Encountered one on the way home, and by complete surprise found this little guy(another, smaller one) on my shoe. Let him crawl on my thumb and took him to the wet stone and mud outside.
More on the slug.
To see the banana slug is to know that you, too, can magnificently stand out in the middle of a muddy world. You can be courageous amidst untold dangers, yet capable of defending yourself. You can wait out the dry spots in your life. You can slide easily over the rough edges that inevitably stand in your path or scale impossible heights. While some may find your innate properties off-putting (and want to avoid you), know that you are a vital part of this world.
https://breathetogetheronline.com/nature/why-you-might-call-banana-slug-your-spirit-animal/Slug Symbolism = Hermaphroditic
The slug is considered a hermaphroditic animal and is therefore embodies the Divine Masculine AND the Divine Feminine. Because of this, the slug is more of a spiritual being than an earthly being. Great balance and strength is also a message the slug brings. They are able to mate with any other slug and produce hundreds of offspring and henceforth represent fertility.
Slugs and Shamans
I used to see slugs as being snails that are “between homes” but I realized slugs are actually a different species than snails. They don’t need a mobile home. They are strong without it. The slug spirit animal is connected to shamans of certain cultures. During the mating process, the slug sometimes loses a part of its body, just as the shaman loses a part of himself upon initiation.