Working With The Animal Totems
ELEPHANT ~ Asian/Indian (domestic) and African (wild)
Spirit of the Elephant: Strength, Wisdom, Purpose, Royalty, Ancient Wisdom and Commitment
LINKS:
https://wildgratitude.com/elephant-symbolism/
https://whatismyspiritanimal.com/spirit-totem-power-animal-meanings...
http://www.atlantisqueen.co/animal-totems/2011/9/11/animal-totems-t...
http://www.manizone.co.uk/elephant-totem-a-21.html
http://www.animalspirits.com/index7.html
http://www.shamanicjourney.com/article/6034/elephant-power-animal-s...
http://www.whats-your-sign.com/elephant-meaning.html
http://www.universeofsymbolism.com/elephant-symbolism.html
http://speakerfortheanimals.blogspot.com/2006/04/elephant-symbol-of...
http://www.sunsigns.org/elephant-animal-totem-symbolism-meanings/
Learn More About The Pre-historic "Woolly Mammoth"
http://dinosaurs.wikia.com/wiki/Woolly_Mammoth
AFRICAN ELEPHANT:
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/african-eleph...
Elephant's Wisdom Includes:
* Strength
* Royalty
* Connection to ancient wisdom
* Removal of obstacles and barriers
* Confidence
* Patience
* Using education opportunities
The Elephant
Throughout history elephants have been prized for their power and strength. They are extremely intelligence and honored by many cultures. Elephants are the largest land animals and among the longest lived, with life spans of 60 years or more. According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha chose the form of a white elephant as one of his many incarnations and the rare appearance of a white elephant is still heralded as a manifestation of the gods. The Hindu god Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, is depicted with the head of an elephant.
Despite their great weight elephants walk almost noiselessly. Their stride is exceptionally graceful and rhythmic. Their hearing, smell, taste and touch is acute. This compensates for their poor eyesight. Their eyes are small in relation to the enormous head, which can only turn slightly from side to side. This limited movement results in restricted side vision. Those with this medicine feel things deeply and respond to those feelings from a place of inner knowing. Because their peripheral vision is limited they have a tendency to look straight ahead and not always see what is around them. Learning to shift ones focus to encompass the whole is helpful.
Loyal and affectionate elephants are willing to risk their life for the sake of others in a family group. Wild elephants have been known to grieve and even shed tears over the death of a family member. They have excellent memories and when mistreated they often seek revenge.
Elephants have a total of four teeth, all molars. The first pair of molars is located toward the front of the mouth. When they wear down, they drop out and the two molars in the back shift forward. Two new molars emerge in the back of the mouth to replace those that have moved forward. Elephants replace back molars six times throughout their life. When the last set wear out, they are unable to chew and die of starvation.
Teeth have great symbolism. They are considered receivers and transmitters of energy linked by connecting paths throughout the astral body. Because the elephant is highly intelligent those with this totem make excellent researchers and alternative scientists. The complex study of numbers, energy meridians and the tie in between the physical brain, the teeth locations, and the major and minor head chakras is fascinating as well as beneficial.
Elephant tusks point backwards and are used as weapons and for digging edible roots. From a spiritual point of view this suggests an ability to uncover the secrets left behind you and bring them to the consciousness for evaluation and healing.
This beautiful creature hold the teachings of compassion, loyalty, strength, intelligence, discernment and power to name a few. If this is your medicine these virtues are a part of your natural character. By applying these gifts in your life soul evolution is achieved.
ASIAN ~ INDIAN ELEPHANT
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/asian-elephant/
Discerning Between ASIAN / INDIAN (domestic) and AFRICAN (wild) Elephants
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/african-eleph...
BUDDHA HEALING THE ELEPHANT
The main characteristics of the elephant are his strength and steadfastness. There for it become a symbol of physical and mental strength, as well as responsibility and earthiness.
In Indian mythology we hear about the flying elephants and Airavata, the white elephant who become the vehicle of Indra and appeared from the churning of the milky ocean. Therefore white elephants are considered very special and with the power to produce rain. They are identified as rain-bearing clouds, which will explain the belief in the flying elephants. In Indian society elephants were considered to bring good luck and prosperity. They were owned by the kings and used in wars.
In buddhism the elephant is a symbol of mental strenght. At the beginning of one's practice the uncontrolled mind is symbolised by a gray elephant who can run wild any moment and destroy everything on his way. After practising dharma and taming one's mind, the mind which is now brought under control is symbolised by a white elephant strong and powerful, who can be directed wherever one wishes and destroy all the obstacles on his way.
Buddha Shakyamuni was born as elephant in some of his previous incarnations. Also in his last incarnation as Siddharth Gautama he songs: descended from the Tushita pure land and entered his mother's womb in the form of a white elephant.
In buddhist iconography we find the elephant-faced deity Gangpati or Ganesh as an emanation of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. Also in another aspect, representing the worldly aspect of the same evergy he is trampled upon by same other deities such as Mahakala, Vajra Bhairava and others.
In the mandala offering ritual one offers to the Buddha the Precious Elephant, with the strength of one thousand elephants and who can circumdbulate the whole universe three times in one day. Also the elephant tusks are one of the Seven Royal Emblems.
The elephant is the vehicle of the Tathagata Aksobhya and the deity Balabadra. The elephant also appears as a guardian of the temples and of Buddha himself.
Queen Maya dreamt of a white elephant carrying a white lotus and entered her womb through her right flank
WHITE ELEPHANT SYMBOLOGY:
http://www.crystalinks.com/elephants.html
The legend of the white elephant began in Southeast Asia, the home of the White Elephant. In metaphysics we learn that any animal represented by the color white, supposedly is linked to mystical legends, giving it greater power. White represents purity, the Light. Elephants represent power and peace. When the trunk is lifted it means overcoming obstacles.
In the story of the Buddha, the white elephant is connected to fertility and knowledge. On the eve of giving birth to the Lord Buddha, his mother dreams that a white elephant comes to present her with a lotus, symbol of purity and knowledge.
At the heart of the first great Southeast Asian Empire, at the Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the might of the war elephants is depicted on murals of the region's armies. Over the next few hundred years, two states dominated the region - the forerunners of modern Burma and Thailand (Siam). In both, the elephant was a very important animal. It was key to military success - both in mass battles, and in the elephant duels. It was also key to royal pageantry - kings chose the biggest, most magnificent elephants for royal ceremonies and processions. Kings and courtiers spent a lot of time and energy hunting elephants from the forests. And the most powerful kings kept thousands in their stables.
In legend the Royal White Elephant brought sacred power. It brought fertility. For the kings of Burma and Siam, the possession of these sacred beasts became very important. A king who had many fine white elephants would be successful - his kingdom would prosper and his reign be long. If his white elephants died, it foretold disaster for the king and his kingdom.
The magnificent king needed seven things: a perfect wife, and able treasurer, a wise chief minister, a swift horse, a wheel of the law and a precious gem to guide his actions: and the most noble of white elephants. The kings hunted eagerly for these fine and special beasts. Occasionally royals presented white elephants to one another as marks of diplomacy. Wars were fought over them for the represented their rule as chosen by the gods. The Royal White Elephants were not taken to war, and not ridden in procession, Rather they were kept within the confines of the palace, entrusted to the care of senior officials, fed well, washed regularly, and worried over constantly.
When the British envoy came to Amarapura in 1855, Mr. C. Grant, the artist, drew beautiful pictures of the royal white elephant, Nibbana. Grant also made an eyewitness account of the noble beast - The color of the animal was a cream very slight dun, his magnificent tusks nearly touch the ground. He was in bands of crimson cloth or velvet and gold, studded with large bosses of gold, margined with innumerable rubies.
By the nineteenth century, the white elephant was firmly established as one of the special wonders of Siam. American Frank Vincent titled his book on Southeast Asia, The Land of the White Elephant.
From Burma came reports of the kings' extravagant care for white elephants. Though his favorite white elephant was clearly dying, the last Burmese king, Thibaw, loaded him with treasures, making him the wealthiest person in the country. His forehead was decked with a spray of diamonds to ward off evil spirits. Diamonds were set into each tusk. A golden plaque, inscribed with his titles, hung from his head - golden pendants hung from his ears. Four golden umbrellas protected him from the heat of the sun. Above his gold feeding trough, a mirror specially ordered from France was installed to reflect his splendor. Yet the white elephant died. The pundits predicted plagues, floods, earthquakes. But the real disaster was more prosaic. The British took over Burma and deposed the king.
In neighboring Siam, the kings revered the white elephant and put its likeness on their new flag. But with elephants no longer so vital for warfare, elephant hunts had become less common, and fewer of the rare white elephants were found. The Siamese king passed a law demanding that any white elephant found in the kingdom had to be presented to the king. He sent out scouting parties and offered rewards. The discovery of a white elephant became a special event, a time for national celebration.
In the 1820's After Sir John Bowring arrived in Bangkok. He negotiated the main trade treaty between Britain and Siam, the Siamese king sent to Queen Victoria a tuft of the white elephant's hairs; and to Sir John himself, a few hairs from the tail.
In the 1860's King Mongkut heard that America had no white elephants. He offered to send several pairs of young male and female elephants turned loose in the forest where there was an abundance of water and a suitable climate. President Lincoln replied that the American climate was probably unsuitable, and that they preferred to use steam power. But he thanked the Siamese king for the gift of two magnificent elephant tusks.
King Mongkut's son, King Chulalongkorn traveled to Europe in 1907. One of his German hosts had heard about the Siamese love for the white elephant. He hired a local artists to make a flag with a white elephant and hang it all around the house where the king was lodged. The King thanked him very much for the thought. It had made him feel very much at home. But it was a pity the artist had probably never seen an elephant. The animal on the flag looked more like a cow. He would send them a proper elephant. What he meant by this was the Order of the White Elephant - a decoration granted by the king for service to the state.
Today White Elephants are very rare. They are still revered in Southeast Asia- Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam. The last white elephant in Burma was found in 1961. They are different than the descriptions of the Royal White Elephants in legend. White elephants' sculptures, paintings, wood craves, murals and archives can be found in temples, palaces in Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand.
In August 2004, a rare Albino elephant was spotted spotted in Sri Lanka.
LEARN MORE ABOUT GANESHA ~ LINKS:
http://www.amritapuri.org/3714/ganesha.aum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha
http://www.religionfacts.com/ganesha
http://www.crystalinks.com/ganesh.html
All Tantric and spiritual worship in the Hindu tradition begins with the invocation
of Ganesha. Acceptance of the strange looking elephant-headed deity as the
divine force stills the rational mind and it's doubts, forcing one to look beyond
outer appearances. Thus Ganesha creates the faith to remove all obstacles.
The Hindu god Ganesh, god of overcoming obstacles, is associated with the Elephant.
GANESHA MANTRA TEXT
AUM
GAJANANAM BHOOTGANADHISEVITAM
KAPITTHYA JAMBOO PHALCHARU BHAKSHANAM
UMASUTAM SHOKVINASHKARAKAM
NAMAMI VIGHNESHWAR PADPANKAJAM
AUM
Translation:
Elephant-faced, worshipped by the existing beings, of all living beings,
the son of Uma, destroyer of grief,
I bow to the lotus feet of Ganesha who is Lord of all.
SYMBOLISM OF THE GANESHA FORM:
http://www.templepurohit.com/different-lord-ganesha-form-postures/
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