Animals as Divine

Gods and goddesses from all over the world are often personified as animals. In many cultures, the animals are the gods themselves. They possess supernatural powers that are attrib­uted to natural phenomena such as creation and destruction. They were both feared and revered because the appeasement of the ani­mal spirit was essential to human survival. For example, the Native American thunderbirds were spectacular giant eagles whose thun­derous roar brought storms and nourishing rains to the earth, but they also had the potential to destroy with their lightning bolts and shake the land with mighty quakes. And there were the shamans of the Inuit cultures who were sometimes summoned to visit the animal spirits as a means of assuring a robust food supply for the people. So tenuous was life and the balance of nature for many of these tribal cultures that forging a good relationship with the ani­mals was an integral part of existence.

Animal lore reveals many examples of human/animal hybrids. The Egyptians carried the tradition of "god heads" throughout their pantheon. For example, the god Horus had a human body with a falcon head and the goddess Bast had a human body with a cat head. In Hinduism, Ganesha is portrayed as the wise elephant-headed god with a human body.

Animals also served as companions to the gods and acted as both guides and emblems of the gods' power and connectivity to the environment. God companions can be found in nearly every culture throughout the world. The omnipresence of the animal guide endowed these confidants of the gods with wisdom, power, and respect. They were the primordial source of life and invoking their presence enabled people to tap into divine wisdom.

In some initiation rites, animal guises were worn as a means ol connecting with the animal spirit, perhaps to receive wisdom and guidance from the animal gods. Or perhaps by donning the mask the wearer was able to embody animal wisdom and its instinctual power.

Animals were often viewed as fantastical beasts possessing mag­ical powers. The many mutations of animal creatures invigorated human imagination and kept animal imagery alive in the collective psyches. The mysterious circumstance surrounding the fabrications of fabulous beasts may have been an attempt to express the ineffa­ble aspects of our own internal being. The beasts may have been personifications of the various components of our psychological landscape that may have appeared in dreams. But did creatures that we observed in nature inspire these dreams or were they products of an inherited collective consciousness?

Animals can serve as guides for your own psychic exploration. The appearance of a particular animal can serve to help you iden­tify your potential or confront your innermost fears.

There is no distinction in Animals Divine between those ani­mals celebrated in world pantheons and those that we see in our actual lives. The wealth of mythological stories and the symbolic manifestations of the animal spirit are reflections of our internal kinship with the animal kingdom. Ancients conferred with the stars and often viewed stellar configurations as animals. Their per­ceived power over cosmic events preserved their lasting influence in Chinese zodiacs and Western astrological charts. Their attributes echo our own and remind us to remain aware of our intuitive powers and instincts. By following our "gut feelings" we are, in essence, listening to our animal teachers.

The path to deeper and better appreciation for animals is some­times falsely veiled in an idea of what appreciating an animal entails. Just watching them on a television nature program, al­though this can be helpful, or observing them in a zoo is not a means of establishing a deep appreciation for the essence of that animal. You have to learn to truly immerse yourself and contem­plate the fascinating nature of the animal kingdom.

You can learn from animals by becoming more aware of their presence in your daily life, in both your waking state and dream state. Even if you do not encounter animals on a daily basis, they are not intangible. They are ever-present in the depths of your soul. They are ready to speak to you if you allow yourself to be open to what they have to say.

While working on the Animals Divine Tarot I felt that I was growing more appreciative of animals. Even though I have always loved animals, by focusing my energies on creating a deck devoted to them I began to look at animals differently and noticed them everywhere I went.

As a result, I could not help but be struck by the omnipresence of animals in popular culture. Humanity cannot escape its deep-seated connection with the animal world. Animal names are used for cars, sports teams, and even pop bands (one of my favorite alternative rock bands being the Super Furry Animals); they are anthropomorphized over and over again in movies, cartoons, and other forms of entertainment.

Maybe this is humanity's way of reconciling with animals. We need them. We need to know that they are here, sharing the earth with us. When an animal becomes extinct, it arouses tremendous grief in the general populace. Somehow, despite the exploits of the industrial age, we continue to need our animal brothers and sisters as much as many of us needed our stuffed animal confidants as children. Animals are part of who we are and their presence is somehow comforting.

Why do they come to us, the animals? What do they want, inhabiting our dreams? Are they the "animal guardians," as other totemic cultures would say? Are they coming to remind us of our affinity with them, to keep their presence before us? To guard against extinction, both theirs and ours? They may be coming to us so that the creation itself may perpetuate.²

Two

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16