November 2nd, 2023
By Mateo Sol
Guest writer for Wake Up World
I’m often asked why we decided to call our website ‘LonerWolf.’
My answer is that the wolf carries one of the most profound meanings in the whole of the animal kingdom.
Spirit Animals, for centuries, have been seen as sources of meaning, wisdom, and power.
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Before psychology, animals were used as a means to learn about ourselves. Wolves, out of all animals, have a particularly complex and rich series of lessons to teach us.
The innate traits of the Wolf are having a powerful instinct, finely tuned intuition, and high intelligence.
The Wolf roams the wild with a thirst for freedom, working within a social environment.
Young wolves on the brink of sexual maturity will often leave the group in search of their mate, losing all of their familial connections.
These ‘lone wolves‘ must learn to fend for themselves without the help of any social group: they must become stronger. Hence our name “lonerwolf.” (Read more about our name choice here.)
By the way, if you enjoy spirit animal content like this, you might be interested in our
By the way, if you enjoy spirit animal content like this, you might be interested in our Shadow & Light Membership, where you’ll receive weekly intuitive guidance that includes your spirit animal of the week. Check it out and see what people say!
Wolf Spirit Animal Meaning
Ancient cultures and indigenous people believe that animals and humans share the same spiritual essence with each other.
The Wolf Spirit Animal is symbolic of listening to your intuition, seeking freedom, embracing aloneness and togetherness, being loyal and trusting, and having courage and determination to walk your true path.
(Remember that you can take our free Spirit Animal Quiz after reading this article!)
In summary, the Wolf Spirit Animal symbolizes:
- Strong connection with your instincts or intuition
- High intelligence
- Loyalty and communication
- A deep desire for freedom
- Loyalty and trust
If Wolf is your Spirit Animal, the following Soul lessons will apply to you:
1. Connect With Your Instincts
Wolf is a loyal and highly intelligent animal here to remind you of the need to connect with your instincts and hunches.
As a creature ruled by primal instinct, Wolf highlights the importance of listening to your intuition more. Do you tend to get lost in your thoughts? Does your mind fall into repetitive cycles of overthinking, planning, or analyzing? Does your mind struggle to turn off at night?
Wolf has come into your life to help you get in touch with the raw and perceptive side of yourself that is beyond thought. You are a person who has been blessed with strong intuitive abilities, YET you have not fully owned or developed this gift. It’s time to trust your gut feelings more and learn to distinguish intuition from fear-based feelings.
Intuitive insight will always feel clear and unemotional, whereas fear-based feelings will be emotionally charged. Wolf is here to help you learn how to make this important distinction.
Here I want to highlight that Wolf represents the Pathfinder.
She is a guide that helps you discover when you are being misguided by the mind and being led correctly when using your instincts.
Having Wolf as a spirit animal serves to emphasize your levels of trust or mistrust in your instincts and intuition.
Connecting with and learning to use your intuition will help you to make more soul-aligned decisions, ‘sniff’ out the true intentions of others, and avoid many pitfalls on your life journey.
2. Search For Freedom
Wolf also carries the message of freedom. In a pack, Wolf carries the meaning of connection (more on that soon), but when alone, Wolf is the very embodiment of independence.
She asks you to examine what core beliefs are currently holding you back from stepping into your power. In what ways are you limiting your own freedom? What habits or behavioral patterns are keeping you enslaved? It’s time to confront these shadows head-on. Wolf will be by your side.
Wolves are wild animals – they are beautiful creatures of mystery that cannot be domesticated.
Equally, if the Wolf presents itself in a moment in life where you feel stuck, it might be reminding you that you’re a free spirit, that you can deviate from whatever path you are currently on and become a ‘lone wolf‘ if necessary to pursue your dreams.
3. Have Courage and Determination
Courage is the next message shared by Wolf. It takes a lot of courage and determination to walk alone. Wolf has come into your life to remind you of the inner strength lying deep at the core of your being.
As an extremely powerful ally for the spiritual journey, Wolf reminds you that the path of enlightenment is often a lonely road. No one can do the work for you. You might find teachers, friends, or useful techniques along the way, but ultimately spiritual growth is a solitary path.
You must be the one to take full responsibility for yourself, your shadows, and your ultimate awakening – and that takes true courage.
Having Wolf as your spirit animal indicates that you are either experiencing spiritual roadblocks or need more support and guidance. You might be feeling lost, confused, lonely, disconnected from others, or suffering from severe societal disillusionment.
Wolf also points to the fact that you might even be going through a Dark Night of the Soul in which you have tasted what peace and spiritual freedom feels like but then ‘lost’ it and feel like you’re stumbling around in the dark again. Perhaps you have completely lost touch with your soul. If this is the case, Wolf is a supreme ally who will loyally guide and help you find your way again.
4. Find More Connection
The other message Wolf brings is also one of connection. In nature, Wolf has a highly complex, loyal, and intimate bond with other pack members. She is prepared to fight to the death to protect those of her tribe.
Wolf truly is the master of standing firmly in her own power while also belonging to a community, to something greater than herself.
Depending on how Wolf appears to you and what she shares with you, the message will either be one of needing to embrace the solitary path or seek social harmony with others.
It is unnecessary to renounce everyday life and be a monk who meditates alone in a temple to be spiritual. Often, the best and wisest path of spiritual, emotional, and mental development are the relationships already present in your life. What better way to learn qualities such as patience, tolerance, and humor?
Qualities such as loyalty, dedication, protectiveness, and selflessness can also be honed within your relationships through the support of Wolf.
5. Find Your True Tribe
On a similar but slightly different note, Wolf also brings the message of deep connection.
If you have been feeling misunderstood, isolated, or taken for granted, it’s time to reassess those whom you allow into your ‘pack.’ Not all of the connections that we have in this life are genuine, healthy, or deep. In fact, many people in our lives are huge sources of toxicity and energy loss.
Examine the people in your tribe. Are they pulling their weight? Do they give equally to what you give?
Wolf also indicates that you might have some unhealthy social connections which need to be attended to. In order to live from a place of personal power, Wolf advises you to let go of any connections that don’t support and nourish you. While this can be a difficult task, it is a form of empowerment. Why keep those around who demoralize you?
Once you free up space and let go of toxic connections, you will have more energy to attract those into your pack who truly support and love you.
6. Be Loyal and Trusting
When the Wolf appears, either physically, through meditation, via spiritual signs and omens, or through a dream, it’s often a way of telling you that you need to explore your relationship with loyalty and trust.
Wolf’s sense of loyalty can be seen in a variety of ways.
These creatures are one of the few animals to hold only monogamous relationships. Most wolves mate for life and will not take another partner if their own dies.
Pack members also hold deep emotional bonds, greeting each other enthusiastically after they have been separated for long periods of time.
The presence of a Wolf spirit animal can serve as a reminder of a lack of loyalty or trust in your life.
Often Wolf shows itself to those who have become strongly apprehensive of bonding with others and have grown immensely mistrusting of those around them.
A Wolf spirit animal can represent a perceived threat or feeling, for instance: that you are being threatened by someone or something in your life.
As Wolf’s main trait is its sharp instinct, your Wolf spirit animal could be trying to tell you that you’re misguided in your trust for someone, or it may be warning you to listen more often to your instincts or intuition and to be loyal to yourself.
The Wolf spirit animal may also be your unconscious mind’s way of letting you know that it is feeling vulnerable – for instance, that you might have revealed too much to someone about yourself – and now your sense of freedom feels constricted by the predatory mistrust of that person.
Wolf may also signify that the people you’re trying to connect with at the moment are making you feel afraid.
However, mistrust doesn’t always have to do with other people. Sometimes our mistrust and lack of loyalty are directed toward ourselves. Are you loyal and trusting toward yourself?
Wolf Spirit Animal Mantra & Affirmations
You can use these mantras and affirmations to get in touch with the Wolf Spirit Animal and bring its wisdom into your life:
- I step into my power
- I honor my instincts
- I attract my tribe
Do you have any that you’d like to recommend? If so, share in the comments!
Wolf Power Animal
Power Animals help us to tap into our hidden strengths (or inner power) and can be invoked and evoked through our behavior to help us rediscover our Wholeness.
If you’d like to invoke or evoke Wolf as your Power Animal, focus on the following keywords in your journaling, visualization, or meditation practice:
- Courage
- Assertiveness
- Independence
- Inner Strength
- Intuition
- Personal Power
- Freedom
- Spiritual Growth
- Solitude
- Deep Connection
- Spiritual Path
- Loyalty
- Toxic People
- Harmony
- Tribe
- Family
- Protectiveness
- Dedication
- Communication
- Instinct
Meanings will be revealed to you as you deepen your personal connection with the Wolf.
Do any of these keywords that define Wolf as your Power Animal stand out to you? If so, be sure to call on Wolf to help you embody one of these qualities (or release the negative qualities if they’re holding you back).
History of the Wolf Spirit Animal
The Wolf has appeared many times throughout history.
In modern culture, we associate wolves with negative qualities, such as the darkness that mythical Werewolves (the story of Lycaon the King and Zeus) represent.
In Aesop’s fables, for instance, they are portrayed as being evil and dangerous, such as in the story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” and “The Wolf in Sheep Clothing.” The Brothers Grimm story of “Little Red Riding Hood” also portrays the Wolf as ferocious and intimidating.
Luckily, wolves haven’t always been seen in such a negative light. In fact, wolves and humans once lived together, according to some historians. They also share many parallel human traits.
Native Americans perhaps had the greatest symbolism for wolves. They modeled themselves after the Wolf in hunting methods, cooperation, and efficiency, valuing them as proud hunters, loyal friends, and intelligent teachers.
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They also thought of the Wolf as a spiritual pathfinder, which symbolized intelligence and leadership.
Rome has one of the best-known Wolf-founding legends. As the legend goes, Romulus and Remus, the two founding brothers of Rome, were raised and suckled by a she-wolf.
In Egyptian mythology, the Wolf Wepwawet (also rendered Upuaut, Wep-wawet, Wepawet, and Ophois) was originally a war deity, his name meaning; the opener of the ways.
It’s interesting to note here that the Native Americans, a completely different race and culture of people, believed that wolves had a special connection to our paths in life as well.
The Mongolians, on the other hand, believed they were descendants of wolves. The legend goes that in Northern China, a small Turkic village was raided by Chinese soldiers, but one small baby was left behind. An old she-wolf named Asena found the baby and nursed him. She then gave birth to half-wolf, half-human cubs from which the Turkic people were born.
In Asia, the wolf is the guardian of the entrance to heavenly, celestial realms. The Wolf is also said to be among the ancestry of Genghis Khan.
Background Info on Wolves
The wolf is a beautiful, intelligent, and majestic creature that is the largest member of the Canidae family, which also includes domestic dogs, coyotes, dingoes, and many types of wild foxes.
There are two widely recognized species of wolf in the world: the red and the gray.
The wolf’s thick fur can be black, grey, or white and can protect against extremely cold temperatures (think -40 degrees!). Wolves live and hunt in packs that can range from two wolves to as many as twenty.
Packs are led by a dominant male and female, who are generally the only ones to breed and mate for life. When running, wolves can reach speeds of up to 65 km per hour (or 40 miles per hour), and they tend to hunt large animals such as deer.
When alone, the wolf hunts smaller animals such as rabbits, raccoons, and squirrels. These amazing animals have an extremely strong sense of smell and possess over 200 million scent cells, unlike humans, who only possess 5 million. Their haunting howl is used to communicate with fellow pack members and clearly define their territory.
The Wolf and Dream Interpretation
Native Americans knew that dreaming of a Wolf symbolized beauty, solitude, mystery, self-confidence, and pride.
If a Wolf appears in your dreams, it may signify that you’re approaching life with a composed and adaptable attitude.
On the negative side, a Wolf appearing in your dream might be warning you of hostility, domination, or aggression from others (or within yourself toward others). The Wolf might want to serve as a guide in a situation in your life where you feel vulnerable and weak.
Some dream psychoanalysts interpret wolves in nightmares as conveyors of a perceived threat, such as strong sexual energy occurring in your life (in you or someone close to you) or different types of addictive craving behaviors that you might be struggling with.
The story of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ was originally an allegoric metaphor for the loss of virginity (red hood) taken away by the predatory ‘Big Bad Wolf’ (men).
In positive dreams, psychoanalysts interpret the Wolf as a guiding symbol for trusting your instincts (again, sexual instincts and addictive ‘cravings’ play a role here) and expressing them in a more balanced way.
Recommended further resources:
- Spirit Animal Bundle – Discover and forge a deep bond with your wild and sacred Spirit Animal. Includes two journals, a printable mini oracle deck, and a guided meditation journey!
- Shadow & Light Membership – Dissolve the shadows that obscure your inner Light in this weekly email-based membership! Perfect for anyone serious about practicing ongoing shadow work, inner child work, and self-love. You’ll also discover your weekly spirit animal earth ally!
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Is Wolf your spirit animal? What special lessons and messages are you receiving? I’d love to hear below in the comments!
Finally, you can take our spirit animal quiz to see what other animal allies may be assisting you in life right now.
Feel free also to pin this article on Pinterest, share it on Facebook, or send it to a loved one if you think it may help them.
About the author:
Mateo Sol is a spiritual counselor, bibliophile, entrepreneur, and cofounder of one of the most influential and widely read spiritual websites on the internet. Born into a family with a history of drug addiction and mental illness, he was taught about the plight of the human condition from a young age. His mission is to help others experience freedom, wholeness, and peace in all stages of life. See more of his work at lonerwolf.com and his premium offerings here.
This article, Self-Love: 23 Ways to Become a Doctor of the Soul, was originally published on lonerwolf.com, reproduced with permission.
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