Tirza Schaefer: Romance Author & Goddess Facilitator

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The best-known personification of the spirit of Elephant is the Hindu God Ganesha. He is exemplary for strength, loyalty, trust and protection. His name means remover of obstacles and symbolises your innate strength and power, to which not only physical attributes are counted but most of all, your spiritual power, your intellect and wisdom.

When I had my first Usui Reiki Master/Teacher initiation, I had a vision of walking through a forest beside Ganesha in elephant form. The trees had smooth trunks and stood close together. He just walked over them, bending them so they’d graze past his underbelly lightly, but I had a hard time keeping up and trying to squeeze through stems too closely grown together to allow me to pass easily.

Finally, we reached a clearing and after I stroked and hugged the God’s trunk, the elephant was suddenly hollow inside and I crouched inside him on hands and knees, trying to make myself larger to fill up his form. I only managed about halfway, then gave up and said I was sorry but I could not manage more than that. I felt small and weak in comparison to this almighty God of strength and power. Ganesha only smiled lovingly at me and said, “Don’t you understand? The strength lies in you!”

At the time, I had no idea what he meant, but later I understood that he was merely the personification of my own innate divine power. I will never forget this beautiful experience and I have collected some Ganesha and elephant statues afterwards. I still have a very loving relationship with this beautiful gigantic animal and when I saw them in the wild in South Africa on Safari, I was impressed with their ability to camouflage so perfectly, to move so quietly and gracefully, and yet, exuding so much power in their gentleness.

According to scripture, in one of Buddha’s many incarnations, he was a white elephant, and thus, the rare occasion of a white elephant being born is always celebrated with great joy and associated with auspiciousness. Elephant also stands for new beginnings and represents a new, deeper connection with your Divine Feminine aspect. A deeper understanding of the Maiden, Mother and Crone helps us to reconnect with our own sacred feminine attributes.