An animal totem is generally a species with which a person resonates in a certain way, a species from which a person gains spiritual guidance. Unlike the situation of otherkin literature, there's an abundance of books on the subject of animal totemism. However, there's a concerning flaw with many: a lot of the existing books about animal totemism are written by non-Natives who unethically misrepresent Native American spirituality. Not all books on Native spirituality are like that, and not all books about animal totemism even mention Native Americans, but be wary. This web site will give you some guidance on how to distinguish the authentic from the plastic.

     Shamanic shapeshifting is the skill of visualizing oneself as being another entity, which can be animal, mineral, vegetable, a different human, anything. It's a spiritual act, and no physical transformation takes place. (There are some with claims of physical shapeshifting, but as a general rule, that's not something that can be taken very seriously.) Some of the books about this kind of shapeshifting describe aiding the act with drugs, but other books say drugs are not required for that spiritual experience. Shamanic shapeshifting differs from therianthropic shapeshifting in that therianthropes have one particular animal species which they naturally take on, a single kind of creature that they've felt connected to for their whole lives. The shamanic kind can be any entity, and not necessarily something for which they have a great affinity. (Forgive my use of the word "shaman," which some people see as objectionable; it's just that the books on it use that word, so I'm staying consistent with those in order to describe them.)

     Eclectic Pagan 102. Celtic Shamanism. Serious, thought-provoking, dark, ethical, non-fluffy. Has sets of spells sorted according to general type of animal (individually geared toward people whose totems are avians, predatorial animals, mythics, etc) without really stereotyping specific varieties of animals. Unlike many animal totemism books, which say that you can identify as any and all animals in order to understand their unique energy, this book speaks of animal totemism as having a special connection to one particular species... or sometimes to a few particular species. The author herself has three animal totems, with emphasis on one more than the other two.

     This book is genuinely thought-provoking, turning up a lot of things I'd never thought of. At first it seemed to be the kind of overly-sensual magic book that makes me nervous, diving right into the scariest stuff without explanation, but that was just the first chapter. Then it backtracks and begins to explain, step by step with great depth, each of those intimately personal visions and events, plus many more that really flesh it out. Like the astral projection books I read, my reaction in some cases was, “oh, that happened to me once... is THAT what it was? Wow.”

     This really has a greater resemblance to therianthropy than any other animal totemism book I've read, to such an extent that I'm tempted to put it in the other section.

     In the Therianthrope and Otherkin Book Club, there are now some discussions about this book.

     Overall quality rating: A

     Otherkin content: A

     Of interest to: therianthropes, draconics, mythical animal otherkin, furry lifestylers, animal totemists, pagans.

     (Although this book covers several topics, it's included in the animal totemism section because that's the part of it that I'm focusing on in this review.)

     Rosalyn Greene's The Magic of Shapeshifting (2000) had been cited in the bibliography of this book. Advanced Witchcraft's back cover mentioned that it contained some information about animal totemism and shapeshifting. The author, Edain McCoy, has written many books on Paganism over the decades, but she has been accused of poor scholarship. For example, her book Witta: an Irish Pagan Tradition (2000) claimed that Witta was an ancient Irish religion, but Witta was more likely a modern invention by McCoy herself. (See the essay When is a Celt not a Celt?) I decided to take a look and see how much had been derived from Greene.

     The nine-page-long chapter of Advanced Witchcraft in consideration is “The Animals and the Shapeshifters” (125-132). In this review, I will be focusing on that chapter alone. The first part of the chapter is about animal totemism and related concepts. It gives step-by-step instructions for a meditation in which you can meet your power animal. That's very basic material common to most books that touch on animal totemism. I didn't see anything 'advanced' about it. Although the chapter opens by saying “In the beginning of your Craft career, you may have had trouble distinguishing between animals as omens and as allies or familiars,” she apparently doesn't try to disambiguate these concepts in the rest of the chapter.

     When she starts talking about “the Magick of the Shapeshifters” (129) I found she was actually talking about shamanic shapeshifting only, not showing any sign of having heard of therianthropy. She doesn't talk about “therianthropes,” nor does she mention “shifters,” what therianthropes are called in Greene's The Magic of Shapeshifting. In my understanding, shamanic shapeshifting and therianthropic shapeshifting are two different things: shamanic shapeshifting is where a person voluntarily envisions himself/herself as any animal, regardless of how unfamiliar he/she is with that animal... rather than shapeshifting into one specific animal which is an essential part of his/her being, as in the case of therianthropes. “There are people who believe they become 'werefolk' in their daily lives, or at night while they sleep” (130). In the case of therianthropes, it would be more accurate to say that they are werefolk, not that they become werefolk. That's one of the differences between shamanic and therianthropic shapeshifting. The other difference is that it can be any animal at any time: “The animal essence who enters you might also be one who can best help you escape a bad situation or overcome a problem. For instance, a rabbit might enter you to help you make a quick escape, and a wise old owl may merge with you during an exam or mental trial” (131). That wouldn't be the case for a therianthrope; if someone is a were-owl (or, dare say it, a were-rabbit) that is what they are; that animal species is a part of their essential nature, rather than something that may drop by for a convenient visit and then not be heard from again. Whereas a therianthrope usually has only one animal species as their theriotype or animal side-- or, rarely, two or three different species of theriotypes-- shamanic shapeshifting has no limit on the number of animal species you can shapeshift into. All the material about shapeshifting in this chapter is about shamanic shapeshifting, not therianthropes or therianthropic shapeshifting.

     McCoy says, “I have found several interesting websites while using the search terms 'shapeshift' and 'lycanthropy.' If you wish to continue a serious discussion of psychical world shapeshifting, I suggest you check out these sites, read what they have to say, and join the discussion on the sites that have them. Whether you accept their beliefs or not, the possibilities are fascinating and the well-thought-out arguments for them deserve our respect” (131). McCoy does not include titles or addresses for any of those websites in her book, neither in the online networking portion of the appendix nor in the bibliography. Her suggestion to check out the sites would mean doing your own search and probably never running into the particular sites she was talking about. What is “psychical world shapeshifting,” anyhow? I did a web search for that phrase and found nothing. If she meant “physical world shapeshifting,” that didn't bring up any results on the web, either. Or... well, lower down on page 131, McCoy also mentioned “physical-world shapeshifting,” so perhaps “psychical world shapeshifting” was a typographical error and she intended to refer to the plane on which the transformation takes place.

     McCoy says she's uncertain if physical shapeshifting is possible, and for a few paragraphs, she ponders the likelihood or unlikelihood of it. Then she moves on and says that “[a]side from a full shift in the physical body, Witches recognize other types of shapeshifts that can take place both in the physical world and in the astral” (131). She lists these types, accompanied by a sentence or two of description: the full astral shift, the spirit body shift, the mental body shift, bilocation shapeshifting, and the dream world shift. Of those, most are what you would expect them to be, except for these: the spirit body shift “occurs when the essence of a power animal in service to or representative of a specific deity enters you to help you learn a lesson or grow closer to that deity” (131), the mental body shift is a change in senses, and bilocation shapeshifting is barely recognizable compared to how that phrase was originally defined in Greene's The Magic of Shapeshifting (131-132).

     This seems to be a very confused description of shamanic shapeshifting without any instructions for beginners or advanced ideas. McCoy just introduces you to the idea that shamanic shapeshifting and animal totemism exist, and then she doesn't give you any specific leads on where to go next to find out more. Although some reviews indicate that Advanced Witchcraft is indeed advanced, I didn't get that impression from this chapter. I've concluded that although this chapter does talk a little about shamanic shapeshifting and animal totemism (enough to justify putting it in this section of the book list) it is not about therianthropes or shifters.

     Overall quality: C (I wouldn't call this “advanced,” and I'm not impressed by her writing.)

     Therianthrope content: D- (No, it's not exactly present.)

     Animal totemism and shamanic shapeshifting content amount: C (Just enough content is present to confuse a beginner without helping them.)

     My review is currently in progress.

     Eclectic Pagan. New Age. Superficial, sometimes unethical, "fluffy." For example, it suggests that your totem may match an animal mentioned in your name, or your zodiac animal... no soul-searching required. It has a fairly ordinary description of how to go on a vision quest and meet your animal guide, which is in almost every magic and psychic book. The animal symbolism dictionary was fairly standard as well. The book has unusual information on subjects which have basically nothing to do with animal totemism, such as finding your god and (as Steiger himself calls it) idol worship. Although it was one of the better-made parts of the book, that idol worship section seemed out-of-place and will scare off most Judeo-Christian or atheist readers. That seemed strange to me because some other books on animal totemism emphasize that totemism is accessible to people of all/most religions. For various reasons, I was disappointed with this book; there are better books about animal totemism.

     Quality rating: C

     Of interest to: furry lifestylers, animal totemists, anyone who isn't scared off by the idol worship thing.

• Andrews, Ted. Animal-Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small. (Ted Andrews is author of many books on this and related subjects; this is just the one to start with.)
• Bennett's Spirit Animals and the Wheel of Life.
• Bruce's Magical Beasts: Their Powers, Their Contribution and How to Call for Their Help
• Conway's Animal Magick: The Art of Recognizing & Working With Familiars.
• Covell's Spirit Animals.
• Farmer's Power Animals: How to Connect with Your Animal Spirit Guide.
• Franklin's Familiars: Animal Powers of Britain.
• Gallegos's Personal Totem Pole: Animal Imagery, the Chakras, and Psychotherapy.
• Gemondo's & MacGregor's Animal Totems: The Power and Prophecy of Your Animal Guides.
• Hall & Telesco's Animal Spirit: Spells, Sorcery, and Symbols from the Wild.
• Lupa's Fang and Fur, Blood and Bone. (This will also be reviewed in the therianthropy section because it has a chapter on that subject.)
• Levi-Strauss's Totemism. (Anthropology textbook.)
• Matthews's Celtic Totem Animals: Make A Shamanic Journey and Meet Your Animal Helpers.
• Palmer's Animal Wisdom: the Definitive Guide to the Myth, Folklore, and Medicine Power of Animals.
• Roderick's The Once Unknown Familiar.
• Saunders's Animal Spirits: An Illustrated Guide (Living Wisdom Series)
• Scully's & Werneke's Power Animal Meditations: Shamanic Journeys with Your Spirit Allies.

     There are already many books on the vampire subculture, including a few written by vampires themselves, such as the Psychic Vampire Codex: A Manual of Magick and Energy Work, and Dhampir: Child of the Blood, Kaldera's The Ethical Psychic Vampire, and Konstantinos's Vampires: The Occult Truth.

     There's also some (questionable) books written about the vampire subculture by outsiders, such as Ramsland's Piercing the Darkness: Undercover with Vampires in America Today, Guinn and Greaser's Something in the Blood: The Underground World of Today's Vampires.

     I haven't personally read any of these vampire books yet, since as an outsider myself, I'd be a poor judge of whether the books are on the mark or not. There are many more books on this subject than I've mentioned, and that would be a long list for somebody else to write and to review. If you're the vampire for the job, please tell me.

     For the New-Age types such as Walk-Ins, Earth Angels, Starpeople, Starseeds, and so on... you're lucky, there are already lots of guidebooks for you! Starseeds and Walk-Ins have been discussing their otherworldly natures and writing pamphlets and books about it since the 1960s. Starseeds generally believe that they had past lives as extraterrestrials, and that they've incarnated here on Earth as part of their mission to help humankind. Otherkin may resonate with the starseeds' idea of being "from elsewhere."

     Something I've never seen before... a book about walk-ins and extraterrestrials which is intentionally humorous, witty, and does a good job at it! I wasn't expecting anything other than something solemn and serious about love and light. Although it defines all the terms it uses at the beginning, it still assumes you have a pretty good idea what those things are. The humor isn't as confusing as it could be. The book's stance and behavior seems to be entirely different from most New Age books I've read, despite how its goal is evidently the same. (Preparing the world for its upcoming changes, which include heightened vibration, commonness of androgyny, etc.) There are title headings such as “Look Jane, see Spot transmute” and “When in Rome, do as Acturians.”

     I enjoyed reading this book and gained some understanding about walk-ins and their like, although I still don't feel that I wholly understand their situation. To me, this indicates ET 101 isn't intended as an introduction, and is written to an audience of people who already know what it means to be an ET.

     Overall quality rating: B

     Of interest to: Walk-ins, ETs, starseeds, wanderers, New Agers, maybe otherkin.

     Disambiguation: There are many other unrelated books titled Earth Angel or Earth Angels. Make sure you check the subtitle and author when you're picking up a copy, since it's easy to get the wrong one.

     Summary: In Doreen Virtue's book, “Earth Angel” is used as a term for several different things that some individuals may spiritually identify themselves as: an Incarnated Angel, an Incarnated Elemental, a Starperson, a Walk-In, or a Wise One. A chapter is spent on each of these types (or “realms,” as the author says it, but I don't think that's an appropriate word) offering a description of, quotes from, and advice for them. The description doesn't waffle, the quotes are genuine and well-presented, and the advice is quite helpful. The book is a light read, and small: it's less than 157 undersized pages. Nevertheless, it introduces a lot of fascinating ideas in that amount of space, and the briefness of it makes it so even busy people can pick it up.

     The first few chapters introduce the overall subject of Earth Angels and tells how the book was made. This book is based on “hundreds” of results from questionnaires that were sent out (12-13). Several of those people's replies are used in each chapter, and are the basis of her lists of traits held in common by each type. The majority of the respondents are referred to by real first names. Only a tiny fraction of the respondents asked to be referred to only by initials or a pseudonym, and the author always mentions when a pseudonym has been used (ix). The author says she'd written about the subject of Earth Angels before in her book Healing with the Angels (1999) in a chapter called “Incarnated Angels, Elementals, Starpeople, and Walk-Ins.”

     The first few chapters also include a quiz that lists traits for different varieties of Earth Angels, which is meant to help the reader determine if he/she is an Earth Angel. When describing the traits of a type of Earth Angel, the author includes not only traits of personality and life choices, but also physical descriptions. Although you wouldn't expect a person's spiritual identity to have much to do with their appearance, the author explains her reasoning for including that. She says the soul's history and personal behaviors have some influence on physical appearance, and there can be psychological (or psychic) causes for physical health problems. As such, certain physical traits or problems could be useful in identifying certain varieties of Earth Angels.

     In this book, the author never says whether she, personally, is or isn't an Earth Angel. Although Doreen Virtue's other books show that she's fairly angel-obsessed, I'm assuming that means she isn't an Earth Angel herself. In that case, this book is written by an outsider. Nevertheless, the book is positive and sympathetic, and I admire that she relied primarily on what the Earth Angels themselves said.

     Of great interest to otherkin and therianthropes is her mention of non-physical wings, which she says are common to both Incarnated Angels and some Elementals, although the shape of wing differs between those two kinds of Earth Angels.

These wings are etheric, not physical. To determine your wing type, either consult a clairvoyant, or go within and feel for yourself. Focus upon our shoulder blades and feel or see (in your mind's eye) whether the wings are large, eaglelike appendages, or more like buzzing and beautiful butterfly or dragonfly wings. (57)

     My complaints: Although the author says not everyone is an Earth Angel, the book feels like it's an argument trying to persuade the reader that he/she is an Earth Angel, not knowing it before reading this book. It's so persuasive that it could push you into casually adopting one of these ideas about yourself just because you fit the criteria, even without having done any soul-searching! I don't think that persuasive approach was appropriate for this subject.

     Although the book gives several examples where a person did a great deal of soul-searching before concluding that they were an Earth Angel of some kind, there are also irritating examples where a person's process of identifying as an Earth Angel seems awfully casual and cursory: for example, a person who believes she's a Reincarnated Sorceress partly because “my great aunt called me a 'sorceress' when I was young” (121) or another person who said “I constantly have people come up to me after I've finished singing and tell me they think I'm a pixie, so I think I must be” (73). That superficiality and haste feels like an insult to me... I've spent my entire life with the deep and specific longing to be a dragon, and I've always gone out of my way to do intense soul-searching on the subject of my draconity... while many of the people in this book decide that they're probably an angel or a leprechaun just because they look sort of like one. It's like the process is barely even meaningful for them. Other readers of Earth Angels have done the quiz in the front of the book and it persuaded or told them outright that they were one, and so they firmly conclude that it's the truth. It doesn't work like that... you've got to look within yourself and think long and hard about who you are. Relying upon what other people are saying you are and so casually adopting an identity can only be harmful to you in the long run. A quiz can give you some direction, but you can only put as little weight on it as you can one of those popular “Which cartoon character are you most like?” quizzes that are circulating around LiveJournal.

     I also object to some of the identifying traits listed. Although some of the traits listed for a particular type of Earth Angel do describe a very specific type of person, a few of the traits listed are things that everyone has; as such, they are useless for identifying oneself. These include an occasional ringing in the ears (19) which happens to everyone in certain common situations: when tired, on the verge of sleep, or in certain meditative states. “Cupid-bow lips” are listed as a physical trait of an Incarnated Angel (28) but according to Faigin's The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression (1990) everyone has lips shaped like that, although the bow is straighter or more curvaceous for some people.

     I'm irritated by the mention of celebrities as being examples for what particular types of Earth Angels look and behave like. That makes me think of supermarket tabloids, which I see as being revolting made-up gossip, bad journalism, and icky dried-up superficial versions of spirituality. Shudder. That's not something I'd want anywhere near my spirituality. Those tabloids are why I always used to avoid books about psychic abilities, because they make it all look so crummy. That's just my personal reaction, though... she only spends a few sentences on the celebrity comparisons, and she doesn't try to say that those celebrities are Earth Angels, so it's not all that bad.

     At one point, the author misuses “ego” to mean “inner critic,” as if that's all the ego is, and she advises that you push your ego off to the side and ignore its distrustful messages (148-149). The ego's roles can include the inner critic and inhibitions, but that's not the sum of what the ego is! The ego is an integral part of the self. There are people who spiritually strive to release their sense of self, but that's very different from merely quieting your inner critic. Virtue, girl, it would have been easy to look up that word and ensure its correct use. (End of complaint section.)

     Chapter three-- the first chapter on a specific type of Earth Angel-- is on Incarnated Angels, who are long-suffering healers who were voluntarily born into human bodies to help humanity, as their previous existences were angels. They seek careers in helping people, even if they haven't yet awakened to the idea that they're angels. They're selflessly altruistic, yet with serious problems in their own lives (1-2). In their struggle to help people, Incarnated Angels tend to get into abusive relationships, so the author offers a great deal of kind advice on how to open your eyes to those problems and learn how to stand up for yourself. Since Incarnated Angels are highly-sensitive and empathic, she has an exercise in that chapter telling how to shield (34-38). She talks about why you need to shield, that the shielding energy is beneficial and available, and lists the different effects of shield colors. Unfortunately, she doesn't explain exactly what a “shield” is, and she doesn't exactly give a method for it, either. I was able to follow that section because I'd heard of shields before, but it's useless to a beginner, who would be helplessly confused and wouldn't know where to start. This chapter is a pretty good introduction to Incarnated Angels, but a poor introduction to shielding.

     Chapter four is on Incarnated Elementals, who are tricksters and environmentalists who had past lives as Earthly or mythical non-humans. Elementals include “fairies, elves, pixies, gnomes, leprechauns, mermaids, dolphins, incarnated animals, and unicorns” (55). The author doesn't explain why the term “Elemental” is chosen, since it doesn't fit what it describes very well; the Elementals aren't especially associated with any alchemical elements. She does refer to all those entities as being members of what she calls the “Elemental kingdom” in her earlier book, Healing with the Fairies (2001). Anyhow, in this chapter of Earth Angels, she describes all Elementals as if they were mischievous fairies, which wouldn't suit all of the species that supposedly fit under the term “Elemental.” Although this chapter comes close to describing therianthropes and otherkin, my opinion is that it's one of the poorer, shallower chapters.

     Chapter five is on Starpeople: shy, helpful people who had past lives as extraterrestrials. They have been described in more length in other books, but this is an excellent, concise, fairly complete introduction to Starpeople for those who haven't heard of them before. If you're planning on reading some books about them, I advise that start with this one; some of the other books fail to introduce the subject clearly. There were several bits of information in this chapter which were new and interesting to me. In particular, I found that Internet-based Starpeople group only began around 2001 (11-12). That explains why I'd had difficulty finding any Starpeople communities online, even though there have been books about them for decades. Therianthropes and otherkin, on the other hand, are primarily active on the Internet but have scarcely any books that mention them. That's why our communities haven't tended to meet or mesh with that of Starpeople, although I figure we have enough in common that we could both learn from one another.

     Chapter six is on Walk-Ins, people who had a life-changing event at some point in their lives, where the soul that they were born with was replaced by a different soul. Doreen Virtue says that spiritual exchange is voluntary agreement made by both souls, and is planned ahead of time, not impulsive or forced (99-103). The replacement soul retains most (but not all) of the memories of the first soul, inheriting them along with the body (113). A Walk-In person may have unclear memories of the exchange process itself, if they remember it at all; that part is often revealed through hypnosis or dreams (106-107). As with Starpeople, there are already many other books about Walk-Ins, but this is a good concise introduction to them.

     Chapter seven is on the Wise Ones: solemn no-nonsense people who were experienced magic-users in their past lives as humans on Earth. Now the book apparently caters to Pagans with its talk of “the burning times” (122). The chapter on Incarnated Angels was very Christian, and the intervening chapters seemed New Age. That's an odd fluctuation of religious standpoints, but I guess that's okay.

     Although I had complaints about several parts of the book, it was overall a cozy and interesting read. I enjoyed picking it up to read more of it, and I learned some new things. I liked its positive, sympathetic, sincere view of Earth Angels, which it maintained even when was describing unfortunate problems that particular types of Earth Angels tend to have. Portions of this book could very well be useful to otherkin, who often have things in common with several of the types of Earth Angels listed in this book.

     Relevance to Otherkin and Therianthrope book list: C or B

     Overall quality rating: C or B (I had mixed feelings about it.)

     Of interest to: otherkin (especially those who identify as angels or fairies), starpeople or extraterrestrials, walk-ins, and people who are interested in past lives. Probably of little to no interest to therianthropes, since animal-related spirituality isn't really mentioned.

• Beaconsfield's Welcome to Planet Earth: A Guide for Walk-Ins, Starseeds and Lightworkers of All Varieties (1988)
• Carey's Return of the Bird Tribes (1988) About incarnated angels. Reprinted in 1991.
• Caskey's The Third Choice: Walk-ins, Reincarnation & A Spiritual Alternative to Human Suffering
• Cori's No More Secrets, No More Lies: A Handbook to Starseed Awakening
• Mandelker's From Elsewhere: Being E.T. in America (1995)
• Mitchell's Walk-Ins/Soul Exchange (1999)
• Montgomery's Aliens Among Us (1986)
• Montgomery's Strangers Among Us (1979)
• Montgomery's Threshold to Tomorrow (1982)
• Rueckert's A Wanderer's Handbook (2001)
• Savizar & Silarra's The Awakening: Co-creating Heaven on Earth with Extraterrestrial Walk-ins (1991)
• Steiger & Steiger's Star People (1987)
• Steiger & Steiger's Starborn (1992)
• Stinnet's The Bridge Between Two Worlds (1997)

     These are also non-fiction books for and about people who identify with being something other than human, or something like that... if they're in miscellaneous, it's because they seem to be in a category all of their own. They don't mention otherkin, therianthropes, animal totemism, or any of the above categories. With some of the following books, it may be uncertain about whether they fit our theme at all. With others, it's certain that they do fit our theme even though they're so independent from it.

     According to this peculiar and humorous self-help book, the key to motivating yourself on a business endeavor or other project is to do this: imagine that you are a rhinoceros, and charge! To remind yourself that you're a goal-oriented rhinoceros and not a mere cow or sheep, the author suggests that you should collect depictions of rhinoceroses to decorate your home and person. As in that example and in a few other places in the book, it occasionally sounds very much like animal totemism. Although Rhinoceros Success doesn't go far enough to be therianthropic, it would be considered furry, especially with its charming pen-and-ink illustrations of rhinoceroses in human clothing. The author doesn't seem to be aware of any of those interpretations.

     I must complain about the ethics of this "just charge" philosophy. The author uses "just charge" as a cure-all phrase, a solution for any difficult situation, and he repeats it many times throughout this slender book. He doesn't warn that "just charge" could send you barging head-long into some dangerous and regrettable situations. He also doesn't delve very deeply into the real-world nature of rhinoceroses, except that a charging rhinoceros is a suitably goal-oriented animal to act as a role model. Perhaps that further exploration is left to the sequel, Advanced Rhinocerology, which I haven't had the opportunity to read yet.

     Although this and the other books in the rhino series are made by a small publisher, they seem to be popular among people who are running businesses. That's because it also uses concepts made popular in prosperity programming and creative visualization books, where you re-train yourself to aim for success and accept the wealth that's coming your way. This isn't the first or most complete book on the subject, although its approach is unusual.

     Rhinoceros Success a Christian self-help book, sprinkled with Biblical quotations. (I almost wonder... is Rhinoceros Success meant as a parody of Are You A Unicorn? I'm not finding any references that make a clear connection between them, so perhaps not.)

     Online connections: Verona Raymond wrote an article about this book, called Are You A Rhino or a Cow? A business called Creative Alliances talks about how Rhinoceros Success was an inspiration to them in Why Rhino?

     Relevance to this booklist: D (Er... I'm not sure if this can be compared to animal totemism very far.)

     Overall quality rating: C+

     Of interest to: businesspeople, Christians, furries, animal totemists, maybe therianthropes.

     My review of this book is in progress.

     Online connections: The official website of this book is http://www.unicornsunited.com.

     Of interest to: Christians, fans of The Last Unicorn, unicorns and unicorn-interested people, furries, therianthropes, and otherkin.