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| | From:  sageawk57 (Original Message) | Sent: 8/24/2004 3:49 PM |
Rest and Cleansing Moon (Otter) January 20 to February 18 Those born during the second moon of the year, the Rest and Cleansing Moon, have the otter as their totem in the animal kingdom, the quaking aspen tree as their plant totem, and silver as their mineral totem. Their color is silver, and they are of the Butterfly elemental clan. According to the Medicine Wheel, the dates of birth of these people are January 20 to February 18. People of this totem are like their mineral, silver, in that they tend to be precious to all who know them. Silver is one of the two most sought-after metals on the earth, and this seems to have been true since early times. Because of it's malleability, it's luster, it's beauty and sheen, silver has long been considered one of the earth's most precious minerals. There are records of silver mines back in the early Incan period, as well as the early periods in other parts of the world. However, silver was not considered to be of great value on this continent until the Spaniards came here in their search for this mineral and, of course, for gold. Silver has been used throughout the centuries as a measure of wealth. It is one of the most common minerals used in coins, jewelry and tableware in the homes of those who can afford it. Royality had jewelry and crowns made of silver. Churches used it in their chalices. The rich had mirrors coated with silver. Like their mineral, Otter people are very sought-after individuals. They make good friends and interesting companions. Like silver, they are malleable, able to adjust easily to most situations in which they find themselves. Because of their true liking of people, they, too, seem to have shine, a luster that makes them appear to be beautiful people, whatever their physical characteristics. The color silver, which is the color of Otter people, is considered to have many magical properties. It is said that it is a silver cord that holds the soul to the body. Some religions believe that there are silver heavens above those of gold, that the former represent the highest vibration of pure spiritual power while the latter represent the vibration of love. Silver is the color associated with Grandmother Moon, because the moon appears silver when we gaze at her. Because of this association, silver is considered to enhance the powers of the moon, the powers of perception, intuition and properly flowing emotional energy. Otter people are said to have the capacity to possess certain magical qualities. They are usually very intuitive people if they allow their energies to flow properly. They have the capacity to become telepathic more easily than most other people. They are visionary people, always looking beyond what is obviously in front of them to what could be if others would awaken to their own higher natures. They have the capacity to allow pure spiritual power to flow through them if they have learned how to use their energies correctly. Because of their tie with the moon, Otter people have the capacity to be very emotional, although they sometimes hide it. They feel things deeply, but they sometimes don't allow the deepest of their feelings to show through to other people. It is not that they are reserved. Rather, prefer to keep things on a lighter note and not to trouble others with the depths of feeling they are capable of having. Some Otter people try to convert all this emotional depth into intellectual discussions. These folks love to have deep, penetrating, even heated discussions of whatever philosophy has currently taken their fancy. In these discussions they use all of the perception and intuition their ties to the moon give them to convert you to their way of thinking. It is very difficult to resist an Otter person in one of these sorts of discussions. Other Otter people use their emotional depth to pursue a wide variety of romantic partners, a pursuit in which they excel, due to the intensity of their feelings and their attractive natures. It is as difficult to resist an Otter person in romantic pursuit as it is to hold your own with one in an intellectual discussion |
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The moon of this totem is the Rest and Cleansing Moon. It is the middle moon of Waboose, of the time of rest and renewal. Following the Earth Renewal Moon, when the sun begins to come back from the south, this moon brings a time of further rest for the earth and all of her children prior to the season when things begin to swing back into growth. This moon brings a time when people, having observed and renewed themselves, can cleanse themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally to prepare for the times that are coming, when the pace of the seasons will make it more difficult to rest. The plant totem for Otter people is the quaking aspen tree, also known as the white poplar and American aspen. Quaking aspen grow throughout the United States and Canada, from sea level to timberline. Their bark is a silvery brown, and their leaves are dark green with a silvery tint. When the gentle summer breezes blow through the leaves, they sound like little tiny bells ringing. This trembling or quaking of the leaves is what gives this species of poplar it's name. It's flowers are of catkin form, and the fruits are one-celled capsules containnig alot of small seeds with long tufts of silky hair that help their distribution by wind. The flowers of an individual tree are of a single sex. The bud of the tree is commonly called balm of Gilead. According to Native American herbalist, the leaves, bark and buds of the tree traditionally have medicinal properties as a tonic and diuretic. The tea has often been used as a bitter tonic to aid in liver and digestive disturbances. It is also used as a relaxant capable of helping with hysteria and faintness and has also been used for hay fever. Native people used quaking aspen during their spring fast to clear their bodies of the winter's toxins. Externally, the tea is considered to act as a tonic and conditioner when used weekly, and it has been used daily to help with serious skin conditions such as eczema, ulcers and burns. Some tribes here used the powder scraped from the bark as a deodorant, and they used scrapings of inner bark to treat cataracts. Their plant totem can help Otter people learn to deliver the messages that come through them in a gentle and harmonious way, as the leaves of the tree do when they sing their song. It can also help them to learn that they have the capacity to sway gently with whatever winds are blowing and, by their swaying, allow the winds to blow through them and around them, without their even breaking. By nature, Otter people are malleable, and this tree can show them that it is necessary for them to keep this quality if they want their energies to flow well. The tea of the quaking aspen can help Otter people relax from the intensity that sometimes flows through them and can help them keep their internal organs in good condition so that they won't suffer from conditions of toxicity, which have a tendency to settle in their feet and ankles and give them problems. When their energy is allowed to flow smoothly, Otter people will usually be healthy, but, when they block the flow of energy, especially the energy of their emotions, they can suffer from a number of conditions that cause congestion in the body: hay fever, asthma, bronchitis. Quaking aspen can help prevent all of these |
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The otter itself is considered by many naturalists to be one of the most pleasant and playful animals of the wild. There are two types of otters in this country, the river otter and the sea otter. The sea otter was almost extinct early in this century because it's beautiful and durable fur was so sought after--bringing prices of up to $2,000 per pelt--that hunters massacred most of them. Prior to this time the sea otter was a friendly animal that would spend quite a bit of time basking on the shore. This made them an easy target for hunters, who would just come up and club them. Now the sea otter, which exists in the United States only off a small portion of northern California coastline, spends most of it's time in the sea, eating, sleeping, sunning, playing, giving birth and raising it's young all in the water. These otters have a shimmering, lustrous dark brown fur with silver hair, which is dense and fine. When mature they have a light-colored face with white whiskers. Like all otters they have webbed feet. They are as much at home in the water as the seal, usually choosing to live off rocky piece of shoreline with abundant kelp beds, in which they relax, play and bear their young. Otters range between three to five feet long, and between thirty-five and seventy pounds, sea otters being larger than those of the rivers. They are of the weasel family, although they act in such a considerate way that many people feel that this is an unfair classification for them. The river otter has a chocolate brown coat with light gray underparts and throat. The river otter, like his brother in the sea, depends on water for existence. They are found in most of the large lakes, marshes and rivers of the western United States and in many nations of the world. Their dens may be enlarged muskrat holes or other holes found in the riverbank. They have both underwater and overland entrances. Some otters make a wigwamlike den of reeds or cattails. All otters have a voracious appetite, because of their fast metabolism. They eat fish, shellfish, insects, ducks and rodents. They have the ability to use rocks to open up their shellfish dinners, which makes them one of the few animals who have mastered the idea of utilizing tools. Otters have a wide vocabulary, which consists of chips, squeals, screeches, hiccoughs, chuckles and hisses when they are angry. Some of their calls carry for as far as a mile. The otter is considered to be one of the most noble, curious and playful of wild animals. When they are not eating, hunting or sunning, they are most often playing. They make chutes down the riverbank and slide down them like children on a slide. They make them out of mud in summer and snow in winter. In the water they swim in groups, moving like dolphins. They play follow the leader, popping in and out of the water, and it is possible that otters at play started many legends of sea serpents in both the ocean and inland lakes. Native people have recognized the power of this animal. In the Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society, of the Ojibwa people, most of the medicine bags of the sacred teachers were made from the skin of the otter. These bags had very great power. Some naturalists, in speculating why the otter is so different from other members of the weasel family, have concluded that perhaps they felt that they had to set a good example to restore weasels to good grace in the eyes of the world. The otter has surely done so for some people. Otters have warm and active homelives, with both parents assisting in raising the young. Their young stay with them longer than those of most wild animals. Otters are playful and ardent companions to each other, and a mate will mourn the death of his or her companion for several months |
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With the otter as their animal totem, it is again easy to see why people of the Rest and Cleansing Moon are such sought-after companions. Like their totem, they are clever, bold, playful, helpful and gentle. They have a wide vocabulary and are as playful with words and philosophies as they are with other things. People of this totem are like the otter in another important respect. They seem to feel that it is their duty to keep other humans in good grace in the eyes of the world. They are visionary and humanitarian, often spending much of their time and energy in searching for ways in which they can help their fellow humans. They truely enjoy being of service to people and dreaming of new ways in which they can serve. Because of their perceptive and intuitive natures, they are often successful in finding ways in which people can be of service to each other. If you examine charitable institutions, or alternative ways of living, you will often find an Otter person as the founder of them. This need to be of service is a large part of the nature of any Otter person, and, if they have not found ways to do it on a large scale, they will have found ways to do it on an individual basis. If you have an Otter person as a friend, and you are in need of a sympathetic ear, a helping hand, even a financial loan, they will be there to give you as much as they can. But they are also practical, and if the loan is for something that they feel doesn't have much merit, they will first try to make you see your own impracticality. If they can't they will often still give you the money, even though they don't think you have a chance for success. Being patient, they will wait until you see the superior wisdom of their intuition. Because of their perception, these folks are quite capable of putting themselves in your place, wherever it may be, and honestly knowing what you are feeling at any time. While Otter people, like their totem, are generally mild, loving and gentle, they do have the capacity to kick very strongly if they feel that you need a kick to get you back on the right road. Unless their energy is totally blocked and congested, they will not kick just for malice or spite. It is really infrequent to find a vengeful Otter person. They are, however, fearless and full of courage, and they are not afraid to take an unpopular position with their friends or their business companions, if they know that their position is right. They do have latent, if not active, phychic abilities, stemming from their intuitive natures. Many Otter people use these abilities to make most of the everyday decisions of their lives, and then marvel at their own ability to make the right decision. Unless they have taken the time to study and develope these abilities, they do not even know where their power is coming from. Their visionary abilities also stem from these powers, and most Otter people are visionary to some extent, even if this only comes out in the fact that they often have powerful and prophetic dreams. The major way in which Otter people can go wrong is if they become afraid of the power coming through them and attempt to block it. This can sometimes happen if they develop their intellectual natures so much that they can no longer keep in touch with their own intuitions. When this happens, they are very unhappy people, and they begin to lose many of the good qualities that they otherwise have. They also become prone to diseases of congestion. They must take care, if they are in a blocked period, to keep their adaptability, or they can crystallize in whatever blockage they have and cause their powers to cease flowing. If this happens, Otter people will begin to make poor decisions in most areas of their lives, and their friends and family will have a hard time helping them because the Otter person, with his typical desire to keep things light, won't want to admit the root cause of his problem |
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Being of the Butterfly clan enhances most of the qualities of Otter folks. However, with their own dreamy natures influenced by the sometimes flittering air spirits, Otter people have to make sure to develop their own practicality or they will have too many dreams to deal with, and none of them will become reality. Like the otter, these folks make good, warm, gentle and caring parents. They spend enough time with their children to make them secure, yet they also take care to keep enough of their own space. They have the intuition and perception necessary to make good parents, knowing what their children need and when their needs are real. They are generally able to let go of their children as they grow, giving them the space to become their own people. They do have to guard against a tendency to want to put their own dreams onto their children, especially if they are in any period of blockage of their own emotional energy. As children, Otter people sometimes seem to be in a faraway place, perhaps because their intuitive power allows them to remember the places they have been before their birth. It sometimes takes the experience of years before Otter people are able to become practical and adaptable and, during this time, they have to be guarded against potential harm since they are sometimes so far away they don't see the possibility that they might be in trouble. It also takes some years of living before Otter children become courageous and able to fearlessly be in the world. In this they are like the babies of the river otters who are afraid to swim until their parents are able to trick them into doing so. Once Otter people get into the flow in life, any problems that they may have as children will disappear. As people travel around the wheel and come to the place of the Rest and Cleansing Moon they will have the opportunity to find and develop the perception and intuition in their own natures. They will often find untapped springs of gentleness and true concern for their fellow humans. During periods when people of other signs stand in the position of Otter people they will be able to formulate plans of how they can better learn to serve the Earth Mother and their fellow humans. While people of the Otter can get along quite well with most everyone, their paticular compliment are those of the Sturgeon totem. Their easiest companion will come from Deer and Raven people, their fellow Butterfly clan members, and from those of the Thunderbird clan, Red Hawk, Elk and, as mentioned before, Sturgeon people |
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