 Hey there! Have you been seeing frogs everywhere? Maybe you're dreaming of them or maybe it's just an animal that you're really just fascinated with or even afraid of? Well, today we're going to take a deep dive into the spirit meaning of frog and hopefully give you some clues as to what this spirit animal is trying to tell you. A couple of quick pieces of housekeeping first. First of all, if you're new to my channel, welcome! Thanks for watching. I am going to be leaving some resources in the description below. If you're interested in a personal reading or working with me, also leave a link to my spirit animal deck below if that's something that you'd like to look into. And as always I do appreciate your your likes and your comments. If you have insights that other people can use about this spirit animal, absolutely please put it in comments. And you're always welcome to click subscribe, hit that bell for notifications of new videos. Alright, so let's get rolling here on frog. As I was preparing this video, I was really, really struck by just how much rich symbolism there is in this animal. So first of all, let's look at the frog as an animal itself. There are about 4,800 species of frogs worldwide, so thousands and thousands of different types of frogs and toads. They're found almost all over the world. They're always going to be near some source of water. And they are adapted to all sorts of different environments. So you'll find frogs that are completely aquatic, some that climb trees or tree-dwelling frogs or arboreal frogs. There are frogs that even live underground. There are even frogs that live in desert environments. So and they have very specific adaptations. So if you've had a particular type of frog come forward for you, that is something to think about too, looking at that environment. For now, I'm just going to kind of look at frog and toad as a just sort of overall. Speaking of which, frogs and toads. So they are amphibians and frog and toad, you know, which is which. There's no absolute scientific distinction. There is a family of this type of animal. It's called bufana day. They are known as the true toads. Toads tend to be describes a frog or toad like animal that has more of a drier, warty kind of bumpy skin. And the frogs are the ones with the smooth skin. But there are some members of the bufana day family that have smooth skin. There are some members of other families that have bumpy skin. So it's a little bit of a there's no clear, clear distinction between the two. So for purposes of this video, we'll just refer to toads as the bumpy skin, warty type and the frogs as the smooth skin. And a lot of the symbolism is going to apply to both. For this video, I'm speaking mostly about frog, but I will address toads specifically further on in the video towards the end. But there is a lot of overlap. So if you're if you're seeing toads, you can totally listen to this and get a lot out of it as well. So first of all, a frog is an amphibian. So that's an order of animals that has this life cycle that takes it from through various stages. It's a vertebrate animal, but it's very they share with insects this idea of the multi stage life cycle. Typically, the frog is going to lay its eggs in water. And so they are very, very connected with dependent on the water. It's their primary elements that and earth, I like to associate animals with particular elements. So frog is definitely associated with that water element and also has an element of earth, especially a toad is going to have a little bit more of that earth element and all the symbolism that that is connected with those elements. And in fact, the the frog is like this bridge between water and earth or water and air. And we'll get a little bit more into that in a bit. Water, of course, does have a lot of symbolism that is associated with the unconscious with intuition with the dream time, with accessing that intuitive knowing or the unconscious a part of ourselves. So there's a big connection with frog and the unconscious. So from the egg, the egg will hatch into tadpoles. And they, if you've ever seen tadpoles swimming around, they look a lot like little fish, basically a head and a tail and some gills, and very much creatures on the water. And then instead of going to a chrysalis like a butterfly, they just directly start sprouting the legs. And eventually, as they develop, it's more of a step by step, or just kind of slow morph into the adult developed lungs, they develop the ability to come up out of the water, the tail in that process shrinks so that the adult frog, or almost all adult frogs do not have a tail. So very, very unique in the animal world. Most animals do have tails. So frogs are very human that way. So right away, there's this association of frogs with the circle of life with the life cycles and also with with evolution with transmutation, transcendence, ascendance, this whole concept of the development of, you know, the spiritual meaning is it's going to be like the development of spirit, right? You can see in the frog does it physically. But there's this is one huge aspect of frog is is this whole ascension or transcendence process. And we're going to talk a lot about that. And so part of this whole idea of transcendence is that you are bridging two worlds, you have to kind of step that gap from one world to the next or one stage to the next and somehow make that transition. So continuing on with looking at the physical aspect of frog, I'm going to take a look now at the vision, the eyes, they have these eyes that are typically positioned at the top of the head. And they can see in all directions. So for most frogs, they can see nearly 360 degrees around. And a lot of times you'll see them with kind of mostly submerged in water, and the eyes will be above water, but they can kind of, you know, have this split vision, both above and below. Okay, so this amazing 360 degree, big picture, holistic kind of vision, the ability to see both sides of things, or all sides of things, the ability to see alternate points of view. Okay, this is a big aspect of the spiritual meaning of frog, this whole picture vision. But in addition to that holistic vision, they also are predators, and they do have a binocular vision for focus. So they are able to do both. And that is pretty rare and pretty spectacular that an animal can have both at once. Now, keeping in mind that that diffuse vision, that diffuse awareness is is really more of a feminine division, the ability to see, you know, the all seeing eye kind of thing. And the focus vision is really more masculine. So already, just in this one area of the frog, we're already seeing this kind of uniting or being able to bring that masculine and feminine together. And this is another big, big theme associated with frog is the union of masculine and feminine and that whole process of coming to that union, which is so important in ascension and transcendence. Okay, so that said, part of what I'm looking at with spirit animals is, you know, the animal itself, but we also look at folklore, and, you know, stories and sayings and frog leaf really rich, really rich variety of stories and folklore around frog. And there's a widespread saying in East Asia, and this appears in multiple cultures in East Asia, about a frog in a well, okay, so it's like a frog in a well, can only see that little circle above it. And it's really alluding to a person unable to see past their own narrow vision. So this is really the flip side of kind of the actual nature of the frog to be able to see. So it's sort of like the shadow side, it's like, is there something in your life that is restricting your natural ability to see, right? So if frog is coming up in terms of a problem, look for, okay, do I need to be looking past a narrow viewpoint of the world and expanding my viewpoint further. Okay, moving on to another part of the structure of a frog has got those big long hind legs for jumping the web feeds. The really frog is able to really propel itself, whether it's through the water, or on land through air, it's able to make these big leaps. Okay, so it can symbolize leaps forward, leaps of faith, you know, a lot of power and strength in terms of forward motion. But again, whether that's positive or negative depends a lot on the vision, right? You know, are you leaping forward in full awareness of what's around you? Or, you know, do you have this narrow vision, might you be leaping into, you know, just out of a reflex. And so the encouragement is to kind of leap if the time is right, but like to be aware of what you're leaping into, or leaping out of. Okay, so we've talked about frog vision, let's talk about sound now, because there's there's a lot associated with sound and the frog. Okay, you hear them in the spring, they're a harbinger of spring. So this is really the spring is talking about this whole idea of growth and abundance. Abundance is another huge theme we'll be talking about as well. So each species of frog has its own call. And it's typically the males that are calling for a mate. And they can get really, really loud, you can hear some species up to a mile away. And sometimes they'll actually seek out things like drain pipes and things and sit there and croak and call, because it amplifies the sound. So they have this natural concept of amplification of how to use sound or for increase for manifestation. Okay, so it's this is a really strong throat chakra energy here. This is singing into being, right? So if you're a frog person, or if you have a frog coming up here, this act of singing could be really powerful for you or the spoken word. Okay, and this could also refer to healing, you know, sound healing of any kind, whether it's through singing through drumming, even looking at the ear of the frog, it looks like the drumhead, right? Conversely, there's the saying about having a frog in one's throat. So there may be throat chakra issues that the frog might be calling your attention to. Either way, singing often can help a lot with the healing of the throat chakra or the strength strengthening of the throat chakra. So, you know, calling on the frog for that, that's going to be connected with breathing. Also, the breath very, very, very important. We'll talk a little bit more about breathing a little bit further on. So as I mentioned, the singing, that throat chakra has a huge connection with manifestation and, you know, manifesting abundance. So let's look at abundance as one of the huge meanings of frog, not only this idea of, you know, the singing and to being, but abundance, fertility, fecundity, cultures all the world really associate frogs with fertility, partly because they lay these copious, you know, masses of eggs. Eggs are always a symbol of fertility. And also their association with a rain. Some species of frogs can kind of feel the weather patterns and they'll start to sing before it rains. And that's probably because it's a mating thing. Because a lot of times the rain will create puddles that they can actually lay their eggs in. And especially areas that are a little bit drier, they might, you know, the frog will depend on the rain to, you know, for its reproductive cycle. So rain always has this connotation of bringing in the fertility, bringing in the abundance, right? And also often after a dry period in dry areas, if it does rain, the rain is going to bring an abundance of frogs, right? Because after it rains on these puddles, there's suddenly often will be like just tons and tons of frogs all over the place. Okay, so it is a symbol of abundance and the life force and the resurrection. Okay, we're going to get, again, more into that resurrection idea too, but coming from the dryness and, you know, nothing happening, like no frogs to suddenly just huge numbers of frogs. So this ability to just spring into life after a period of dryness or being barren. And of course, any time that you have a symbol of abundance or fertility, it's going to have a connection with prosperity, wealth and money. So a frog does also have this this money symbolism to it. And you may have seen maybe in Chinese restaurants, they have these fortune frogs or money frogs. And in Chinese mythology, there's this three-legged frog, and it carries a coin in its mouth, or maybe it has coins around it. And this is really a symbol of prosperity is supposed to bring good luck with money. The shadow side of that is the idea of gluttony. And with the frogs wide, wide mouth, it's got that symbol as well. So just something to watch if you do have, you know, a lot of the frog or toad energy. So I wanted to spend a little time talking about the prince and the frog story, because this is a story that crops up in many areas. And there's a lot of different variations of it. But the basic story is, there's a young girl, or young maiden, who typically she'll lose a treasure down a well, and the frog will retrieve it for her. It's usually a golden ball or something like that. Frog brings it up out of the well, she's delighted. And but then his condition, you know, for doing that is that, you know, she's asked to marry him. And initially, she rejects him sometimes she'll throw him against the wall. And as it turns out, he turns out to be a prince. But she has to accept him as what he is in order for that transformation to happen. So this is this is really a very profound commentary on this masculine feminine relationship and developing harmony between the masculine and feminine in order to enable this spiritual growth or transformation. And it can be applied to actually masculine feminine relations. But I'm going to look at it in terms of the masculine and feminine within oneself, balancing that and having those two energies work in harmony with one another, which is really necessary. It's a prerequisite for coming into a state of wholeness within oneself spiritually. So so this is a really, really powerful story. And let's look at it a little bit in the symbols in there. Okay, so basically, the story is really about truth or riches of some sorts could be spiritual riches, which may be elusive or hard to grasp, being brought up or surfacing or being recovered in order to affect great change or transformation. Okay, so I'm going to say that again, it's truth or riches which can be elusive or hard to grasp being brought up or surfacing or being recovered in order to affect change or transformation. So we're talking about the awakening and bringing forth bringing to the consciousness of unconscious wisdom. Okay, so this can this can actually refer there's a lot of layers or a lot of levels to this, you can it can actually be talking about awakening sexuality. So it's a story of puberty, but it can also be talking about the awakening of the intuitive faculties or a spiritual awakening, the integration of the self. Okay, so we have, first of all, a bringing up of this, this treasure from below. And you see this in the awakening process, right, if a person is undergoing a spiritual awakening, they'll be suddenly, you know, you may be seeing animal signs, you may be seeing numbers of synchronicities, you may be getting voices, all these things start to happen. Okay, and it's bringing up the stuff that has been hidden underneath in the subconscious and it starts coming to the surface. Okay, so that's what the frog is one of these messengers or guides who helps to bring that up. And then what happens is there's a rejection of it. Okay, so part of it's it's like the the ego is like, I can't handle this. This is just this is weird. This is ugly. This is scary. This is whatever it is, right? This is not for me. I'm not going to have anything to do with it. So this process of rejection. And if you are familiar with the hero's journey at all, there, there, this, these are a couple of the steps, right, things, something happening to bring oneself out of the normal world, and then a rejection. So look up heroes journey, if you are dealing with any of this kind of stuff. And then there is a reconciliation, right? So the maiden has to see through the frog and see that he's really a prince, right? So she's got to have that awareness and the ability to see past the illusion to the truth. You know, so it's looking past the ego to the higher self. And there has to be that unconditional divine love happening. Okay, only divine love can change or only unconditional love. And this is talking about self love. And again, this, this myth can pertain also to masculine feminine relations as well. But I'm going to look at it in terms of the integration of the self. Okay, so this is having to go through this process of self acceptance and self love, and, and really, a lot of compassion too, to actually connect with that higher self inside, that's that the prince inside the prince represents the Christ essence of the self, or Buddha essence or Krishna essence, whatever you're going to talk about the higher self, right? So we're going from the the animal self, the initially the frog represents being caught in one's animal nature in the animal self in the the instinctual programs that we're running for survival, right? And this is through this process of the reconciliation of this mask and feminine and bringing in the true love, the divine love, the Christ love, right, creates this transformation or elevation of the self from the animal to the human to the the royalty kind of human, right? This is the awakening process. It's also talking about the power of love to transform. Okay, so we can apply this to oneself, we can apply this to once you've done this within yourself, you know, bringing that divine love out into the world, and the ability, you know, once you've gone through this process, or, you know, even before it, there's there's always that higher self within us that can bring the divine love out. And that really does have that, that transformational quality to it. Okay, so it's about resurrection coming up from below. And also the coming out of hibernation frogs will actually hibernate they'll go into the state of torpor, some frogs can actually freeze, right? They can actually survive surviving frozen and come back. So, so this really is symbolic of resurrection. And it's symbolic of eternal life, right? And ultimately, ultimately, you know, the prince is restored, and they marry and they live happily ever after. So we've got this element of the keys to the kingdom. Okay, so the frog carries the keys to the kingdom. And I'm thinking, in some versions, it's actually keys that are dropped down that well. So very, very, very powerful mythology here. Okay, but there's still so much more to frogs. So let's talk about the frog's skin. Next. And because that has a lot of symbolism as well. Okay, so a lot of different, as I said, there's thousands of different kinds of frogs, they come in many, many different colors, especially most frogs are actually found in the tropical zones. And many of these have very brilliant colors, brilliant patterning. And if they're not brilliant, a lot of times they'll have beautiful patterning that will help to camouflage them. So there's different reasons for the different colors. If a particular frog is coming up for you, look at the color of it. And that may have, there's always symbol symbolism associated with colors as well. So you can figure out a little bit more about what your particular frog's message may be. Sometimes it comes through the colors. So the frog's skin is permeable, which means like it, the water can actually go through it air can actually go through this, this membrane, which is their skin. And it operates as a respiratory organ. So frogs can breathe in two ways. They have lungs, once they're past the tadpole stage, they can breathe with the lungs, but they can also breathe through their skin. And this means that they can breathe, both when they're in the water and in the land. Okay, so breath, that's the breath of life, right, this ability to breathe, and keep that breath going, regardless of the situation. So again, we're talking about this ability to ridge the two worlds between the unconscious or intuitive or the spiritual and the everyday world. Now, when they do breathe with lungs, it's a different process. And then what we have, they don't have a diaphragm. And what they do is they use that throat to actually as a pump to pump the air in and out the lungs. So if you see that frog, when it's in the air, pumping that throat, big throat sac, it's because that's what it how it needs to breathe. Again, there's that throat chakra, the idea of the breath of life coming through the throat that's expression to right. And when the frogs in the water, it diffuses oxygen right into the from the water right through the skin. Okay, so we can also look at the skin of the frog. In other ways, it's very thin skin, very, very sensitive. Okay, so there's a lot of sensitivity again, that goes along with the water goes along with the intuition. But the shadow side of that the flip side of that is, you know, extreme sensitivity. So a frog person, if you're a frog person, you might be extremely sensitive in many, many ways, you might be physically sensitive, maybe sensitive to environmental toxins, or to you might have like food allergies, that kind of thing. Frogs, really do operate like a canary in the coal mine, environmentally, they are extremely sensitive to toxins in the environment, largely because of this permeable skin, right? The skin is a protective organ. And the frog, it's easily permeated, right? So a frog person, because there is all this kind of watery empathy and intuitive you might be very, very empathetic, it might be difficult for you to know where the boundaries are between self and others, this can lead to, it can, it can lead to beautiful things, right? Being able to empathize, being able to, you might be have a very, very spiritual, might be very psychic, but it can also be very difficult for a frog person to ground oneself, or it might be hard to deal with other people's energies, right? So it might be good to perhaps find a counterpart totem that can help build a little bit more of a protection around you. This going in again, again, with a skin with a frog skin being slippery, there's an elusive quality. So this can be a power thing in order to kind of this being able the ability to slip out of the grasp of something that might be grasping you. So this is a protective quality of the skin that isn't like armor protection, but it's a little bit different. So it's almost like consider like a martial artist, like a judo master who maybe doesn't wear the armor, but who can kind of slip past or use like allow the other person's energy just sort of to slide off them, right? So this may be a way if you are really empathic to kind of consider, well, how can you kind of slip past these other energies? And a lot of that is awareness, okay, being really, really aware of everything that's around you using that 360 degree frog vision to develop an awareness that allows you to recognize this is mine. This is not mine. You know, how can I slide past this or allow these things to slip off me, right? The shadow side of the slipperiness is the elusive quality, lost thoughts, lost wisdom, thinking back to the lost treasure going down the well, right? Things slipping through one's fingers, lost opportunity, elusive opportunity. So looking at that also as a spiritual meaning that frog can bring up. And also to keep in mind that some species of frogs 11 they'll have these skin secretions. And some of them will be extremely poisonous or toxic. Okay, we all know about the poison dart frog, one of the most extremely toxic poisonous animals that there are. And it's like in the skin of the animal itself, it is a defense mechanism. But this is just a heads up to, you know, frogs coming forward. One potential meaning is to watch for fear based behaviors, right, that can be extremely toxic or toxic behavior coming up as a protective mechanism. We'll talk a little bit more about those toxins, because they can also have another meaning in which we'll get into in just a little bit. Okay. Before we do that, I want to also talk about this concept of the boiled frog. So there's this widespread belief that if you put a frog in cold water, and then gradually heat up the cold water to the boiling point that the frog will not jump out that it acclimates to it and just gets used to it and just doesn't recognize when it's time to jump out and it will sit there until it's boiled to death. Now, please don't try this at home. And I haven't tried this at home. But I understand that scientists have refuted this that though, you know, that a frog actually will jump out when the water gets hot enough, as most animals would react. But because it has captured the imagination of the masses to such an extent, I'm going to look at this story for its symbolic meaning because it's part of the whole myth of the frog. Okay, so there's the truth that comes through the story. And of course, we're all aware of what this is, it's really just, you know, not being aware of your own needs or becoming numb, just allowing things to creep up on you and staying in a bad situation, kind of, it's almost like an entanglement kind of thing. So watching for that kind of entanglement, it's not so bad that kind of attitude or, you know, oh, I'm used to it. And again, let's call into the awareness if you're, the frog can show up to point out to us that we may be in a situation like this where we've been tolerating and tolerating and tolerating and things have may have gotten, you know, begun to escalate and escalate, but because we're in this comfort zone, and not recognizing what our real needs are that we're not acting on our own behalf. So this can be a call to really take a look what really are your needs, okay, are you have you stayed in a situation too long, have things developed to the point where you really should have jumped out a long time ago, or perhaps are you numbing yourself, maybe through alcohol, maybe through other means in order to deal with, you know, certain, like being in this kind of gradual hot water kind of situation. So what's actually happening in your life? And is it something that you should be tolerating or not use that holistic vision and also the focused vision to determine what's, what's really going on and what your action should be. So there is a positive side to this. Sometimes we are, you know, certain circumstances are out of our control and that we have to actually just push through a situation in which case, you know, frog's ability to numb out, to hibernate, to go into hibernation can be a survival thing. But to recognize that that is helpful in a short term, sometimes we have to numb out for a little bit, but you know, to get through a short term problem, but you know, there's a difference between being able to shut out what's having temporarily to get through a situation and tolerating that situation for a long term, long term numb out, this is boiling water, it's really going to take you down. So, so recognizing this is a short term thing or is this going on way too long? If you can transcend the states and get through that crucible, it takes that, that true self-love sometimes to get oneself out of that. Really loving oneself enough to recognize your own needs and to take action to help yourself out of a situation that's not serving you anymore. Okay, so finally, let's talk again about the poison or the toxin in a frog's skin and also we'll talk a little bit more about toads. Okay, let's talk about toads first. In culture, most cultures the toad tends to have more negative connotations. Now, it doesn't have to, but this is kind of what comes through the culture because toads have a lot of defense mechanisms for survival. A toad is the one we remember with the warty skin because they've had to adapt to a little bit of a drier environment. Okay, so they have to be a little bit more survival oriented and a lot of times these survival things can be a little bit harsh when we're getting into a little bit more spiritual phase of life. Okay, so that's why they have a little bit more negative connotation in terms of spiritual meaning. They are associated with witchcraft and that's for a couple of different reasons, part because of its toxicity. We'll talk about that, but I just want to interject here if you identify it like as a white witch or something. I recognize that the word witch doesn't have to mean negative. It can be very positive thing, but historically, frog is often associated with like black witchcraft or that which is does not have positive intent that they're historically associated with using using frogs to create toxic potions or black magic kind of spells. Frogs and toads in particular, there's that poison in the toad and frog sometimes can be hallucinogenic. So it can actually be used as a portal to other dimensions. So it can be used in a shamanic way. It's not necessarily always toxic or bad, right? It can be really used consciously. And so having a frog or toad totem or spirit guide can also help you with or indicate like native shamanic ability or this ability to bridge the world, the ability to go on journeys, that kind of thing. A frog or toad can be a good guide for that sort of activity. A little bit more on on toad. Toad may be associated with a little bit more of a defensive personality or you know the puffing up bravado, right? A bravado is just kind of a puffing up of the ego which really is another form of self-defense, right? If you've ever seen, I saw a snake one's eating a toad and the toad was like completely puffed up, you know, trying to stay big enough for the snake not to eat it. And going back to that hallucinogenic quality, shadow side can be looking at addictions or being kind of caught up in the dream world and unable to come back to earth, right? So being able to manage that dream world kind of thing. If toad comes forward, it can be a really powerful shadow animal, right? Especially if you've been struggling with any kind of addiction or really kind of caught in the dream world and having a hard time grounding, working with toad as a shadow totem can be hopeful and working through that so that you can bring that power and, you know, the insights that you are able to get from the dream world into the world in a positive way. So that is associated with, you know, it can be turned into positive man and magic and also with this whole idea of transcendence, right? Transcending the animal nature or transcending into a higher consciousness. And finally there's this really odd medieval european belief about the toad stone which is a wondrous jewel or stone that was believed to be carried around in a toad's head. It was like a crystal, right? So toad's associated with crystal healing. This toad's stone was thought to have had healing properties. It could indicate the presence of a poison because the toad's so would heat up and it was supposed to also be able to draw poison out of wounds. So just a really weird piece of folklore around around toads but also pointing to their their connection with the healing arts and the connection with like energy healing or I mean the toad's stone, if you think of where it is in the toad's head, it's really kind of a referral reference to that pineal gland. All right so this has been a lot, just a ton of symbolism here. I'm just going to sum it up a little bit in terms of like the frog toad meaning or symbolism. It's going to be awakening, transcendence, resurrection, life cycles or transition, transformation, the circle of life, awareness or vision, bridge between the worlds, the whole idea of manifestation, abundance, prosperity, wealth, keys to the kingdom, fertility and sexuality, true love, self love, the power of love, forgiveness and compassion to transform, the masculine feminine balance, sensitivity, empathy, intuition, healing and healing magic alchemy and for the shadow side of frog we're looking at gluttony, narrow mindedness, lost wisdom, we're lost opportunity, being caught up in the ego as defense mechanisms which can range from toxic behavior to ego kind of puffing up to narrow-sightedness, black magic and addictions. So just a lot of different things. So working with frog and toad you're going to really need to feel into that intuition of yours. See what jumps out at you as to what this might mean. If you need help, if frogs have been just really coming forward for you and you would like some help figuring it out personally you know absolutely I'm offering sessions below you can certainly reach out to me for that. Just look in the description below. Other than that, good luck. This is an amazingly powerful totem or spirit guide and have fun with it. You can really do a lot with this totem. So take it easy. Hope you've enjoyed this and we'll catch you again soon.