If I Am an Artist, and the Elephant is My Spirit Animal...

Now, I’m not the type to do anything willy-nilly.

I’m a very spiritual person, and a thinker. If anything I do doesn’t ignite neither the left nor right sides of my brain, then it’s not worth doing.

On the other side of that, I’m an artist and a healer, and I create for the sake of that.

So needless to say, I don’t do ANYTHING just because it's’ pretty! I’m a practical person! If it doesn’t serve a purpose and/or doesn’t help the people I’m sharing it with (meaning YOU) I don’t see the point.

Having said all that, I’ve always felt that knowing about the things that I write about, paint about or sing about makes an even bigger difference when it comes to relating to my audience on a spiritual level, and the goal is to equip my audience of artists out there with the same arsenal of spiritual interpretation.

Now, we’re always fooling around and talking about our spirit animals. We even say the people in our lives are our spirit animals, hell, we even talk about whole countries being our spirit animals!! (Mine is Canada.)

But have we ever really explored that?

For those of us who tend to take the idea more seriously, our spirit animals are the animals that resonate the most with us when we see them, giving us a sense of calm, happiness, comfort, power, or whatever feeling we have when we come in contact with them in any way.

The elephant is a BEAUTIFUL species that has long attracted people. It is no surprise that this majestic animal has been loved by people in numerous cultures around the world, so much so that it’s one of the top animals considered as a spirit animal to people around the world, because it’s such a gentle giant, while still having a formidable presence and intelligence.

It’s even one of my spirit animals!

The elephant has a special position in art as a symbol of strength, wisdom, and tenacity… but that’s partly beside the point. The real thing is, the personal connection to the elephant and the artist/art connoisseur.

In this blog post, we’re gonna look at the elephant's significance as a spirit animal and how it has been depicted in various types of art throughout history. While we explore the rich and important portrayals of this beautiful creature in art, whether you believe the elephant is your spirit animal or simply admire its symbolism, maybe this will further inspire meaningful art pieces that will open your artistic vocab when working to spell out what you’re trying to share to the world from the heart. Okay? Here we go.

Now Let’s Start With Elephant Symbolism in Different Cultures

Elephants are native across Africa and Asia… You probably already know that.

The elephant is linked with Lord Ganesha, the deity of wisdom, understanding, and new beginnings in Hinduism. Ganesha is sometimes represented with an elephant head, which represents intelligence, power, and the capacity to eliminate barriers. The white elephant is considered a sacred animal in Buddhism, representing purity, tranquility, and spiritual force.

Elephants are respected in African civilizations for their power, loyalty, and family-oriented attitude. They are thought to represent knowledge, leadership, and protection.

In all kinds of African myths and folklore, elephants are portrayed as kind and wise creatures that protect and mentor people through life's obstacles.

In ancient Egypt, elephants were considered symbols of authority and royalty. Elephants were used in battle by pharaohs as a representation of their power and domination. Elephants are seen as a representation of longevity, prosperity, and good fortune in Chinese culture.

Okay, so let’s stop there and recap for a sec.

If I was trying to go for a cultural style when it comes to art magick, I would be looking at the basic meanings in each culture;

Lord Ganesha - (Hinduism) Wisdom, Understanding, New Beginnings

White Elephant - (Buddhism) Purity, Tranquility, Spiritual Force

So, if I wanted to create my own interpretation that represented all of those things, I would perhaps create a white elephant in the form of Lord Ganesha - so long as it’s still respectful to both cultures and religions - in order to pronounce energetically whatever energy I wanted in the room the painting would be placed.

Do you get where I’m going with this?

Mind you, this was just an example. DO YOUR RESEARCH before you create and sell anything involving a culture you don’t know about!! Don’t come back to this blog and try to blame me for your decisions! I AIN’T GOT NOTHIN’ TO DO WITH IT! THAT WAS YOUR CHOICE! Okay!? Just - Just accept the butt whoopin’. You asked for it.

Okay, moving on…

How Elephants Started to Appear in Spirituality and Art

Elephants have been major figures in art and spirituality for an interestingly long time. These big beautiful babies have captivated the attention of artists and believers of all kinds from ancient times to now.

Elephants have always been admired in art because of their grace, strength, and beauty, and so showed up as symbols of strength and authority in sculptures, paintings, and murals all over the ancient world, particularly in Egypt and India. They were a perfect fit to symbolize kings, gods, and other supernatural beings because of their imposing presence and lofty stature. Not to mention they’re really beautiful and inspiring to look at!

But it’s not just their physical characteristics; it’s their gentle disposition, wisdom, and intelligence were also very important reasons these pachyderms became significant figures for artists. Throughout history, artists who have used them to produce images mean to create something that encapsulates elephants as resilient, strong, and wise animals.

So getting to the point of this post, elephants have also been quite important in the spiritual world. They are seen as representations of power, protection, and wisdom in many different cultures. Elephants are revered animals that people strive to develop within themselves because of their ability to face life's challenges with grace and compassion.

As an artist, the meaning of the animal should also have a personal interpretation to you. For me, an elephant means loyalty, the Matriarchy/Matriarchal strength, compassion, patience and wisdom, even family. Because of these things, I would usually depict an elephant in one of my paintings or drawings if I wanted to create a magickal art piece that creates that sense of belonging, unconditional love, incredible strength and care.

Similarly, we are reminded of the unwavering power within us when we connect with elephant art. Elephants overcome challenges in their lives with grace and determination, and we can do the same by finding our inner strength.

Elephants are magnificent creatures, and seeing them portrayed in art is a constant reminder that we are capable of overcoming adversity and navigating through life's ups and downs with strength and resilience.

A word of advice to help you connect with whatever animal you’re working with; just learn about the animal!

A lot of times, especially when we tend to be a little more left-brained than right-brained when it comes to understanding the world, many of us tend to struggle with just feeling our way through the connection, and do better with Nat-Geo information. But even if you feel you can connect without info, it’s still a great leg-up when it comes to bonding with the animal. It’s also something I firmly believe in, because it satisfies both sides of the brain, but stick to your style.

I’ll give you an example of a way I’d use an elephant in my work :

Elephants don’t see well, but they are sensitive in other ways.

They have the ability to communicate over long distances using low-frequency sounds.

If you know anything about Tarot, it kind of reminds me of Two of Swords energy, with the woman on the card sitting in front of a body of water blindfolded holding two swords. That card represents learning to trust your intuition without evidence.

As a totem, the elephant’s skill in listening can help us listen to our inner voice, develop our telepathic skills- which can be an instrumental element in creating a meditation piece, if that’s something you wanna do- and comprehend how to read between the lines when someone says one thing and mean another.

So for me, giving a simple, underdeveloped example of a piece of art I’d make, which I’d probably make anyway after I’m done writing this post because, “why not?”, I’d probably make a painting or drawing of an elephant by the ocean, trying to hear a loved one from far away, possibly wearing a blindfold, in the style of the Two of Swords tarot card, like, with a border around it and something that says “Two of Swords” at the bottom. That would represent trust in what you don’t see. Or maybe instead of “Two of Swords” it says “Trust What You Don’t See” or something like that as a reminder to the viewer.

Create Your Own Spiritual Connection with Elephant Art

Interacting with elephant art has the potential to be incredibly transformative and intimate. It can even be a bit cathartic as well because it helps us to unearth the darker parts of us that need to be addressed.

Because the elephant is connected to loyalty, for example, one reason people may vibe with the elephant is that sense of family and devotion that others don’t normally see in their own life and family, but wish they had, or because of all the injustice and betrayal they see all around them, they see the elephant as a symbol loyalty, togetherness and wisdom or trust.

This is a good thing to remember if You're making something that will help heal someone in particular.

If you’re making healing art and doing commissions, ask questions. Find out anything you can about them and what they’re going through. That way you can better find the elements that you feel led to use in your piece, you can better explain what you created for them you present the piece to them and why you added those elements to the piece, the client will better connect with the piece as a reminder of encouragement, which will then encourage psychological and emotional healing. Cool, right!?

Lastly, How do you connect with the elephant?

We’ve already discussed reasons you’d connect with an animal, but not every artist is going to vibe with every animal they decide to paint. So how do they do that? How would we as artists find our way to a more personal connection with any animal we're trying to work with as a totem?

Well, I already mentioned one; Nat-Geo info on the animal. There could be a fact or two that may stand out to you about the elephant, or whichever animal you’re talking about, and when that happens, sit with it. Meditate. Why do you think that fact is so cool/interesting? How does it resonate with you?

It’s one thing to know that a certain object does something, but if you don’t plug it in and give it energy, it’s not gonna do anything. You need to have a connection, or this is gonna get awkward quick! Get it?

It’s the exact same thing with magick and energy work of any kind, which is a language within itself. You gotta describe through your art WITH INTENTION to give it power, and the only way you’re gonna to do that is with a personal connection of some kind to it. PLus, you're less likely to get artist's block.

Another way is to surround ourselves with personally meaningful artwork featuring elephants. Finding artwork that resonates with our unique journeys, be it a painting, sculpture, or even a piece of jewelry, can be a potent way to establish a stronger bond with the elephant's spirit. We can create a physical reminder of the traits we want to live up to by adding these pieces to our living spaces or wearing them as representations of our inner strength and wisdom. And if you make any of these things yourself, ever better.

Elephants are one of my favourite animals to work with. Their loving and loyal energy and their amazing intelligence is astounding to watch, and I know many people resonate with the same wisdom and sensitivity of these animals at their core, because these same traits are also in them... And it’s my belief that if you have someone in your life that resonates with elephants, then you’ve got someone great. [AR]