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Taken from Ted Andrew's "Animal-Speak"

Keynote: Primal Feminine Energies and the Magic of Life and Death
Cycle of Power: Late Fall and Early Winter (November) ---The Time of Approaching Shadows

To the Athapaskan Indians of Alaska...there was a tremendous relationship between Raven and Moose. The hunters would protect and talk constantly on their hunts to Raven who they knew helped shape the world. They would pray to Raven to assist in the hunt for Moose. Thus when a moose appeared, it was a special, sacred gift. Moose opens a unique and sacred energy.

An animal of contradictions: strange and majestic, awkward yet graceful, making us smile and catch our breath. Those with this Medicine will elicite those feelings in others. Except during mating season it is predominantly a solitary animal making use of its territory, having an uncanny ability to camouflage itself...powers of invisibility and shapeshifting. This unique "shapeshifting camouflage" is reflected in the life of the historical Merlin. When he was summoned by kings or needed desperately to recruit other allies, he came silently, disguised as a poor shepherd, a woodcutter, or a easant. Even sovereigns failed to recognize him in his various disguises. He practiced concealment habitually.

Moose moves silently with speed. It is the deception of its appearance that enables it to survive so well utilizing its excellent depth perception as an additional aid. It can move through great depths of snow and marshes that would trip up many others. This same ability can be strengthened, awakened, and even taught to those who align with the Medicine of Moose.

Associated with feminine energies, the maternal forces of the world, and awakening within those with this Medicine. Partly due to the association with Water, a primal symbol of the feminine fores of the universe...a symbol of creativity and dynamic forms of intuition and illumination.

The Penobscot Indians of Main relate tales of how the Moose was once the Whale, the greatest omammal of the waters. The MicMacs of Nova Scotia tell how when the Moose is too persistently hunted, it turns to the sea. The sea is the point from which all life comes and to which all life returns. It is the great womb of the universe.

Moose have the unique ability to plunge to the bottom of lakes, and can remain there feeding for up to a full minute before surfacing in a burst with fresh greens dangling from their mouths. It reflects the ability of the individual to learn to go back into the depths and draw new life and nourishment from it. The Moose can teach the ability to move from the outer world to the inner. It can teach how to cross from life to death and back to stronger life. It teaches how to use the thin thread that separates life and death to one's advantage. Soul retrievals and Mediumship of working with the dead are part of this Medicine.

The Athapaskan Indians "potlatch" is a memorial ceremony to help dispatch the spirit of the dead. The belief is that when people die, they do not leave right away. They stay another day, then once a week and so on for a year--at which time a memorial potlatch is served. This potlatch involves a sharing of special food, particularly moose head soup, sacred because it is not always available. This service then sends the spirit on.

The female Moose is very protective of its young with a primal strength. With a highly developed sense of smell and hearing it has the metaphysical counterparts in emotional idealism and spiritual discernment. The hearing lends to the human the abilities of clairaudience and spiritual comprehension. When a Moose aligns with a person (which is usually how it happens, rather than an individual aligning with a Moose), the individual should pay more attention to that inner voice and that sense of smell. Do things smell or sound right--even if you can't define why? Trust those feelings for they will define themselves shortly.

Moose calves are born with their eyes open, thus those with this Medicine come into the world with their inner eyes already open. It is not unusual to find such individuals getting discouraged when they work to "click on those inner lights", as so many others describe their own awakening psychic and intuitive capabilities. These individuals must understand they came in with their inner lights already on, so there will be no clicking. Learning to trust what they so often think is simply the imagination, etc. is part of the task of maturing into full Moose power.

If a Moose calf lives through its first month, it will most likely survive to become an adult. It is not uncommon for those with this Medicine having had their most difficult (and sometimes traumatic) lessons in life during their childhood. The survival through this reflects that innate ability to draw from the creative force of the feminine waters of life to strengthen and sustain them. The two most powerful parts of the moose are the paws, which will cut like a knife, and the antlers which are both decorative and defensive. The head and the feet---these two areas are parts of the body most sensitive to those with this Medicine. Foot reflexology and head, neck, and upper back massages are important to release stress. Cranial sacral work would facilitate healing and release most beneficailly.

The Moose is herbivorious and it should be a strong part of the diet of those with this Medicine. The body will respond most strongly to herbal alternatives rather than traditional chemical medicines.

The antlers of Moose are the largest of all antlered animals. They are an ancient symbol of antennae--of crownings that activate the upper chakras of the head. Only the male of the species grows antlers, unless there is a hormone imbalance in the femal. The male must attune even more strongly (through the antennae) to the intuitive promptings. The rubbing of the antlers to remove the velvet covering has a lot of significance as well. It reflects the need to massage the head area to release the past for the antlers are shed each year.

A symbol of sexual energies as a physical reflection of the primal creative energies. That energy has its cycle within the body and within the rhythms of the year. Autum is the power time, and late October and November especially is the month for honoring Moose. The hunting season is over. The mating is being completed, and a new cycle is about to begin. For those of this Medicine the autumn is a powerful time. The smell of dry leaves, the sound of their crunch as they are walked upon, touches a primal core, stirring life forces anew within the individual. In many ways it is aligned with Samhain, All Hallow's Eve, All Saint's Day, Harvesting Rituals and all the traditional energies associated with this season.

A powerful omen. When it appears in dreams, it reflects a long, good life. It was knokwn to give strength, and more than one Indian tribe believed that you could travel three times as fast and three times as long after a meal of Moose. They mystical association of 3: the creation, the new child born from the womb of the mother. The hoof was know as a cure for epilepsy. Moose was knokwn to banish headaches and dizziness and Moose Medicine considered a cure for snakebite.

It has no enemy it fears other than a Grizzly Bear, but even then it can outrun and outswim it. It's maneuverability and inutition, along with its highly developed senses sustain it. Almost all northern Indian tribes have legends and tales of the Moose--reflecting its universality and its great mysticism. The Menomini of Wisconsin even had a Moose phatry or clan at one time. The Dog-Rib Indians south of the Arctic Circle (near Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake) speak of Hottah, a two-year-old Moose who was the cleverest of all northern animals, and who helped create the Rocky Mountains.

When Moose comes into your life, the primal contact with the great feminine force and void of life is being awakened. It is an invitation to learn to explore new depths of awareness and sensitivity within yourself and within your environment.