[Sidenote: Relics of Totemism in religion]
That this vagueness on the subject of paternity in the mind of primitive man finds its counterpart even in civilised societies[168] is shown by the many legends of a supernormal birth in which the father is dispensed with or is replaced by some non-human being[169]. The deep rooted and persistent nature of the tendency to totemism is shown also by the very frequent occurrence at all stages of culture of theriomorphic gods, whose cult often leads to certain animals or classes of animals being regarded as sacred, just as in the case of totemic communities. Even when the gods are no longer habitually regarded as animals, they still occasionally take on animal form (_cp._ the frequent animal disguises of Zeus) or are connected with, or represented by, animal symbols (_cp._ the dove, the pelican, the lamb, the fish and the ass in Christianity). In the individual mind of the civilised person animals are frequently utilised as symbols of the parents in dreams and other productions of the Unconscious[170]. There are indeed persons who experience a peculiar fascination for some kind of animal, which they regard with mixed feelings among which love, admiration, awe, disgust and hate are often to be found; those emotions usually predominating which are most prominent in the individual's relations to his father. Thus in one case well known to the present writer, in which the ideas connected with the father were chiefly those of goodness and wisdom, the hostile aspects being much repressed, the owl was looked upon very much in the light of an individual totem, the solemn stare and pouting figure of the bird appearing to symbolise the kindly beneficence and immense wisdom of the (earthly and heavenly) father--with just so much of mystery and possibility of evil as to add a tinge of awe and horror to the total attitude. Freud[171] and Ferenczi[172] have each reported interesting cases in this connection, in both of which the father-regarding tendencies and emotions had become displaced on to a particular kind of animal (in one case the horse, in the other the fowl) with the result that this animal exercised an intense and persistent fascination, in which opposing elements of love and hate could clearly be distinguished[173].