Elephants On Parade

The greatest hero of my childhood, by far, was Tarzan. I lived, played, and breathed Tarzan. Seriously. Ask my parents who got tired of me writing "Tarzan lives" on everything. I could even speak a bit of the language of the Mangani, the great apes that raised Tarzan. After I would watch a Tarzan movie (even the Johnny Weismueller ones which are probably my least favorites) I needed to run outside and climb trees. (On a side note, I haven't felt that for years until I saw the movie, Avatar.) Anyway, the point I am getting to is that Tarzan’s best animal friend, aside from Nkima the monkey and Jad-bal-ja the golden lion, was Tantor the elephant. So, not surprisingly, elephants have always been a part of my world, permeating even into my subconscious mind, playing major roles in at least two significant dreams that I remember.

In the first dream, I was walking down the main street of Rosemount, my home town, with an elephant. I was trying, in vain, to direct the elephant in the direction I wanted him to go by pushing and prodding him as I walked alongside him. All I ended up doing was tiring myself out with frustration. The next thing I knew, I was on the elephant’s back, Tarzan style, straddling the great neck. As we traversed the same street, I discovered that by simply applying pressure behind the elephant’s ears with my knees, I could easily direct the pachyderm anywhere I wished. Upon waking, the meaning seemed obvious to me. The elephant was my power, and when I was not aligned with it, trying to force it, I accomplished nothing. But, when I was in harmony with my personal power, things were effortless and I could go anywhere I wanted.

Somewhere in the early years following college, I had another elephant dream. I was in my parent’s house and was afraid to go outside, trapped by fear, for when I looked out the windows I saw great, hulking, dark elephants who had roiling storm clouds for ears. Scawy! Still, for some reason, I did venture outside, and once there found clear blue skies and a back yard completely devoid of elephants. Well, except for one. One little baby elephant rolling around in the grass, laughing and having a good time. Huh. This one took me a bit longer to decipher, but once I did it became a very powerful image in my growing personal mythology. While in my parent’s house, inside the parameters of their reality, and looking out their windows, their perspective on the world, the outside seemed scary and very threatening, even if it were simply a reflection of their own power. When I stepped out of their world and investigated the world for myself, I found a bright, happy world, and a playful personal power who was excited to grow with me.

Also, among the comic characters I drew as a child, and still do up to the present time, is an elephant called The Purple Pachyderm. Dumbo, apparently isn’t the only elephant who can fly! And he doesn’t have a nifty mask and cape!

Somewhere along the line, whether it was my exploration of various spiritual beliefs, or just my cartoonist propensity toward anthropomorphism, I discovered a connection with Ganesha, the elephant-headed deity of Hinduism. It's one of those things that just seems so natural, and to have always been, the beginning of which is buried deep in the shadows of my memory. For years I've had a couple mini Ganesha shrines (one of which is a refrigerator magnet) and he was the closest thing I had to a personal deity.

I still hold a special connection with, and admiration for Him which, apparently, isn't totally unreciprocated. During a recent energy healing that I was receiving, I saw this beam of blue light suddenly descend, and shortly realized that Ganesha was there dancing around. He told me He’d been watching me and that I was “worthy”. Worthy of what I never quite got, but since then it’s occurred to me, as I struggle with self-worth issues, being worthy is probably enough.

Where is this all going? I guess I'm setting the stage for the following encounter, and why I should not have been as surprised as I was. This past year has seen a number of 'new' spirit guides appearing to me, during shamanic journeys, meditations, and Jyorei -- the energy healings I mentioned above with Ganesha.

During a Jyorei session an elephant appeared to me. He was hanging around pretty consistently so I did the shamanic thing and asked three times if he was my spirit guide. He answered yes. I asked what gift he had for me. He opened his mouth and he was holding a huge diamond there. With his trunk he lifted it up and placed it in my third eye. I found out later from a friend that diamonds have a special meaning in Jyorei. After that I asked him what medicine he carried. I suddenly saw him stand to his whole height, whereas before all I could see was his head, and very dignified and majestically he stated “Legacy”. Very fitting for Samhain time meeting a guide to the ancestors!

Then, during an impromptu jyorei session after picking up that same friend from the airport and taking her to another friend's, where she had left her car during her Thanksgiving trip to Alaska, I had another encounter. I caught a glimpse of an animal bobbing its head up and down. What I at first took to be a horse I soon realized was the elephant, nodding at me. I asked what he had to share at the moment and he told me he could help me stay grounded. I didn’t make the connection at the time, but while I was being told this, the elephant was showering itself with dirt, blown from his trunk. ...Ground! I finally had the presence of mind to ask for a name, and right away I heard “Bathsheba”. “Oh! You’re female? I thought you were male. You have such a powerful presence.” “Of course. We are matriarchical.” Afterwards it occurred to me, what better animal is there to help you ground than an elephant?

Since then I've called on Bathsheba when I feel the need to ground --which is pretty often as I tend to live in my head. And when I ask, I can see her in my mind, stand up to her full height, then when she's sure she has my attention, one at a time she lifts, then stomps, her two front feet, very solidly, on the earth.

Atleast she doesn't tell me "No tv for a week!"