Quoll - Action Keywords: Lightning-fast reflexes in all worlds. Speed. A call to action. Action. Do it! Maintaining your health and hygiene. Take the opportunity. Risk-taking. Spiritual, physical and emotional opportunity. Be a predator. Stress. General Description: The quoll is a cat-like carnivorous marsupial of Australia, it eats arthropods and small vertebrates such as rodents, rabbits and birds. They are opportunistic hunters, and known for their fastidious cleaning of their paws and snout after eating. They are furry and all species have white spots. The females only develop their pouch during breeding season and baby quolls are as large as a grain of rice. Due to the stress of living, hunting and breeding most quolls only survive two years into breeding. Quolls are ground-dwelling but have ridges on their paws to aid in arboreal climbing and hunting. They are related to the Tasmanian devil and the antechinuses. Quolls are threatened by habitat destruction and predation from feral cats (including the cat borne disease toxoplasmosis), foxes and dogs. Most quolls are Endangered or Threatened. Lessons and Challenges: Quoll is an animal energy of action, whenever this energy moves into your life, it is time to do. Put thoughts aside, put speculation aside, whatever issue is giving you grief right now; quoll asks you to act on it. Quoll is a loud messenger, it shouts, 'DO IT!' Along with this pressure to act comes the obvious threat or response of stress. At this time you may be under a lot of stress or pressure, this is considered normal with the presence of the energy of quoll and the need to be more active in your life. With the need to be more active comes a call to also remember to maintain your health and hygiene. Taking time to care for the cleanliness of your body both outside, and in (through paying attention to the sustenance of your food). Give yourself permission to be a predator, or to be more predatorial. It might be something that you're already quite good at, or it might be a concept that causes you to baulk. Either way, quoll encourages you to be a risk-taker, be more aggressive with getting what you want, and in short - to not only see opportunity, but to take advantage of it. As mentioned above, there is a greater need to exploit opportunity at this time. There is also a greater amount of spiritual, physical and emotional opportunity when quoll energy is present. There might be more chances for career advancement, spiritual growth, physical development and other forms of progress at this time. Quoll brings the ability to have lightning-fast reflexes in all worlds. What I mean by that is not only the ability to act, think and react quickly in our mundane world; but also in the realms of energy and spirits. With quick reflexes comes an emphasis on speed and 'speeding up.' Some animals coax people to 'slow down,' savour life, enjoy it. But quoll is a significant animal energy that says 'go faster.' Quoll will sometimes be quite aggressive about this, and can be a useful energy or spirit to work with for those who are procrastinators at heart. The Shadow Aspects: Those who fear or dislike quoll may find that they resist all aspects of action in their lives. They might be lazy, or they might simply procrastinate. Quoll teaches us how to truly be proactive, and reminds us that we have the energy to do it. Do not fear burning yourself out, quoll is an intensively energising force that will support you as you discover that you can be proactive. One thing is necessary however, get off the couch, get away from the computer, get away from the thoughts in your head that tell you to stop doing things that you want to do. Be active! Those who fear or dislike quoll may find that they are intensely stressed out by all forms of risk, including those that are necessary. Quoll reminds you that you miss out on opportunity by letting this stress rule you. If the stress is a problem, then get it treated, or find ways to manage it yourself. It is important that you understand that normal levels of stress are healthy. It is also important that you come to realise that without risk, you will not lead a fulfilling and challenging life. Communion: Like all animal helpers, this animal will only appear when right and appropriate, and cannot be forced to visit you, commune with you, or share messages with you. Quoll can have a very aggressive energy once encountered, but in my own experience (and in the experience of a couple of others I have talked with), quoll can actually be shy for some time if approached in journeying. Even in visualisation it can be tough for people to get a clear picture or idea of quoll energy, unless quoll spirit chooses to be present. Quoll enjoys offerings of raw meat and insects in general. The latter can be handy, particularly in Australia, as there are no shortages of flies / crickets etc. which can be offered to quoll. Quoll also enjoys folks who are active spiritually, and can be a very pushy and even physically aggressive animal guide. 'Live fast, die young,' would be an appropriate motto for quoll. As a guide, quoll can be unforgiving and even punitive; but its need to push people into ever greater levels of stress and action means that people with a quoll as guide have an extraordinary amount of power at their fingertips, and the ability to keep locating opportunities.