Bear Clan, but later discovered his unique personal totems—the Eagle, White Buffalo, Polar Bear, and Owl—often through vivid dreams and synchronicities (16:11, 29:53, 31:33).
• Totemic connections can be validated through real-world signs and objects—Shawn receives multiple polar bear claws after ceremonial requests (43:42, 48:22).
• Personal stories of meeting and being protected by bears in the wild underscore the concept of 'Power Animals' offering active protection (33:16, 40:39).

4. Totem Animals, the Medicine Wheel, & Life Stages

• The medicine wheel divides human life into four stages: infancy, youth, adulthood, elderhood (29:45). Each is associated with different totem spirits that guide and challenge us as our needs evolve (31:48).
• Shawn describes how as he entered his elder years, the owl medicine began offering him wisdom (31:33).

5. Reconnection with Nature & Balance

• Shawn recounts the White Buffalo Calf Woman prophecy—a call to restore balance with Nature and the animal nation, warning that humanity's survival depends on ecosystem harmony (21:27, 25:00).
• Modern detachment from food sources and disrespect for animal spirit is contrasted with indigenous practices of gratitude and prayer after a hunt (20:05, 99:20).

Quote:

“If there's not balance, we won’t be able to survive or live upon this earth for a super long time… it's time for us to care for them."
– Shawn Leonard (25:11)

6. Power, Messenger, and Spirit Animals

• Distinction is made between spirit totem animals (guidance), power animals (protection), and messenger animals (signs from the spirit world or ancestors) (40:39, 102:11).

Examples:

• Shawn’s polar bear dream—polar bear as protector during a challenging lawsuit (40:39)
• Alex’s experience of recurring blue jays after his father’s passing, interpreted as a message from his dad (101:46).
• Animal encounters (feathers, visits, dreams) often coincide with life milestones, transitions, or after the loss of loved ones.

7. Indigenous Animal Teachings: The Seven Grandfathers

• Teachings connect seven animals with virtues:
  • Wolf (Humility),
  • Turtle (Truth),
  • Bear (Bravery),
  • Eagle (Love),
  • Buffalo (Respect),
  • Beaver (Wisdom),
  • Sabe/Bigfoot (Honesty) (17:26, 54:57, 78:07).
• Each virtue is seen as “medicine”—a lesson embodied by the corresponding animal (18:25, 54:57).

8. Sabe / Sasquatch / Bigfoot and Other Interdimensional Beings

• Shawn discusses his perspective and personal experience with Sasquatch (Sabe), understood in Mi’kmaq tradition as a spiritual, interdimensional being and an embodiment of honesty (59:51, 61:12, 78:07).
• Sasquatch, just like fairies and gnomes in other cultures, may exist as "interdimensional" or spirit phenomena, sometimes glimpsed in altered states or when frequencies align (62:38, 66:07, 67:41).
• Tales of gnomes and little people appear in indigenous and European folklore, often as tricksters or protectors (76:08).

Quote:

“Sasquatch has walked upon Earth as a great nation at some point. And I do feel like they have the ability to transcend the physical and spiritual and take form for moments of time where people can see them.”
– Shawn Leonard (62:49)

9. Dreams, Altered States, & Ceremonial Practice

• Vision quests, sweat lodges, and solitary fasting are traditional methods for connecting with animal spirits and receiving guidance (90:57, 94:28).
• Animals often appear in dreams or meditations at critical life junctures, offering medicine appropriate for the stage or challenges being faced (29:53).

10. Practical Steps for Connecting with Your Animal Totems

• Look within: reflect on lifelong animal affinities, recurring dreams, or signs (52:27, 53:01).
• Conduct a simple personal ceremony—make an offering, say a heartfelt prayer in a sacred space, and invite your spirit totem to reveal itself (54:08).
• Observe messengers in nature—feathers, visitation by specific animals, and symbolic encounters are all significant (101:46).
• Shawn offers meditations and ceremonial prayers on his website alongside his new book (141:15).

11. Animals as Soul Family and Reincarnation

• Animals often travel with us through lifetimes and may reincarnate to teach us lessons, support us through transitions, or embody unresolved “karma” (107:21, 108:54).
• Shawn and Alex share intimate stories of pets whose presence, timing, and even manner of passing corresponds with family changes and spiritual growth (106:03, 109:28).

12. Ancestral Guidance, Oral Tradition, and the Oversoul

• Many indigenous ceremonies (e.g., the Waltis water bowl) involve direct communication with ancestors for guidance, healing, or remembrance of lost traditions (114:40, 117:28).
• Shawn explains the concept of the oversoul: ancestors or guides may be “echoes” of their incarnated selves, with multiple aspects in existence—expanding on spiritual interconnectedness and past life memory (120:43).

13. Notable Quotes & Moments

On Indigenous Wisdom:

"We are remembering. We are relearning some of these concepts." (09:15, Shawn Leonard)

On Modern Disconnection:

"We've had a very big disconnect with our food and the animal kingdom..." (20:33, Alex Ferrari)

On the Simplicity of Animal Message:

“Reconnect to us. Remember that we are one.” (142:08, Shawn Leonard)

On Life’s Nonlinear Journey:

“I trust the path. You have to roll with it. ... I don’t go looking for people to build this. They will come, they will show up and everything will align.” (129:59, 138:31, Shawn Leonard)

Notable Timestamps

• 03:54 – Warm introduction and background
• 06:32 – What is a spirit totem animal?
• 16:11 – Mi’kmaq names and the story of receiving ‘White Eagle’ as a spirit name
• 21:27 – The prophecy of the White Buffalo Calf Woman
• 29:45 – The four stages of life and evolving animal guides
• 40:39 – Dream of polar bears and lessons about power animal protection
• 54:57 – The Seven Grandfathers Teachings and their animal medicines
• 59:51 – Sasquatch in Indigenous lore and interdimensional beings
• 76:07 – Personal stories about gnomes/little people in Mi’kmaq tradition
• 90:57 – Ceremonial practices: sweat lodge, fasting, and trance
• 101:46 – Real-life animal messengers: blue jays after bereavement
• 107:21 – Animals as soul family and repeated lifetimes
• 114:40 – Indigenous ancestor-connecting ceremonies and the Waltis bowl
• 120:43 – Oversoul and multidimensional aspects of ancestors/guides
• 142:08 – If the animal kingdom could say one thing: "Reconnect to us. Remember that we are one."

Concluding Takeaways

Shawn Leonard’s insights reveal that animal totems are not mere symbols but living connections—threads in the web between humanity and all life, seen and unseen. By honoring animal spirits, practicing gratitude and ceremony, and attentively observing the world around us, we reawaken innate wisdom and divine guidance. In a time marked by disconnection, the call is simple and universal: remember, reconnect, and walk in harmony with all our relations.

Recommended Actions:

• Reflect on recurring animal encounters in your life; pay attention to signs.
• Consider a simple offering or prayer to invite your animal totems to reveal themselves.
• Approach all animals, and nature itself, with respect, gratitude, and conscious stewardship.

For More:
Visit ShawnLeonard.com for free meditations, ceremonial prayers, and information about his book and teachings. Watch “Spirit Talker” and more deep-dive interviews on NextLevelSoul.tv.

“It doesn’t have to be complex... Reconnect to us. Remember that we are one.”
— Shawn Leonard