Sacred Elephants

Sri Ganesh, Sweet and Fierce

Sweet Ganesh, supreme lord of consciousness and source of all bliss, I bow to you. Thank you for blessing my path with juicy fruits and such beautifully fragrant and delicate blossoms. Gratitude washes over me as I offer my hands in service to your love, devotion, and infinite wisdom.

Fierce Ganesh, slayer of all obstacles and source of kundalini fire, I bow to you. Thank you for igniting my true path and burning the bridges of illusion behind me. I am awestruck and humbled by your fearlessness. I surrender to the mystery and mercy of your absolute judgment.

Om Gung Ganapathaye Namah

Fathers Day for Elephants: Teens Need Male Parents

Photo ©2005 Jaya Savannah.

When elephant babies are young, they’re inseparable from their mothers and extended circle of aunts and cousins that make up the matriarchal community. It would be unlikely that a young elephant would even have met their father, as the adult bulls roam free or convene in small bachelor herds, only approaching the female herds when seeking mating opportunities. Adult bull elephants do have a hand in parenting, but their role happens later when young teenage bulls need discipline and guidance.

Adolescent bull elephants break away from the matriarchy in their mid to late teens. Sometimes they go off adventure-seeking on their own, and other times the mothers give them a little push towards independence. The young bulls, who have never been left unattended by governing females begin to find their way in the world. But they still need guidance. What they need is the fathering presence of strong adult bulls.

Bull elephants between the ages of 18-30 begin to experience periods of hormonal “musth” when they are flooded with testosterone. They naturally become more aggressive during these periods, but do not yet know how to temper themselves. Unchecked, they become extremely dangerous and will rampage anyone and anything in the vicinity. There have been problems in African game parks where teenage delinquent bulls have started killing off endangered white rhinos for no reason—just a savage expression of power and dominance over a weaker animal. In size and brute strength, elephants are the real kings of the jungle.

This is where the older bulls become mentors. The only thing stronger than a teenage bull in musth is a senior bull. The young ones quickly learn to back down in the presence of elders. Instead of being cocky and violent, they humbly calm down and act respectful in the male herds. In short, they learn to temper their natural aggression and use it more appropriately.

It is still unknown whether the young bulls are with their biological fathers or have found their male bonding group by accident. Research studies are trying to answer this question. But the social structure is undeniable: teenage male elephants need their fathers to socialize them, just as much as they once needed their mother’s milk. They’re a lot like us humans in that way…we need powerful and present fathers to mentor our children, set respectful boundaries, and demonstrate the wise use of power.

Happy Fathers Day!

Further reading:

The Delinquents: CBS News
Adult Elephants Keep Adolescents in Check: Save the Elephants
Elephant Rage: The Syndney Morning Herald
The Raging Bulls of Khao Yai

Experience the Energy Essence of Elephant Medicine

One of my best friends is a psychic development teacher who gave me a gift of elephant energy medicine for my birthday this year. Hmmm...how do I explain this for the uninitiated? I'm a psychic development teacher too, so let me give it a try.

Energetic medicine is based on the premise that everything has a unique electromagnetic frequency. This is more than a premise. It's the science of quantum physics.

The idea of energetic healing has to do with resonance. We each have our own perfect vibration, and will tend to harmonize our frequency to match those around us (for good or bad.) By matching a frequency of something different from us, but that has a positive influence, we grow. We learn to experience new energetic patterns this way, and are able to break free of old unconscious ways of being.

Traditionally, shamans and healers practice energetic healing by introducing things such as the laying on of hands or use of certain plants/stones/animals. One of the most popular plant energy medicines used today are the Bach Flower Remedies. Bach Remedies are the distilled vibrational energy of plants infused into spring water and taken as liquid drops under the tongue (or diluted in a glass of water.) They are specifically geared to work on the mental and emotional levels of healing. Although Bach led the way, there are now many similar brands of vibrational medicine remedies, including a variation called Wild Earth Animal Essences. These treatments are based on the spiritual invocation of different animals, for the unique vibration of what that species offers in terms of high frequency healing.

Ah, back to the birthday gift! When I tried my gift, I experienced an immediate calmness, but later that night I had dreams with elephants nearby. I felt even more in tune with the elephants...I felt in resonance with them. This is what the Wild Earth site says about Elephant essence:

Elephant -- For establishing deep grounding and spiritual expansion. Enhances telepathic communication over distances, and supports one in listening to others and to oneself. For remembering what is important. For honoring one's intuitive feminine nature and for experiencing Mother Earth in her vastness. Encourages inclusive leadership that is concerned with the welfare of all.

I know these remedies are available on-line, but they are available in some stores (since I know my friend found them in an herb store.) If you do try them, please let me know what your experience is. Do you notice any unusual elephant dreams (like I did) or some certain change in awareness? I'd love to hear what you discover!

Photos: Anti-poaching & Desnaring Efforts in Kenya

When I went to Kenya last year, I booked my travel with AK Taylor International because they are specialists in private African itineraries. (I'm just not a prepackaged tour kind of person.) I knew the 2 main conservationist organizations I wanted to meet, and knew that my husband really wanted some time on the Swahili coast, but I didn't have the foggiest idea of how to book my trip. This was an adventurous pilgrimage, not a holiday that I could book from the back of the Sunday newspaper. When I asked Oria Douglas-Hamilton of Elephant Watch Safaris if there was a good state-side agent that could help me plan it out, she recommended A.K. Taylor. I was in excellent hands with their ever-capable agent Mary Zrubek from the Billings, Montana office.

I recently received a letter and some photos from Mary that I'd like to share with you. The photos were forwarded from Anne Kent Taylor, who is very active in elephant conservation in Kenya.

"Hello Jaya:

Thank you so much for sharing your new website Sacred Elephants.  These huge creatures amaze me at how gentle and quiet they can be.

I passed your email onto Anne, my boss Anne Kent Taylor, and she thanks you for sharing this and for your love for elephants.

I’m attaching some photos that I thought you might be interested in seeing.  Please be warned, most are painful to see.   The elephant injuries that you will see has been caused by the trunks or legs getting caught in the poachers snares.

I don’t know if you are familiar with Anne but years ago she started an anti-poaching project in the Masai Mara.  She has a team of Masai and they go out on “sweeps”, going through certain parts of the Mara looking for snares, which they confiscate, and injured animals.  If they find injured animals they start the ball rolling to get a vet out from Nairobi and help any way they can. 

Just last week her team came across poachers and arrested them.

Anne has made a lot of enemies over there by getting involved in this, but she feels so strongly about protecting the animals and trying to keep them safe, and helping the injured, that she just keeps moving forward.

Anne is actually in one of the photos with her team, she is to the right hand side, wearing the brown shirt.

She started another project with the snares that are brought in, the wires are made into little animals and sold and the money goes back into Anne’s project or to her community project of building schools, digging for wells, etc for the Masai people.

This seems like a never ending thing and unless something is done who knows what the future will bring for your ele’s and the other animals.

However, with people like you and Anne the world is a better place and the animals do stand a chance of surviving.

Thank you again for sharing.

Regards, Mary"

Because these pictures are graphic, I'm going to give you the links instead of displaying them automatically. They are very educational though, in that you can see what happens when an elephant gets caught in a poacher's snare, and you can see how the anti-poaching team doctored up the wound so the elephant was ok again.

1. An elephant who lost the tip of its trunk in a snare.
Keep in mind that an elephant needs the trunk tip muscles to pick up it's food.

2. The desnaring team tranquilizes an injured elephant.
Elephants are dangerous, even this toddler-age baby. They need to sedate it before trying to help.

3. Having turned the elephant over, the snared leg is now visible.
Snares are brutal. This is what the A.K. Taylor Fund is trying to prevent.

4. The elephant veterinarian performs surgery in the bush.
Our heroes to the rescue! Because this is in the wild, they've really only got this one chance to get it right.

5. After the surgery, the elephant heads back to the herd with his bandage.
Hooray baby ellie! Hooray A.K. Taylor Fund team!   

Here's a photo of the team. Anne is over on the right side.
Copyright photo courtesy of the A.K. Taylor Fund.

This link will tell you more about how you can support the important desnaring work of the A.K. Taylor Fund.

Also, if you're feeling personally called to visit the elephants in Kenya, be sure to contact Mary at A.K. Taylor International. She'll help you plan the trip of a lifetime!