When you are on a vision fast or medicine walk, you enter into a mystical realm where all events and encounters take on a significance that is bigger than what most of us experience in ordinary waking life. During this time, an encounter with an animal is not just a coincidence. (If it ever is!) Usually a particular animal will appear to you with a message or lesson that only that animal can bring. And of course, the circumstances of the encounter will help you to understand more about the message or meaning. Also your own history, belief system, and connection with particular animals will help you to know what the animal is saying to you. Therefore, the information provided here about cougars is a possible starting point, but may not touch on the fullness of what a cougar means to you, or the gifts that your own encounter with a cougar may hold.
Ted Andrews, author of Animal Speak: The Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small and many other books, is my favourite source for reading about the significance of animals in different mythologies. Ted says that the cougar symbolizes coming into your own power. This is easy to see, given that the cougar has the many powers described in other postings: physical strength, leaping ability, power of hearing and sight, stealth, beauty. Ted writes, “If cougar has shown up in your life, it is time to learn about power. Test your own. Most young cougars learn how to use their power through trial and error. It strengthens them and hones their skills. When cougar shows up as a totem, much of the trial has been worked through. Now it is time to assert.”
One of the things I like about Ted’s writing and understanding of the animal world 
is the connection between predator and prey. Given that the main prey of the cougar is the deer, which symbolizes gentleness (including a gentle beckoning into new adventure), the deer is also significant in understanding the message of the cougar. Ted suggests that in learning to use our power, we can do so with the gentleness of a deer, when that is appropriate. This is a lesson I keep needing to learn! The cougar knows with decisiveness when to attack forcefully, but its prey teaches us that we can also exercise power with gentleness.
One thing that sometimes prevents us from showing, owning, and using our power, is the fear of loss of those who will not approve of or like it. I would suggest this might be especially challenging for women, who are socialized to appear weak and helpless. Cougar medicine can help all, male and female, to assert ourselves, show our capabilities, grow and stretch. And this means risking upsetting those around us, who may want us to stay the same. Are you willing to risk loss to realize and express your true nature? This is a question cougar asks.
Recently I was seeing a naturopath to learn to balance my power and weakness. My 
strength was distorted into outbursts of rage, which covered up feelings of helplessness. When we explored the animal that I identified with in these situations, it was the cougar. I felt that I had the wild, magnificent power of the cougar, but I was repressing it because I felt those around me would reject me if I showed this strength. I had a dream during this time, in which I was in a hospital room, awaiting surgery. The doctor came in, and pulled a limp cougar out of a dustbin, where it was covered with grey dirt and garbage. There was another similar bin in the room, containing another cougar. I knew the doctor was going to use some of the cougar’s life energy when she operated on me. The cougars were being kept in these bins for that purpose. I was shocked and horrified that this is what I was doing to my wild, fierce, free true nature; I was keeping it in a bin, covered with garbage, and just allowing the tiniest portion of it out to sustain my life. This dream made me wonder what it would be like to allow the cougar out of the dust bin. To allow her the fullness of her expression in my life. This question is intimately related to my spiritual journey of expressing the mystery of my true nature as I live in this world. How can I know this mystery, and learn to express it? The dream has only awakened questions, not answers. But it is clear to me that the cougar is speaking to me to set me on the path to exploring these questions.
If you are ever out on a vision fast and a cougar comes to visit you, know that it is a rare and remarkable gift. While remembering the information about how to survive a cougar attack, also try to open into communication with the cougar. Observe everything about the cougar’s physical relation to you: direction of approach and leaving; what the cougar does around you; whether you can sense a feeling-tone coming from the cougar; or even hear the words or thoughts of the cougar. In the sacred space of the vision fast, it is unlikely that the cougar has come to harm you. More likely it has come to teach and to give you a gift and a wonderful story for your people.
Karen, thank you for answering my questions. Now that a whole month has gone by since I posted them (unfortunately I’m just now realizing you replied) I’d have to say I agree with your assessment.
The group home experience may not have been what I wanted it to be, but my personality does seem to have changed as a result of it (along with other experiences). I’m more confident than I used to be, and in general a bit more direct. Some of my long-time friends have commented on this as well.
I also believe you’re right about the playfulness of my most recent cougar-related dream. Taking a less demanding job has allowed me to become reacquainted with friends I’d lost touch with, and to pursue hobbies that I’ve been wanting to try for years.
So all-in-all I feel your insights are spot on. Thank you for taking the time to read my questions, and to answer them.
Hello, and thank you for this post. As someone who knows very little about animal-related spirituality I find it quite intriguing.
Also, although I realize this post is from back in 2008 I have recently had two vivid dreams involving cougars that have left me a little confused.
My first cougar-related dream happened about seven months ago. At that time I had been offered a job as a supervisor at a group home for individuals with developmental disabilities. I was unsure of whether to take the job, because I’d only had a year’s worth of experience in that field. I am also currently in a transitory period of my life, and wasn’t sure I wanted so much responsibility.
As a wrestled with my anxieties, cougars started to appear wherever I looked. It seemed that whenever I turned on the TV there was something on about them, and I suddenly became very interested in this animal. I began reading all I could about them, and learned that as a spirit guide they represented leadership.
I took this as a sign that I should take the supervisor position and develop the powers of leadership I’d discovered the previous year. But shortly after I accepted the job, I had a terrifying dream in which a cougar was roaring at me. I never had the sense that it was going to attack me, but it was clearly furious. I thought it was telling me not to “chicken out” of my new responsibilities, but now I’m not so sure.
That job turned out to be a disaster. After I took it I learned that that group home hadn’t had a supervisor in nearly three months, and that my boss (who told me she’d taken over the house) had completely neglected it. Some of the residents were TWO YEARS behind on important medical appointments, and justifiably their behavior was terrible. The staff was completely demoralized, and my boss made it nearly impossible for me to get the money I needed to buy basic things such as food.
For two months I tried as hard as I could to get things back in order. I was nearly always at the house: one time I even worked three days straight without sleeping. I had to buy groceries with my own money so the residents would have food, and tried desperately to take care of the health issues they’d developed as a result of being ignored. But I couldn’t do it. I finally quit when my bosses (I had stirred up trouble in my attempts to help the residents so I was now constantly under supervision) asked me to falsify documents so they wouldn’t look bad on an upcoming state exam. On my way out I told the residents’ county-appointed guardian everything.
I was so ashamed after quitting. I felt like I had failed at my attempt to be a leader. So I went back to an old job I once held that involves very little leadership.
But just last night I had another dream involving cougars, and this one was very different from the first. Instead of the animal being angry at me, it was incredibly playful. It allowed me to pet and play with it, and it seemed quite happy.
What I don’t understand is how such a powerful animal can appear so happy with me after I’d failed at a position of power? Furthermore, why would it be playful during a period of my life when I have very little responsibility? Is it letting me know that I’m on the right path, even though it doesn’t feel like it?
I’m sorry for the length of this comment, but I’m very confused. I’d appreciate any insight you can offer on why I’d be dreaming of a happy cougar after quitting a leadership role.
Take care!
Josh
Hi Josh, Thank you for writing and sharing your dreams and your work with cougar as a guide for situations in your inner and outer life. This is exactly the way to work with cougar–to wrestle with the guidance and let it inform your choices and give you support. I think the playful cougar is a wonderful sign of transformation. I’ll offer some thoughts for you to consider and see whether or not they seem true for you. But you are your own best guide when it comes to understanding your personal relationship with cougar.
I like Ted Andrews’ book Animal-Speak as a source of information about the “Spiritual and Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small.” He focuses on the aspect of power as it relates to a cougar. He says “Most young cougars learn how to use their power through trial and error. It strengthens them and hones your skills.” Cougar is related to coming into your own power. It seems to me this is what you were doing with your work in the group home. Learning, growing, and developing is never a failure. It seems that you learned a lot about yourself and about the dynamics of the particular environment you were in. That you were kind and strongly motivated to help the people in your care. That you learned about limitations and the things that were beyond your power to control. And that you asserted the power of your own guidance about right and wrong by not falsifying the documents. And you took the best action you could in the circumstances, which was to report the truth to the residents’ guardian and remove yourself from a situation where you couldn’t be effective and be the kind of person you want to be. I would say you were looking after yourself, which needs to be your first priority. The kind of commitment you gave was not sustainable–to work without sleep and use your earnings to pay for the residents’ food. This was a kind-hearted response to help in an emergency, but not a sustainable way of life for most of us. None of this sounds like failure to me, Josh! I think you should be proud of yourself and what you’ve done and learned.
I think the playful cougar is a sign that you have worked with and integrated your power. Earlier the cougar was terrifying, which is possibly a sign that you are afraid of your own power and projecting your power outward, which puts you in the role of being weak, small, and afraid. From here, you worked the job, did your best, learned, set boundaries, spoke out. It sounds to me like you learned to exercise power with gentleness. Now the cougar is a friend and equal. This shows how you have transformed your relationship to power and begun to integrate it as a part of yourself.
Plus there is the wonderful flavor of playfulness that your cougar is bringing you. This is a sign of celebration and acceptance. I suggest cougar is happy about your inner growth and development, and also showing you there is a balance in life between hard work and play. Perhaps you are regaining balance in your life by taking on work right now that is not as demanding. This will give you time to enjoy your life, have connection with yourself, and tend to parts of your life you may not have had time for while working at the group home, including play. Without play your soul would lose its vitality and power. Perhaps this is what the happy playful cougar is showing you.
Last night I dreamt an odd dream so decided to do some research and stumbled upon this lovely spot. I was outside my home working and a cougar came up and was very affectionate towards me with very loving and playful behaviour. My boys were outside so I became nervous and asked them to go inside. Of course they wanted to pet the cougar and I was very insistent they needed to distance themselves even though it appeared very unthreatening. After a little research I wonder if I’m perhaps holding back on sharing all of myself with my children and not allowing them to see me in a strong leadership role or denying them an understanding of really taking charge of your life. Certainly still thinking about what it means and excited to see if I will be revealed more by my loving cougar.
Hi Tera, Thanks very much for sharing your cougar dream. What a beautiful guidance you received, both in the dream itself and in the way you have worked to interpret it. I hope you succeed in showing your boys the qualities of the cougar as embodied in a strong and loving woman! Your comment inspired me to add a post about a new book on cougars: https://www.klove.nyc/wild-women/a-new-book-about-cougars/
I haven’t read it yet, but will as soon as I can. All the best to you, cougar dreamer!
Warmly,
Karen
Hi Karen,
This post really touched base with me. When I started reading this post it made me remember the “first” time (what I thought to be the first time. I’ll explain in more detail) Cougar spoke to me. I it was about 10 years ago, maybe 11, I was about seven or eight years old at the time and my baby brother got sick. We moved to a Cincinnati so he would be close to the children’s hospital research center, and that’s when my journey really began. In middle school I was bullied to the point that I couldn’t sleep, and ended up getting hooked on antihistamines so I could sleep. But although I was bullied, I just let it go. As time went on I began to notice cougars everywhere. In magazines, TV shows, movies, everywhere. And although I didn’t think much of it at the time I realize now that he was speaking to me without coming to me. I believe I wasn’t ready to be completely thrown in at the time, but was being nudged. I joined a search-and-rescue group called the Civil Air Patrol and that’s when I began to be myself. When I began I never spoke; I was afraid of being bullied so I distanced myself. About 5 months later we got the news that brother was “magically” cured, and we went to the zoo to celebrate (my brother’s favorite place). While we were there the cougars wouldn’t leave the two of us alone. I ended up sitting by the enclosure for almost a half hour, “talking” with the cougars. He seemed to be telling me that it was over, I could be myself now; that I didn’t have to be afraid. After that experience I became more confident in myself. I became a leader in the Civil Air Patrol; even becoming the first female cadet in the state of Kentucky to be chosen to lead the National Emergency Services Academy. And although I ended up being screwed over (sorry for the rough term… But that’s what happened) by some of the other leaders in the group (who I believed were “afraid” (for lack of a better term) of me. I believed they didn’t understand that a leader can be gentle, caring, and understanding while being firm, powerful and unafraid to kick butt and take names if they need to at the same time… Just my belief) I realized that there are better things out there for me; that I didn’t have to stand for that treatment. That was about 8 months ago, and was a huge turning point in my life. I finally allowed myself to show that I had power enough to allow myself to walk away; and while some may view that as giving up, I view it as courage and the realization of having enough power to completely end a situation.
As I was thinking of how to word this post I realized cougar has always been with me. Cougars would always seem to be loose when I was around (in elementary school, while camping etc.) My grandparents live on a huge plot of land in Colorado, and my grandfather would tease the grandkids with his cougar call (one of my fondest memories). At night I would sleep on the trampoline on their land with my cousins, despite the “threat” of cougar attacks, completely unafraid. For whatever reason I was never truly afraid of any of the predatory animals, especially the cougar. I just understood that if you respect them and their power there is really no need to fear them.
Now I am 18 and have changed drastically. Gone is the quiet, fearful, little girl and in her place is a confident leader. And although I still struggle with speaking in front of others I am most definitely improving. Recently, I have found myself connecting with Hummingbird as well… but that is a story in of itself.
I’m sorry this post is so long, but I was really touched my this post and had to share my experiences and how cougar has helped me realize my true potential. As a FYI, my little brother is doing awesome! He is completely cured and has absolutely no side effects. He is still on his path to discovering his animal spirit… I believe another trip to the zoo is in order.
Dear Hannah,
Thank you for sharing your cougar story. Your story is beautiful and inspiring. I bow to your wisdom and confidence. This is so wonderful to see in one so young! I am glad that cougar has been there for you as a source of connection to your own strength and courage. May your adventures continue and lead you to new discoveries about yourself and the mysterious wonder of the world. And for your brother too!
Warmly,
Karen
Hello Wild Woman,
Beginning in 2008 when a cougar walked onto my deck and tapped on my window to get my attention, and until now, I am trying to integrate the wild feminine into my soul.
I have found this enormously challenging, brought with blind-spots (I literally went blind in 2009) and barriers.
I came upon your website today as I prepare to write about the cougar symbolism in my Blog.
Thank you for your insight and the black and white image.
I would love to use the image as it is so beautiful. Finally I feel love and not fear when I see their face!
I live on Vancouver Island, so maybe we can meet one day!
Between2Marys
Hi Katherine,
Thanks for writing about your cougar experiences. Wow, the cougar really spoke strongly to you! I love hearing that you are also (like me) working on integrating the wild feminine into your soul. Amen, sister! I uploaded the image in 2008–not sure where I got it from, so I can’t give you permission to use it. Sorry about that. But I am so glad you feel love and not fear when you see the cougar. And it would be awesome to meet! Drop me a line if you’re coming to Vancouver. Keep up your great work with your blog.
Warmly,
Karen
I moved to a small town in colorado 3 1/2 years ago on a whim – I just knew I had to stay here, and that’s when the mountain lion dreams started – about 2 or 3 a week for 3 1/2 years. Mostly one would just come in and watch what was already going on in a dream – almost as if it was seeing how I would react to certain things; once there were two sitting next to me mouthing on my arms the way a puppy does, lovingly – it gave me an incredibly comforting/powerful feeling. During the last year, I’ve started a path of personal healing – that started with my father (unbeknownst to him), he came to visit me last summer. When he arrived he told me he got me a gift from the airport, he didn’t know why he picked it up – he just “felt like he should” – then he hands me a mountain lion statue sitting on top of a pedestal with ancient markings written on it. I put it next to my bed. After culminating in a “dream dream” as I call them, where I faced some personal demons and chose a path of light as opposed to dark, they’ve stopped. After that I’ve delved deeper into my personal healing. I know I have the mountain lion to thank.
Hi Whitney,
Thanks for writing and sharing your amazing story. What a powerful story it is. I love the part about the two mountain lions mouthing your arm like a puppy. It seems a very powerful image of integration–that they trusted you and treated you like one of their own, and you trusted them too. And how wonderful that your dad is tuned into his intuition and to you (even if he doesn’t know it) and supported this particular stream of healing through giving you the statue. Wow! May your blessings continue to flow.
Warmly,
Karen
About 11 years ago I felt like a cougar/mountain lion was walking slowly on my bed. I felt this when I was in a deep sleep. I fought to wake up so he would go away. I felt like he was sent to take me away and I wasn’t ready to go. This happened a couple of times when my daughter was a senior in high school and this also happened when she was about 8. She is now 29. Do you know what it might have meant?
Hi Debbie,
Thanks for writing and sharing your cougar experience. It seems that the cougar is a powerful symbol in your psyche, but I can’t tell you what it means for you. I can only ask some questions that come up for me as I contemplate what you have written. Where do you think the cougar was going to take you? Was your need to be there for your daughter in conflict with some other strong desire you might have had? Who do you think might have sent the cougar to take you away?
Warm wishes,
Karen
Hi Wild Woman, aka Karen lol/ I use a deck of animal cards not sure which ones they are online for free. Two morning now in a row I have pulled the cougar spirit but I have been having visions about a horse trapped in a stall with bad skin. No clean straw, never exercised or brushed and illfed.
What dawned on me today is that, it is me. (I have been saying I feel like a horse etc, etc, but today I realized that I am actually the horses owner keeping that way. Not feeding it, cleaning it, not exercising it and keeping it a small stall filled with rotten hay. Thanks for the different view of it.
William
Hi William,
It sounds like your vision has given you a clear message. What a blessing. May the learning illuminate what is right action for you now. I’m glad my posting helped.
Warmest wishes,
Karen
I stumbled across this site tonight while looking for some guidance about a place I am at in my life. I have studied the Cougar Spirit guide a lot and I am definitely connected to it. My own personality and the traits I use to live my life, are alongside the cougar. Currently though my struggle is less with power and more with fear of loss. It is amazing that you put this into your post “Are you willing to risk loss to realize and express your true nature? This is a question cougar asks.”
I am being asked this question now. I need to make a change in my life, and a big step forward for me. However I know I am about to hurt someone dear to me, and possibly lose the respect and acceptance I have from certain people in my life. I know I am at a place where the decision has been made and it is only me that stands in my own way.
Being such a powerful energy can be a blessing and a curse. I feel sometimes many people are drawn to me for this energy, and I can become drained when I begin to care more about others then myself. I thank you for your words, because it gives me strength to keep this question open, and manifest the answer in my own life.
If I can help you in any way to discover your own power, I offer you this advice. You are the most important person in your world. And by making that statement true, you will naturally fall into the role of being envied, attractive, confident and strong. Finding your power and balancing how to live with it, will enrich not only your life, but the lives of everyone in yours. Don’t rush the process though.
No matter how long the journey takes, and regardless of the
occasional step or two “backward,” so long as more movement is made
forward than back, the Journey is being walked and the goal is drawing
ever nearer. Remember, we all arrive exactly where we need to be,
exactly when we need to be there.
~Vanessa
Dear Vanessa,
I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to reply to your beautiful posting before now. Thank you for sharing the challenges you have faced as you work with and claim your power. You are an inspiration, and I appreciate your words of advice. I wish you well as you face your current challenges. I’m glad my posting about cougar was timely for you in your inquiry.
Warmly,
Karen
You are right; the subject of power is a big one. I read in Little’s and Foster’s wilderness guide handbook that the vision quest asks the initiate to Know Thyself. Yes and what is involved in knowing ones’ self? Awe, the subject just gets bigger and I am in the mood this evening to philosophize. To Know Thyself is my definition of Power. But, the power is in a very particular layer of self – the core, primal root. When I go to the mountain top in my heart, sit and view my soul’s experiences over the vast landscape of my being, I see that there is a place (or realm) in me that is grounded and steadfast. This is my core. It is the silver thread of a stream that moves through and nourishes all my life experiences. It is with me even when I am blind to it. In the dramas, chaos, ups and downs and all the ways in which I get lost, sometimes for decades in the mucky depths of our collective experience as flesh, I forget to visit this core that is me. I wander in the wastelands unable to gather my bearings. When I find my way back, I am sad that it took me so long to remember who I really am. This unchangeable diamond in my soul is the key to my power. Making a well worn trail on this path to my core is the goal – travel there so much that one fine day I will no longer need to navigate between worlds; the world of a mythic perspective and the modern consciousness which has left us so very lost in my opinion. No need to return to the realm we have co-created out of doubt and fear. I am losing the reasons to visit that barren, dry wasteland of undernourished soul. I am losing my fear just like that cougar jogging down the road joyful in her primal core of wild free being. The courage to live in that freedom for just a while is worth a hundred years of living in fear. I know the wisdom of that but have been afraid to live the truth of it. I haven’t wanted to be there alone or step too far out of cultural norms always wanting to live my life in a glorious spiraling circle rather than a boxed square. But…. But so many of my loved ones live in that boxed square of a world. But I have been told that the boxed square will lead me to success, security, and acceptance. Are so many wrong? How much do I trust myself? And… And is it a question of either/or? And, who told me to limit myself in this way? The echoes of voices long gone – mere shadow. No one holds me back least me — although it feels like a great force at work against me. I do pray that you can use your power to help the cougar, the bear, and all the wildness that has made itself known to you. I pray that the urge to fully embody that primal core that is you, that connects you with the heartbeat of the universe, continues to bloom and give off seed – so that all of us are in-couraged toward rather than estranged from our empowerment of wildness, of Nature. Your long sought wish to be a wild woman is coming to fruition Karen. In love and support.
Dear Kim, Thank you for continuing this dialogue about power. The true power of our wild souls–what I have called our indigenous soul in my most recent blog entry. Thank you for your support and in-couragement to us both to keep hearing that call, to follow that silver thread to the diamond within. I think you are right about the shadows of the past that have told us to limit ourselves. That is how substantial and ever-present they are! A shadow is not to be dismissed lightly. The stronger the light we shine upon ourselves, the stronger the shadow! 😉 Those messages arose out of love for us and desire to help us survive. May we complete the story by including a bigger vision that includes both light and shadow! Love to you. Karen
Karen, I feel like I’ve been on a journey right beside you while reading many of your blog entries – especially around the cougar. My ears perked up on the suggestion of learning about power when cougar enters the psyche. Power: A subject circling me for the past several years. The cultural trapppings of finding power for a woman – a truck, a gun, cattle prod, a man, etc. or even gaining power through consumerism, efforts to look alluring/”attractive” to “snag” someone who can provide power so I don’t have to, a pumped up title through work or academia – just about all of it fits with that notion in my mind. I think of all the ways that I have side-stepped claiming, using, being comfortable with my own power and the detours usually placing the power with something or someone else, anything, anyone, but myself. And, on the last vision quest, more fear around the cougar – more likely around claiming my own unique vision of power and what it looks like in my expression of self.
My friend Nina and I hiked yesterday in the High Country of the Sierra-Nevada – cougar came up again. Nina told me she saw a young cougar several months ago “jogging” down the highway. She described the cougar. I saw the joy of fullness in its steps in my imagination. It was shot not long after Nina had seen it. It was killed for its familiarility with humans. It wasn’t afraid anymore so they killed it.
Hi Kim,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts about cougar and power. This is exactly the kind of conversation I hope to foster with this blog! I think it is true that women are encouraged to enjoy power vicariously through attracting a man. Maybe the younger generations of women don’t feel that as strongly. I know growing up in the seventies, the era of women’s lib, the overt message was that I could do anything I wanted to. But the subtle message that my value lay in my appearance was still there. Learning how to claim our power in a genuine way is a challenge. One that the vision quest and other inner explorations have helped me to do. But it is still bumpy! In my most recent tech writing contract I received the feedback that I am direct and “not to be messed with.” As a result, my vision for how I was going to carry out my task was respected, I was treated like the expert in my area, and I was left alone to carry it out. In contrast, other areas of the project received changes in direction weekly or monthly. So I feel this was a manifestation of my power being used well in the world. But the way that I conveyed my strength and clarity of direction was not as skilled as I would wish (I used that anger that I have charted my long struggle with on this blog). So that is why I say I still feel somewhat clumsy in the exercise of power. But also exhilarated!
On the theme of attractiveness is power in our culture (for women and men, I think), I did feel that in the banking world I was working in, I had to have a very polished appearance in order to be respected. On my last day there I saw a senior international executive with Temenos, the software supplier. My sense of her was that she was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen, and absolutely ruthless. A fascinating manifestation of power, and one that I was tempted to emulate! 🙂 This makes me laugh, because I am a much smaller fish in a pretty small pond.
I am very sad to hear about the cougar being killed. Your story of Nina’s cougar confirms yet again my wish to help protect the magnificent creatures that live on this planet with us. Oh Kim, I pray I can use my power to help them.
I hope you will tell me what happens as your exploration continues in the area of claiming your own unique power.
Love,
Karen