About Hand Painted Spiritkeepers Totem Animal Stones

Since 1997 artist and mystic Tree Pruitt has been hand numbering her unique painted rocks as Spiritkeepers; later adding pebble stones & sea shells. Each Spiritkeepers is a unique expression inspired by the natural Spirit world. Designed from totem animal spirit guide meanings & symbols from mythology, they are created to be a personal amulet. Stones are generally pocket or medicine bag sized, and many are naturally holed; known as the Witches' Amulet or a Witches Dream Shield.

Each rock or shell is hand selected by the artist, often based upon the spiritual energy felt within. The images are discovered within the natural surfaces, and enhanced with quality paint. Tree never uses putty, fillers or cutting tools for Spiritkeepers. You can discover the history behind them at the Spiritkeepers Blog

I've always been stone crazy. As a small child I braved the hot summer sun for hours to remove my first fossil specimen; I still have that fossil too. I've also been an avid painter my entire life, so it was only natural for the two loves to combine. The stones I collected seemed to call out to me -- wanting to be picked up -- showing me pictures within the surfaces. I began to follow the lines I'd see on the rocks with paint strokes so that I could show others what I saw, at about the age of five. The pop culture craze of the Pet Rock that swept America in the later 1970's only served to encourage my feeling that stones are alive and do communicate.

As my Earth based spirituality developed later in life it occurred to me these rocks have messages to share just like a spirit guide. Ancient peoples went to great effort to place pictures on rock outcroppings and cave walls. Modern Neo-Pagan, Wiccan practices encourage direct communication with nature and the exchange of energy with things in nature. I could no longer resist the urge to share the stones in my collection so I began to sell, or rather adopt out, these creations from my private rock collection as Spiritkeepers in 1997. Visit the Spiritkeepers Blog, (see links), to learn more.

*Tree is proud to be a juried member of WWAO, Worldwide Women Artists Online, an international collective of artists showing and selling our work online.

Spiritkeepers TM© name and sigil logo copyrighted and trademarked by T. Pruitt, 1997. Others using this name and/or design (as one single word) are in direct violation of Federal and International law.

-->Spiritkeepers Blog gets a face lift; stop by and see the new look of the site. I'd love to read any feedback you'd like to share about the way the site looks and operates.
* I'm setting the animals loose! Everyone will be able to purchase them directly from my website, Realm of the Mystic Griffin, my Curio Castle shop at Etsy, or by email request. You'll be able to purchase available SK's at a retail price, without the threat of being outbid in an auction.

* NEW ITEMS - several new Spiritkeepers stones are NOW available including wolf, raccoon, panda, polar bear, otter, bison, wildcat and several inspired by Native American stories such as Kokopelli. Another new feature is an increase in sizes. Some of the new Spiritkeepers will be much too big for a pocket or medicine bag but they'll be right at home on display. Some of these new rocks even come with their own display stand.

NEW ITEM,
A highly detailed bust of a wolf looks out from a scene on a DOUBLE naturally holed stone. This is the largest Spiritkeepers to date!
Visit the Spiritkeepers Blog to learn more about this unique painted portion of a fossil bed; the nose is created by a brachiopod shell!

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The critters are coming to CafePress! I've just opened a section in my CafePress store for Spiritkeeper related items. Have you adopted a Spiritkeepers in the past? Perhaps you'll find a matching journal or t-shirt hosting your pal atop. Soon you'll be able to find digital paintings and photomanipulations of the wildlife and spiritual symbols that make Spiritkeepers come alive on all sorts of great products! UNDER CONSTRUCTION so come back often to see what's new at Interesting Things by Tree Pruitt.
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NEW Timber Wolf #sk015 has been listed in the Curio Castle Shoppe, and already chosen to be featured in an Etsy Treasury. This is a special double naturally holed stone that is perfect as a guardian of spell papers or notes.

A detailed bust of a red brown timber wolf with golden eyes shine out from fur created by dry brushing many layers of paint over the texture of the rough natural stone. The rock was collected from the greater Ohio Valley and is a red sandstone. It comes from the area of the ancient Great Serpent Effigy Mound, which in recent years has sported a crop circle and is known to have great spiritual energy. Each Spiritkeepers is unique and individually numbered, signed with the special Spiritkeepers sigil.

(contents from Introduction to Spiritual Animal Helpers, Realm of the Mystic Griffin site)

What's a Totem??? With the growing popularity of Neo-paganism and Neo-Native American spirituality, the phrase of "totem animal" has become a somewhat generic term that actually encompasses meaningful spiritual relationships with animals in a variety of forms. There are historical Native American cultural differences and origins for the uses of words such as, "totem", "medicine" and "fetish", and those uses are traditional in differing tribes. Performing a search of those terms can expose more detailed information about how indigenous Americans use those terms. Our purpose of explanation here is only to point out how the words are commonly used in the more broad arena of modern, New-Age, understandings. I've created a seperate lens that explains the different terms for the ways animals are referred to in the modern spiritualist movement. About Animal Totems & More Lens.

Animal Fetish

An animal fetish is also sometimes today called a totem. A fetish is an artistic representation of an animal, with spiritual design. It stands as a dwelling for the general aspects and energies of a particular creature, (similar to a Hindu deity statue). It is an example of Native American society using a form of sympathetic magic, where the form of the animal itself is thought to attract the gifts that animal has to offer. Akin to a prayer, the fetish offers a hope for the person, or makes a declaration he/she will act in a different way. A fetish is a three dimensional shape of an animal that the person who carries or wears hopes will pass on some of the good quality traits; power. A fetish can be used as 'totem medicine' when the fetish does indeed represent your totem, and is worn or carried in a medicine bag. It is not an actual totem, but only a representation of the totem animal; a spiritual keepsake to remind you of your path.

~ Featured Creature Section ~
Winter Animals Rule the Feature to cool the heat!

THE POLAR BEAR - Being the most outstanding hunter of the bear family also makes the polar bear the most aggressive of the bears. Like this bear, do you know when to keep your cool, or do you perhaps need to start swinging those polar paws? Being a most excellent swimmer gives them the ability to go with the flow, when needed, and strong muscles give the strength to pull themselves out of the water when it's time to put feet on the ground. They have very keen hearing, the polar bear, listening for sounds under the ice from above. A person with a polar bear totem should ask themselves if they have been listening to signs from "Above", spiritual guidence, and simply paying quality attention to whatever nourishes the soul. When polar bear hears a seal bubbling to the surface it patiently waits for the favorite prey to come up. They pounce on the seals to drag them from the water. This indicates that polar bear knows when to wait and when to act on an opportunity. These bears have a playful side too, sliding on ice and playing with cubs, indicating that though they're serious about the task at hand they know when to relax and enjoy life. If you think that polar bear is a totem animal for you then be sure to also examine the animals it chooses as prey; there'll likely be a second totem in there for you to create a balance.
Search several resources and find the meaning that feels right in order to discover what the medicine and magic of an animal means to you personally.



This stone, and others, available at my Curio Castle Shop


*Symbolic meaning of the Badger by Tree Pruitt, former feature article can be found at Realm of the Mystic Griffin www.mysticgriffin.com

The following stones have already been purchased and are shown as entertainment examples only. Please browse and enjoy.

Red Fox Spiritkeepers pocket stone


Orca (Killer Whale) Spiritkeepers shell cluster in a Pacific Northwest Native American style -- original design by the artist.

Wild Horse Sandstone


Timber Wolf




Egyptian Hieroglyphic Spiritkeepers stones

Black Bear Spiritkeepers Clam Shell

* Flying RAVEN GIF GRAPHIC, shown above, provided by