4.12.1.5 Long Snows Moon: Elk (Sun Bear MWEA 117-125)

• November 22 to December 21
• Obsidian is mineral kingdom totem
• Black spruce is plant kingdom totem
• Elk is animal kingdom totem
• Color is black
• Members of the Thunderbird elemental clan
• 4.12.1.5.1 Mineral Kingdom: Obsidian
  • The mineral for Elk people is also known as volcanic glass
    • Chemically identical to granite
    • Contains feldspar, quartz, and ferromagnesiums
    • If granitic magma solidifies beneath the surface, granite is formed
    • If the same magma pours rapidly out onto the earth and cools quickly
      • It becomes obsidian
    • Sometimes you can find mountains of this mineral
    • If magma cools rapidly but not quick enough to become shiny
      • It results in a mineral called pitchstone
      • Has a dull luster
    • Small rounded pieces of obsidian which weather out of larger masses
      • Known as Apache tears
    • Obsidian is usually black, shiny, and translucent
      • Sometimes found in other colors
      • One variety shows enough colors
        • Referred to as rainbow obsidian
    • Obisidian is hard and razor-sharp along its edges
      • Should be ahndled carefully
    • Cound in most of the western United States
  • Obsidian has long been used by the Natives of this continent
    • Mayans formed obsidian into mirrors and intricate jewelry
      • Including cylinder earplugs so thin they are as transparent as glass
    • Mayans, along with ancient Egyptians
      • Carved it into statues and other decorative pieces
      • Quite a feat considering that it is one of the most difficult minerals to work
        • Due to its hardness and extreme tendency to crack
    • In North America, Native people formed it into arrowheads
      • Also spearheads and scrapers; and jewelry
  • Because of its origin deep within the breast of the Earth Mother
    • Thought to have the power to ground people to the earth energy
      • Teaching them how to respect and use this energy within
    • Thought to have the power to reflect the thoughts of another person
      • To the one who is wearing it
      • Bestowing upon the wearer clairvoyance
      • Because of this ability, often used as a scrying stone
        • One that allows people to see into the future
      • Scrying stones would be formed by breaking obsidian
        • Finding a smooth surface in which to stare
    • Also attributed with the power to protect its wearer or holder
      • Against evil spirits
  • Like their mineral, Elk people can be both shiny and translucent
    • When they are well developed in their nature
      • They have an inner glow that lights their entire being
      • They also have ability to let you see somewhat into their beings
        • But no more deeply than they wish you to look
    • Like their stone, they can be hard to shape to a new viewpoint or situation
      • But once they are there, they will be there solidly
    • They walk a razor's edge in their lives, as their nature is one of duality
  • Like Obsidian, people of this totem make good mirrors for other people
    • When they are clear themselves
    • At this point in their development, Elk people can reflect to another
      • What his or her inner state really is
    • Elk people have the ability to cut through a lot of outer impressions
      • And get tot he heart of most matters
      • Much as arrwoheads made from their mineral do so
  • Elk people can benefit from wearing their mineral
    • Because they can use the greater knowledge of earth energy obsidian can give them
  • Elk people, like their stone, have the ability to be clairvoyant and to transmit thoughts
    • They will also protect those to whom they are close from any dangers they perceive
      • Whether on material or other levels

• 4.12.1.5.2 Plant Kingdom: Black Spruce
  • A majestic member of the pine family
    • Grows in many regions throughout the United States
    • Can grow to more than forty feet in height, tapering upward to a point
    • Bark is a combination of dark brown and black
    • Needles are dark green, arranged in compact spirals aroung the twigs
    • Each needle is four-sided and looks nearly square in cross-section
    • Cones hang straight down, and mature in one season
    • Branches are horizontal, often drooping
    • Wood is soft, strong and free from knots
  • The tips of the tree, when young, are aromatic
    • They can be nibbled or made into tea
    • Either way, they have a high vitamin C content
    • Evergreens were the "oranges" of the Natives
  • The gum of the spruce is the medicinal part
    • It has been used by people here for hundreds of years
      • As an antiseptic and to loosen mucus in the throat and chest
    • The gum can be applied to cuts and wounds to clean them
    • It can be made into a plaster for setting bones
    • And used on the face to protect it from sunburn
    • The gum can be used as an inhalant, both in and out of the sweat lodge
  • A tea made from the twigs makes a good bath
    • Also helpful in curing colds
  • Some tribes would eat the cambrium layer between the bark and the wood in spring
    • Or dry it into cakes for winter
    • Some would use the cambrium only as a laxative agent
    • Other tribes would harden the spruce pitch in cold water
      • And chew it for pelasure, as chewing gum
  • From their plant totem, Elk people can learn about their majestic bearing
    • When they learn to come into balance and harmony
      • With all possibilities and gifts granted them
    • Like the wood of their tree, they can be soft and strong at the same time
    • Theirs is an inner strength that can allow them always to follow the proper direction
      • And to lead others onto the path msot suited to them
      • It is not a strength that requires hardness of nature
        • A quality that would not suit their warm, courteous and sometimes conventional nature
    • Like the spruce, they can be both antiseptic and loosening
      • They have an innate sense of justice
      • They will try to clean out anything they sense as unjust from any situation
    • With their intuitiveness, they are also able to see into the hearts of others
      • And help them loosen any of the hard knots they have allowed to come into their beings
  • The spruce tree might be of use personally to people of this totem
    • During times when they hurt their knees and thighs
      • Areas of particular vulnerability to them
      • At these times, the plaster property of the spruce might be handy knowledge
    • During times when they are not as vulnerable
      • They might benefit from either chewing or inhaling the spruce gum
        • To make certain they keep their throats working well
      • Since they sometimes like to teach and expound to others
        • They will find this herb useful when their voice if getting weak from overwork

• 4.12.1.5.3 Animal Kingdom: Elk
  • The animal totem for thos born under the Long Snows Moon is the Elk
    • The most regal member fo the deer family
    • Also known as wapiti, the largest fo the deer family
    • To many people, it is the most beautiful
    • Its antlers resemble branches of a tree and are shed annually
    • The male elk (bull), can reach a length of 9 1/2 feet and height of 5 feet
      • He can weigh up to 750 pounds
    • In the summer, elk have a coat of light brown, with darker heads and limbs
      • The rump is buff, the hair is short and the mane seems thin
    • In winter the elk becomes grayish brown, with dark head and limbs
      • At this time the mane becomes longer, fuller, and darker
    • Calves are brown, with light spots, until early fall
  • Elk live in woodlands, going to the high country in the summer
    • Returning to the lower lands in the fall and winter
      • When it is more difficult for them to find the food they need
    • Like the deer, the elk lives on grass, leaves, twigs, and bark
    • In some areas tehre will be elk lines on trees
      • Where the elk have eaten up as their head can reach
    • During the time of heavy snow, when it is difficult to find any food
      • They will sometimes eat from farm haystacks
      • It is nearly impossible for a farmer to keep an elk out of his hay
        • Unless he puts it up on a platform
      • Wooden and barbed-wire fences do very little to stop a hungry, determined elk
      • What farmers object to is the elk's habit of getting on top of the haystack
        • Then pulling it apart, as though expecting really good things at the bottom
  • For most of the year, elk, like deer, live in herds
    • composed of their own gender
    • They seem to have a good sense of responsibility for each other
    • When snows are heavy, they take turns breaking the trail
      • If you fololow the trail of a herd, it resembles that of a single elk
      • They are that careful to step into the tracks of the groundbreaker
    • Elk sometimes seem to dance together, forming a big circle
      • They prance around and soemtimes break into a gallop of joy
  • Elk are fast animals, able to go thirty miles an hour for short distances
    • They are also able to leap fences close to ten feet high
  • Elk have few natural enemies
    • Cougars, bears and wolves will sometimes succeed in bringing down a calf
      • Or a weak or sick animal
    • None are a match for the bull in his prime
    • Before 1900, however, most of the elk in this country were slaughtered by hunters
      • Who only wanted two of their teeth to make into jewelry
      • Others wanted their ehads as parts of their trophy collection
      • When the population was close to decimated
        • Stronger laws protecting elk were put into effect
        • Many elk were imported from Canada to restock the U.S. population
  • In October, when the mating season is about to begin, bull elk come into prime
    • They have full antlers; their shoulders swell
    • Their coats and manes are full and they looke like the king of the deer
    • They come forth trumpeting their challenge to any other bulls in the area
    • During this time they also bugle and whistle
    • Following the challenge of the bugle call, two elk emerge from the forest
      • They rush toward each other with all the anger they can manage
      • They crash together and fight until one succeeds
        • In knocking the other off his feet and then gores him
      • These battles are mroe fierce that those of the male deer
        • But usually are fatal
        • To the winner goes the spoils, in this case the watchin cow
        • Unlike the deer, elk try to get as many cows as they can into their harem
        • And they will fervently defend them from the approaches of any other male
  • When it is time to calf, in the spring, the cows go to the valleys
    • While the bulls move to higher country to protect their antlers
      • At this time in their delicate velvet stage
    • Calves are hidden for the first part of their lives
      • During times when their mothers go out to browse
      • Like fawns, they are born without a smell to afford further protection
      • They are able to go out with her at 6 weeks
      • They aren't weaned until fall
      • They sometimes stay with their mother of half a year afterwards
    • Most elk have only one calf at a time
  • Like their totem, Elk people look like they are members of some royal family
    • They have a proud and straight bearing
    • An air of majesty surrounds them when they are functioning well
    • They are insightful, introspective
      • And capable of absorbing much of what they read, hear, see or experience of life
      • They are often found in the position of a teacher of some sort
        • Where their regal air attracts students to them
        • Elk people use this attractin well
        • In most cases, bringing the students in through it
        • Then sharing generosity of what they have learned
      • Whether they choose to be teachers or not
        • Elk people are very watchful for others
        • Are truly concerned about the welfare of those aroudn them
  • Elk people are very aware of justice, both as a concept and a practice
    • They are very impatient with anything that they sense is an injustice
    • When they com across anything they consider such
      • They will trumpet their discovery loudly
      • So that all involved will know about it; hoepfully try to correct it
      • If those involved do not take action, the Elk person will trumpet even louder
        • And will continue doing so until something has happened to change the situation
      • If this trumpeting is coming from a well-balanced Elk person
        • It is usually beneficial to all thos involed
      • If coming from an Elk who has yet to find his clarity and intuition
        • It can create havoc, and unnecessarily
  • Like their totem, Elk people like to go to the high places
    • Physically or otherwise
    • Their insightful minds are able to open doors that allow them to soar into realms others avoid
    • Their intuition tells them when they are ready to make such flights
      • And when it is necessary for them to return to their grounding in the earth plane
    • Like the elk, it is necessary for them to come sometimes into the lowlands and valleys
      • In order to remain harmonized with things that surround them
    • Elk people have natural spiritual gifts and abilities to teach others
      • They must have grounding
      • Or they will not use these gifts in the best manner that they can
  • Elk people have a very independent streak
    • Although willing to take leadership from others
      • It is of the proper kind for them at that time
    • Sometimes Elk people retreat to the high country of their minds too frequently
      • Use these journeys to avoid having any real contact with others
      • Elk people try to keep themselves closed about things deep within their spirits
      • Sometimes fear relationships that might cause them to truly open to another
      • At this point, they will retreat from the relationship in mind if not in body
    • While they tend to be closed about their deep feelings
      • They appear to be very warm and openhearted on the surface
      • This duality can sometimes cause real pain for Elk people
        • Or for those who love them
      • They will seem warm, loving and totally supportive
        • Of everything around them one day
        • And they will decide to leave the whole situation the next
  • Elk people are not given to quick changes of heart
    • They just don't know how to express dissatisfaction
    • Until it gets to a point where it cascades out
      • Into what seems like a sudden move
    • Once an Elk person has made up his mind to do something
      • It is very difficult to change it
      • They are determined individuals and fearless when convince they are right
  • Like the male of their totem species
    • They are also able to be flamboyantly argumentative
    • And when in this state, it is virtually impossible to win an argument with them
    • If Elk people allow their argumentativeness or closed aprt of their natures to become dominant
      • They will be prone to illnesses that show up as stiffness in some part of the body
      • To cure themselves, they must stop blocking the giving, understanding and loving energy that can flow through them
  • Like the Elk, these folks do have a playful side of their nature
    • That enjoys dancing, singing and just having fun
    • If they develop this part of themselves
      • It will help them overcome any stiffness that can attack their minds or bodies
  • Men of this totem, like the bull elk, are competitive with each other
    • About the women in their lives
    • They dislike ever terminating a relationship totally
      • Preferring to keel all of their old lovers as good friends, a harem of sorts
    • Elk women, while not as showy as the men, are also competitive
      • They also like to keep all of their old men friends around
        • Even if not actively relating to each other
    • While Elk people usually remain as rational as possible about this sort of competition
      • This is one of the areas in which they tend to not communicate their true feelings
        • Which can sometimes lead to jealousy
  • Elk women make good mothers, taking the necessary time when their babies are young
    • To give them a solid foundation of love and approval
    • As the children grow, they loosen the reins they hold over them
    • They usually relinquish them completely when the child is old enough to handle himself
  • Elk men are not usually enthusiastic about impending parenthood or infancy
    • But as the child grows, they will delight in teaching him/her all they have learned
  • Elk children are quiet during their very early days
    • Later developing into precocious learners capable of absorbing anything
      • That they see or hear
    • They are thoughtful and considerate children
      • But they too can be given to fits of rage
      • Usually surprise anyone around them used to their normally placid nature
  • When people from other totems travel through this one, they can learn more about
    • Their own introspective and clairvoyant talents
    • The regal part of their own nature
    • And their ability to share wisely the lessons of their trip aroudn the Meidicne Wheel

• 4.12.1.5.4 Color: Black
  • The color associated with the people of the Elk is the black of the night
    • Falling upon the earth
  • This dusky black is a time when things are in their formless state
    • When activities of the day surrender themselves
      • To the introsepctin of the evening
    • It is the formlessness from which all things can come
    • The void that contains all things, as well as nothing
  • This black gives Elk people the power to surrender
    • That can allow their intuition, their inner knowing, to come through
      • To guide their lives
    • It is the black mystery preceding the time when all things can become known
    • It is the time when you must look within, not without, for answers
      • To the questions that life poses for you
  • To Native people here, black is one of the sacred colors
    • It signifies the strength and looking withn of Mudjekeewis to the West
    • It is the color of learning, not of negativity

• 4.12.1.5.5 Moon: Long Snows Moon
  • Elk people are born under the Long Snows Moon
    • The third moon of Mudjekeewis
  • Since by their nature, they are thoughtful people
    • The additional introspective powers that Mudjekeewis gives helps them
    • Gives them more ability to look within themselves and within others
  • Born under the Long Snows Moon
    • The beginning of the time when all of earth's children prepare for their season of renewal
    • Gives Elk people more ability to seek out and use the thoughts that flow through them
    • Their connection with this time of year helps them to temper their energy
      • That which comes from being members of the Thunderbird clan
      • They are the least fiery, or longest burning, members of this clan
      • This is due to their time of birth
      • The time of snow moderates the amount of their flame, without ever putting it out

• 4.12.1.5.6 Elemental Clan: Thunderbird
  • Elk people are compatible with others of the Thunderbird clan
    • Those of the Red Hawk and Sturgeon
  • And members of the Butterfly clan
    • Those of the Otter, Deer and Raven
  • They particularly complement Deer people