attribute that we wish to develop may be a factor in one’s choice of an animal or a plant mustika-pearl. Studying Nature–animal psychology, behavioral-patterns and instincts or the Doctrine of Signatures of the plant kingdom and the symbolism of both would be a rewarding venture for those intending to acquire mustika-pearls for personal use.
If one has no actual purpose in mind or preference, one should choose a pearl that coincides closely with one’s Totem-animal or the animal that harmonizes well with one’s Chinese zodiacal sign.
One’s Totem-animal may be known by careful introspection; by sensing a special affinity with an animal or feeling the animal that one resonates well with. Totem animals may also be known through constant dreams of the animal; through meditation/intuition; by one’s childhood obsession or longing for the animal as a pet; of the psychological identification with the animal itself or by the animal that one is most attracted to or fears most; by constant pictorial or concrete imagery forms of the animal arising in some manner, etc. If one often dream of tigers, and as a child found joy in fantasizing about the animal, this may indicate that the creature is one’s Totem-animal. Sometimes the knowledge of one’s Power or Totem animal is acquired during a crisis–during a physical encounter with the animal, for instance; or during unusual circumstances the knowledge is brought to the awareness. Knowledge of one’s Totem animal may be acquired through a “VisionQuest.” In Native American-Indian society this VisionQuest is mandatory as part of the rite of passage presented to the young. This quest entails fasting and seclusion in nakedness in a sweatlodge where a vision of a Totem-animal is