Power Animal: Shark

"The correctness of my existence is unquestionable."

As I take a break from Spirit Portraits, I’m doing some Deep Dives into individual Power Animals. Sometimes (I mean all the time) I get inspired by a given animal through personal experience, or from an event in the media. Then I paint a portrait of the animal, taking into account the medicine the Power Animal represents.

I use Lori Morrison’s book, The Shaman’s Guide to Power Animals, as well as other sources, and I consider my own intuited messages from the animal as well. Lori is the author for whom I painted 52 Power Animals to create her set of oracle cards, The Shaman’s Guide to Power Animals 52-Card Deck and Guidebook. 52 is just a drop in the bucket, and Lori and I have talked about doing another deck. She covers about 200 Power Animals in her book. My collaboration with her began because I started painting Power Animals, which led me to buy her book, which led me to contact her about making a deck.

Shark became my focus after watching the controversial documentary, Shark Whisperer, about Ocean Ramsey and her mission to show the world that sharks are not as scary as we think they are. Her work is controversial because some believe her uncaged swims with sharks constitute wildlife harassment, while pushing for a viral shot or reel. She may also be encouraging others to do the same, and putting them at risk.

Personally, I feel Ocean is doing good work. I don’t know if her activity harasses the sharks or not, I leave that to the experts. But even if it does, does the scope of her operation create enough harm to negate her shark conservation efforts? Does it even compare to the fact that people kill 100 million sharks per year? And I don’t mind if she earns money from her activism, because I assume she has bills to pay, and that the tools and equipment she needs to do her work are expensive. Lastly, there will always be dumb, destructive yahoos who take a good thing and screw it up. Should Ocean and her team be held responsible for them?

Ocean’s social media posts are in stark contrast to the damn 1975 Jaws movie. This film created so much terror around sharks that I think some people stopped going in swimming pools. The classic, “Theme from Jaws,” has got to be the most famous terror music on Earth. We step into cars and planes without a care, but the thought of bobbing around like a naked meatball while a powerful creature with razor sharp teeth surges towards us from the unseen depths below is paralyzing, no matter how unlikely this is. This fear leads many to be indifferent towards the plight of sharks.

I would like to say that I am not afraid of sharks and that I, too, could swim among them in a state of bliss. But this is not true. I lived in San Diego, CA, for seven years. I loved to go swimming at the beaches there. It was exhilarating to be immersed in the dynamic healing energy of the ocean water, the sunshine, and the power of waves. However, I always had to suppress my fear of sharks.

One day, while I was swimming in Carlsbad, a woman swimming in San Onofre, 23 mi north, was attacked by a great white. She survived, but barely, and she had a long recovery. Within a few years, I gave a massage to a woman who was recovering from her son having been attacked in Encinitas, the bite narrowly missed his carotid artery. She watched from a bluff as his friends pulled him into a kayak, and the kayak filled with blood. The shark then circled the kayak. Also during my time in SoCal, I saw a news report covering a scene in Dana Point: agents from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department spoke with a bull horn from a helicopter, urging people to exit the water because they were surrounded by 15 great white sharks. These events made me feel that attacks are likely to happen, even though, statistically, they are not. And I know that sharks don’t hunt people for food, but I still don’t want to be “tasted.” My fear increased, and I went swimming less. When I chose to leave San Diego, this fear made it easier to go.

Now that I have properly built up your anxiety, it’s best to forget about Jaws and focus on statistics: again, people kill an estimated 100 million sharks per year, mostly to supply fins for soup. Meanwhile, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File (ISAF), there were 65 unprovoked shark attacks worldwide in 2025, and 29 provoked attacks. Nine of these attacks were fatal. These are sobering stats and they leave no grounds for hysteria. Instead, let’s look at another shark whisperer:

When I channeled Shark, asking what this Power Animal thinks of what is happening to it, I got this message:

“I have my place. I’m here like the sky and the mountains. The correctness of my existence is unquestionable. To remove me is absurd, unfathomable.”

Lori Morrison, a shaman, writes in her aforementioned book, that Shark’s message is about seizing opportunity, and being bold, but with integrity.

Sometimes we meet people with Shark energy and we are intimidated by them. This could be because of our own insecurity and beliefs that it is better to hide behind the noble aspects of being humble, rather than getting out there, and getting what we want in life. Shark is here to teach us the difference between humility and cowardice. Shark is also here to teach us that life is meant to be fully explored and enjoyed.

Shark

28x22” Oil and acrylic on wrapped canvas

$2,800

I chose a great white shark because this species of shark is the most villainized. I saw a volcano when I started sketching. For me, volcanoes represent a type of raw explosive power that is akin to what Shark presents. Also, volcanoes suggest Hawaii, where House Bill 553 was passed in 2021 to ban shark fishing in the state. So Hawaii is definitely something to include in this portrait. I wanted the placement and size of the shark to all but knock down the viewer with its directness and strong presence. I love the way light and color play in water, creating an exotic pattern on Shark’s skin, and also representing the battle scars of its journey. The long wave invites surfers to join in and make the most of an epic ride.