Post by Spirit of the Lynx on Jul 4, 2007 18:32:54 GMT -5
From: ScrëämïngËäglë™ (Original Message) Sent: 6/30/2003 11:01 AM
Bull, Buffalo animal totem
As most readers of these pages will already be aware, the magnificent animal
that we call a buffalo is in reality a bison. We will yield to common nomenclature,
however, and continue to refer to the Lord of the Plains as a buffalo.
In the early days of the United States, the buffalo ranged from the western
plains to as far east as the Allegheny Mountains. Especially to the nomadic
plains tribes, the buffalo was a living symbol of the perpetuation of their
life force and their lifestyle. When the great one was slain, every part of
its body was used, not a scrap wasted. The hunters and their families
utilized the meat, the blood, the hide, the sinews, the horns, the hooves
and in some cases the slayer would kneel to breathe in the dying
animal's breath.
Around the year 1822, an estimated 60 million buffalo roamed the plains.
When the great slaughter of the animals began in the 1 860s with the building
of the railroad lines across the plains territories, the great Ogallala Teton Sioux
Red Cloud took it as his mission from the Great Mystery to protect the buffalo.
When he began his war in 1865, the number of the buffalo had diminished to an
estimated 13 million. Although Red Cloud won many important battles and even
achieved the victory of preserving buffalo hunting grounds for his people, at the
time of his death in 1909, the number of buffalo in the entire United States was
estimated to be fewer than one thousand. Today, the spirit of Red Cloud may
consider the comeback of the buffalo herds to be a mixedblessing, as they are
now domesticated animals, rather than the free-roaming Lords of the Plains that
they were in the past.
Although in the legend of the White Buffalo Woman the hunter's romantic feelings
toward the enchantingly beautiful woman were rebuffed in a most violent manner,
there are numerous accounts among Native American tribes of marriages between
buffalo and humans. Other tales depict an underworld populated with buffalo that are
awaiting a propitious time to reclaim the surface world.
Scholars of religion have long noted that sooner or later every primitive god
becomes a bull.
To the Egyptians, Apis, the sacred bull, annually sacrificed at Memphis, was a
reflection of the Creator Spirit. Horus, the bull-calf, represents Osiris reborn
from his mother, Isis-Hathor.
Bull worship was a central element in Mithraism, a cult that became popular
throughout the Mediterranean region. Dionysus, an Orphic god, manifested in
the form of a bull. In the apocryphal book of Enoch, the Messiah is represented
as a white bull. In like manner, the great, charging form of the bull/buffalo was an
impressive embodiment of the Great Mystery to those tribes whose continued
existence depended upon its flesh.
Yama, the Hindu Lord of Death, has the head of a bull and judges the underworld.
The Minotaur, in his labyrinthine caverns awaiting the foolhardy who seek to
trespass in his domain, is another symbol of a guardian of the underworld, with
the body of a man and the head of a bull.
Celtic representations of bulls, particularly those from Gaul, often depict the
creature's mighty head with three horns, quite likely placing an emphasis on
the horn as a power symbol.
The Irish feast of the bull, tairbfeis, included the drinking of the animal's blood,
as well as the eating of its flesh. After thus eating and drinking, one might lie
down to sleep on the bull's hide to have dreams of the future and the Other Side.
Grandmother Twylah of the Seneca teaches that the buffalo represents force
and strength. If you should dream of a buffalo, you are being given a sign that
you are supported by spirit in the accomplishment of a new project. If you often
envision a buffalo, you are being given confidence in your ability to
achieve your goals.
If you have chosen or accepted the buffalo as your totem animal, you have an
ally that will encourage you to spend a great deal of time out-of-doors. Your
buffalo totem will seek to help you establish a solid connection with the Earth
Mother and will endeavor to teach you ways in which you may assist the many
endangered creatures to avoid extinction. Your spirit helper will bring you strength
of character and build within you an independent spirit that will prize
freedom above all things.
Bull, Buffalo animal totem
As most readers of these pages will already be aware, the magnificent animal
that we call a buffalo is in reality a bison. We will yield to common nomenclature,
however, and continue to refer to the Lord of the Plains as a buffalo.
In the early days of the United States, the buffalo ranged from the western
plains to as far east as the Allegheny Mountains. Especially to the nomadic
plains tribes, the buffalo was a living symbol of the perpetuation of their
life force and their lifestyle. When the great one was slain, every part of
its body was used, not a scrap wasted. The hunters and their families
utilized the meat, the blood, the hide, the sinews, the horns, the hooves
and in some cases the slayer would kneel to breathe in the dying
animal's breath.
Around the year 1822, an estimated 60 million buffalo roamed the plains.
When the great slaughter of the animals began in the 1 860s with the building
of the railroad lines across the plains territories, the great Ogallala Teton Sioux
Red Cloud took it as his mission from the Great Mystery to protect the buffalo.
When he began his war in 1865, the number of the buffalo had diminished to an
estimated 13 million. Although Red Cloud won many important battles and even
achieved the victory of preserving buffalo hunting grounds for his people, at the
time of his death in 1909, the number of buffalo in the entire United States was
estimated to be fewer than one thousand. Today, the spirit of Red Cloud may
consider the comeback of the buffalo herds to be a mixedblessing, as they are
now domesticated animals, rather than the free-roaming Lords of the Plains that
they were in the past.
Although in the legend of the White Buffalo Woman the hunter's romantic feelings
toward the enchantingly beautiful woman were rebuffed in a most violent manner,
there are numerous accounts among Native American tribes of marriages between
buffalo and humans. Other tales depict an underworld populated with buffalo that are
awaiting a propitious time to reclaim the surface world.
Scholars of religion have long noted that sooner or later every primitive god
becomes a bull.
To the Egyptians, Apis, the sacred bull, annually sacrificed at Memphis, was a
reflection of the Creator Spirit. Horus, the bull-calf, represents Osiris reborn
from his mother, Isis-Hathor.
Bull worship was a central element in Mithraism, a cult that became popular
throughout the Mediterranean region. Dionysus, an Orphic god, manifested in
the form of a bull. In the apocryphal book of Enoch, the Messiah is represented
as a white bull. In like manner, the great, charging form of the bull/buffalo was an
impressive embodiment of the Great Mystery to those tribes whose continued
existence depended upon its flesh.
Yama, the Hindu Lord of Death, has the head of a bull and judges the underworld.
The Minotaur, in his labyrinthine caverns awaiting the foolhardy who seek to
trespass in his domain, is another symbol of a guardian of the underworld, with
the body of a man and the head of a bull.
Celtic representations of bulls, particularly those from Gaul, often depict the
creature's mighty head with three horns, quite likely placing an emphasis on
the horn as a power symbol.
The Irish feast of the bull, tairbfeis, included the drinking of the animal's blood,
as well as the eating of its flesh. After thus eating and drinking, one might lie
down to sleep on the bull's hide to have dreams of the future and the Other Side.
Grandmother Twylah of the Seneca teaches that the buffalo represents force
and strength. If you should dream of a buffalo, you are being given a sign that
you are supported by spirit in the accomplishment of a new project. If you often
envision a buffalo, you are being given confidence in your ability to
achieve your goals.
If you have chosen or accepted the buffalo as your totem animal, you have an
ally that will encourage you to spend a great deal of time out-of-doors. Your
buffalo totem will seek to help you establish a solid connection with the Earth
Mother and will endeavor to teach you ways in which you may assist the many
endangered creatures to avoid extinction. Your spirit helper will bring you strength
of character and build within you an independent spirit that will prize
freedom above all things.