Norval Morrisseau vs. Encyclopaedia Britannica

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~ Totem /Ojibwa: Ototeman/
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When asked about totem images, Norval Morrisseau cites The Encyclopaedia Britannica, which tells us that a totem is a symbol of an object, such as an animal or a plant, that serves as the emblem for a mystical relationship between a group of people or an individual. In effect, it is a signature from another reality that depicts the underlying matrix or circuits of invisible energy patterns which control the astral body. In a way it can be compared with a printed circuit diagram on a transistorized mechanism which controls and governs the physical body, the visible and tangible frequency band of the invisible cosmos.
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~ It is the duty of the totem to warn of approaching enemies or strangers; to protect, especially during sleep or, in the case of a shaman, to guard him when he travels through a parallel universe, having reached an altered state of consciousness. When a shaman dies, the totem continues to watch over him. Near his final resting place the totem becomes a bright light that flickers.
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Source: THE ART OF NORVAL MORRISSEAU /Lister Sinclair, Jack Pollock, and Norval Morrisseau/; ISBN: 0-458-93820-3 /Toronto, Ontario: Methuen, 1979./
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