The nature of Patronuses (Patroni?)

[Tonks]

No: HPFGUIDX 152069

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at ...> 
wrote:
>
> Potioncat:
> Excpet for DD and Tonks, we've only seen kids conjure a Patronus 
and so far no one seems to have planned out the form. I think (for 
what it's worth) that the Patronus is whatever it is, just like the 
> Animagus form.
>  (Snip)
> > JKR said a Patronus was resistent to evil. Only the Order 
>members know how to use the Patronus as a message. > 

Tonks:
I just checked at Lexicon and it says that the word means Patron 
like in a patron Saint. It also said that they are usually an 
animal. So I am wondering if they are like a power animal that 
Native American Shaman use? 

I sometimes think of the WW as the spirtual world. The world of the 
Shaman and the world of the wizard are much the same, I think. If we 
look at a Patronus as a power animal, like a power animal it 
protects the wizard. I know that one's power animal just appears. It 
is, I think, a part of owns own subconcious mind and has deep 
meaning to the person. Others may not know what that meaning is. In 
fact, I think a Shaman is not to tell others what the animal is. It 
is a very private part of the Shaman that assist and protects the 
Shaman when he/she travels to the lower and upper worlds, in other 
words to the spirtual world. Like the patronus I don't think that 
the power animal changes. 

I could be wrong, but I don't think that the power animal and the 
animal that the Shaman shape-shifts into is the same. (Mine are 
different. Not that I know that much about all of it. I took a few 
classes and did some journeying a few years back.)

I don't know if helps us understand the Patronus or not. It might 
help to wonder what the otter means to Hermione. Don't they have big 
teeth? Maybe there is a connection there to Hermione's teeth and her 
parents the Dentists. As to how that protects her, only Hermione 
knows. I think that one must have a feeling of comfort and 
fearlessness when the patronus is there. (My power animal gave me 
that feeling.)

Tonks_op