It's Official
At 2 in the morning the other day they were bugling. It starts in September and goes through October, and the calves are born in late May or early June.
We have a calf born in our yard every year, and we had one born under our deck last year.
These creatures must like us.
Quote from Rocky Mt. News, September 13
posted by jm at 4:29 PM
35 Comments:
wow! born under your deck and in your yard. that is very wonderful.
No! That was a quote from someone else. I should have clarified It was in the paper today. I only get foxes here.
These are my family, my totem, my tamanawas.
Once when my father, son and i were out mushrooming in the Cascades, my father who is also Elk totem and i got off into some rapturous talk of Elk. We had seen signs of them, footprints along the creek, the munched skunk cabbage that they dearly love. Suddenly thuder off the mountain turned into a herd of Elk who ran downslope out of the trees and around us in the glade, around and around they circled, then back up the mountain and disappered. It was magic....cinderella lives for it!
Well rut is serious business if you are an Elk. Once driving through the Canadian Rockies on a dark and icy night we encountered a herd i rutting season. They took askance at my little VW. I tried to convince my partner to back up but SF city boy was sure the answer was to drive right through. Ahem, we got tossed. Luckily a big rig came blaring up and could give us a lift to Calgary. 'spensive, that man was too.
I love the elk so much. Great story, tseka.
I think they are more powerful and awe inspiring than people realize. They've retained their wildness and "integrity". There is some spirit in them that I can't define. Pride for one.
Cindy is lucky! And smart.
oops that anonymouns was actually tseka
I've heard lots of these stories anon. In Colorado they are famous. The power when you meet one on the road...well....you know.
Their medicine is the lungs. They bellow and wheeze and whistle. I liken their sounds to asthma and other bronchial conditions. They eat the young green spruce tips rich in vitimin c and skunk cabbage a good lung medicine.
Hey ho anon! That sounded like another you. Not Cinderella. Not tseka...?
Another Pisces character?
Very very interesting. Makes complete sense, with me as a singer. The geese effect me the same way. They have vocal lessons to teach me about breath and power. I wonder about the connection with wheezing, bellowing, and sex. Or is it just territory and power? Attraction?
Their lore is fascinating, shamanic, they wander high ridges and mostly stay away from people. They (and their cariboo/reindeer kin) are the symbol of the stillpoint, the winter solstice.
The male whistle is very potent, irresistible to women, the cows herd up later and form loving family units. Oh my. It's another passion...
Wow. This is wonderful. I had no idea. I saw the picture and I had to go there. Your love of them is like medicine.
I'd like to know more about the still point.
The whistle gets back to sound and the othertones. The calls. The messages.
power and symmetry, this factoid i got from an article about deer, if a young male who is vying for his harem breaks his antler it will grow back asymmetrially almost as if a symbol of shame. Everyone knows you aren't the top guy.
It's a rough world.
Wow again. Uh oh. Power and symmetry. I wonder a lot about that one.
I've got to go out for a sec. Anything you have about the lore is highly, highly appreciated. This is living in real time in an odd way. We are breathing, warm encyclopedias. Thanks for all, tseka.
Heavens.
OHH yes the "othersounds" i love that. When you are among them you can hear them whispering to each other as they climb the ridges.
In homeopathy i liken them to Phosporus. Think Bill Clinton, (sorry JM i know you don't care for the guy, or Princess Dianna as the archetype...they have that Leonine but something else, that something else is the Elk. Magnetic and enchanting. Love 'em or hate 'em.
Now deer are more of a Taurean animal.
jm, are you implying you bellow like an elk????
Juno, you're back! :o)
I have been fascinated with the mysterious origins of Santa Claus and his magic reindeer. The following article has some interesting lore and ideas about this subject.
http://tinyurl.com/gu4z3
When we were out looking for morels this Spring, the darn Elk kept beating us to them. Didn't see any but there was Elk sign everywhere plus that very distinctive smell that say "Elk were just here".... :-)
Yeah:) T'anks Joe...been a a weird coupla weeks, this and that, mostly that CHARMING sat/nep opp right over my asc. and natal sat...didn't tend to make me too conversational. I tend to withdraw when I'm stressed out (and a stressing scorp to deal with on top of it...urgh)..but then, when I WANTED to be conversational, the computer here started effing up, and the computer at work keeps getting booted off line. Very frustrating. But our tech came thru and tweaked our home computer a little...it's not 100% but doing better than it was... So I guess I'm back, good to 'see' ya all!:)
Wow, synchronicities -- I was out mushroom hunting just the other day and found an amanita and my friend told me about its relation to Santa Claus. But I loved getting more of the story. Thank you Joe. I'm tempted, but not quite game enough, to try a little myself. We also found some wonderful mushrooms disired by the Japanese, Matsutaki or Pine mushrooms, which have a wonderful scent, faintly like raspberries or some strange and wonderful flower. Yum yum yum and they make for vivid dreams.
I also had an elk encounter a few years back, camping with a bunch of kids in rutting season in Rocky Mtn Natl Park. We were in their terrotory and saw several bucks with their harems, they'd marked the trees with their antlers -- one came so incredibly close to the children it was a little scary. I loe all of tseka's Elk lore, and jm's association of wheezing, bellowing and sex. Like really good blues...(or really good sex..) though I think there is a role for silence there as well...
Juno, Juno, Juno!
delighted to see you!
Yep reindeer urine, what a trip, eh?
The article is correct about the Sami use of the reindeer urine to "travel the astral paths" but i think the roots of the reindeer as pulling santa sleigh follow a differnt path entirely.
The story is very old. And can be traced back in the Nordi sagas. The tread i believe is this. Hel in anticipation of the ice coming was wrapping wisdom and carrying it into her home, placing bundles in copper lined boxes to be safe through time. The stories say that her sledge was so heavy that even mighty Thor the thunder god could not lift it. Huldrakats could. Huldra are the hidden folk the faerie, the skoggkat the forest cats pulled the sledge. One age - an age of masculine and feminine in union.
Next, we have the "two halves" separate into Frey and Freya, the twins, they are remembered as twins who were also man and wife, in an incestuous way but were in fact twin flames. Freya was the feminine principle (venus)she was independent and powerful she rode a sleigh pulled by cats.
an age of matriarchy.
Then, Odin stole the runes and his wife Frigg a symbol of fidelity in the myths, rode the sleigh it was pulled by dogs.
age of Patriarchy
Currently a fat guy in a suit, a take off of the Green Man (Santa used to wear green before the Coca Cola ad campaign) rides a sleigh weighted down with so much stuff only magic can get it off the ground.
Age of corporation
But some of us are finding the copper lined boxes and opening them. Wonder who will ride the sleigh next?
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG!!!!!! LOL!!!!!
JUNO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bellow like an elk!!!!!!
Oh my frippin sides!
But some of us are finding the copper lined boxes and opening them. Wonder who will ride the sleigh next?
What a tale. Where would these stories be without all of this? Tseka you're astounding. I am in rapt attention.
I'm going to think about the next sleigh rider. Good question.
"But some of us are finding the copper lined boxes and opening them. Wonder who will ride the sleigh next?"
I would like to see a group of children riding.
I thought of that first, Kad.
::bows:: Lead the way!
As we realize the value of our copper lined boxes and our good fortune in receiving them, I think we'll realize that we are already in the sleigh.
I'll tell ya about a damned elk!
I had a great old red Jaguar, and on the road in South Dakota I encountered one of those rutting males. Busted my radiator, and completely demolished the right side of my beloved hot rod.
Damned elk!
They are magnificent though.
Oh Tseka, I'm so glad I was able to find that link to the article because what you said in reply was fascinating! A feast of food for thought.
Hej Anon
"Thank you Joe. I'm tempted, but not quite game enough, to try a little myself. "
Glad you listened to your inner wisdom. Accoring to my med books, 90% of all human deaths due to mushroom poisoning are linked to Amanita. (phalloides) the one that was refered to in the article is Muscaria- still a whollop of a ride results, alternating between severe poisoning and hallucinogenic properties. Field testing not recommended.
Ja Joe, i have a copy of the dissertation done in early 90's refered to in the article. The provings of the medicine and the compilation of the case studies of the poison are not at all romantic. Even the Sami do not go on this trip without helpers who make sure their physical bodies are protected. Further the manic states and physical consequences can become permanent. One better be committed to the "ride". In most cases the person under the influence gives over his power to the mushroom often visualizing the mushroom as super huge.
There is something in us though that wants it to be a magical ride. I have seen other tales in homeopathic journals that repeat this story. What do you figure? a yearning for magic, a yearning for something deeply remembered just on the tip of conciousness? Looking for a path to the copper-lined boxes?
My guess is feather gifts are a better "key" to the box. The memories are already unfolding are they not? warmest thoughts around you.
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