Oxen symbolism (1 Viewer)

[Mandy]

Can anyone enlighten me on the symbolism for oxen. I've Googled it but nothing really resonates. I feel a pull to understand something hidden in the symbolism and I'll know when I find it. Thank you.

 

[Linda]

Can anyone enlighten me on the symbolism for oxen. I've Googled it but nothing really resonates. I feel a pull to understand something hidden in the symbolism and I'll know when I find it. Thank you.

Does it have anything to do with yokes? Oxen usually are seen yoked together and pulling a load.

 

[Brooke]

Sorry @Mandy! I don't know why but I haven't been getting notified of activity on this board. I will try to fix that ASAP.

To get a more accurate meaning for you, can you describe the context in which it has been appearing for you? For example, has it been showing up in dreams, & if so what was it doing etc.
Is there a particular situation you think it is relating to?

 

[Brian]

"

Sacrifice, chastity, faith, humble, self-denial, enduring, strong, magical"
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-totems2.html

But, I see how there are different interpretations.

As this other website says...
"Agriculture, Prosperity, Abundance, Stubborn, Good Luck"
http://www.sunsigns.org/ox-animal-totem-symbolism-meanings/

Or yet another...

"Hard working and persistent, able to learn and absorb new information, tranquil but impulsive when angry, caring souls, logical, positive, filled with common sense, feet firmly planted on the ground, seeing things as only bad or good."
http://spiritwalkministry.com/spirit_guides/land_animal_spirits

The good thing overall is at least in my experience. Usually, if you know yourself well enough then there is no need to know the exact details of your totem. Or at least I say this because if in fact the blue jay is my totem, it just so happened to confirm those things that I already hold true to myself. Those self-evident traits of who I am.

Good luck on finding the meaning that you're searching for. Hope this helps.

 

[Mandy]

"

Sacrifice, chastity, faith, humble, self-denial, enduring, strong, magical"
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-totems2.html

But, I see how there are different interpretations.

As this other website says...
"Agriculture, Prosperity, Abundance, Stubborn, Good Luck"
http://www.sunsigns.org/ox-animal-totem-symbolism-meanings/

Or yet another...

"Hard working and persistent, able to learn and absorb new information, tranquil but impulsive when angry, caring souls, logical, positive, filled with common sense, feet firmly planted on the ground, seeing things as only bad or good."
http://spiritwalkministry.com/spirit_guides/land_animal_spirits

The good thing overall is at least in my experience. Usually, if you know yourself well enough then there is no need to know the exact details of your totem. Or at least I say this because if in fact the blue jay is my totem, it just so happened to confirm those things that I already hold true to myself. Those self-evident traits of who I am.

Good luck on finding the meaning that you're searching for. Hope this helps.

Thank you Brian. This resonates a lot actually.

 

[Mandy]

Sorry @Mandy! I don't know why but I haven't been getting notified of activity on this board. I will try to fix that ASAP.

To get a more accurate meaning for you, can you describe the context in which it has been appearing for you? For example, has it been showing up in dreams, & if so what was it doing etc.
Is there a particular situation you think it is relating to?

Thank you Brooke. I haven't seen them in dreams or anything. I'm trying to understand the underlying symbolism that is forced upon a people by a religion.
It's a complicated unraveling for me. I was raised in a very indoctrinated religion with a lot of symbolism and slowly I'm peeling back the layers as they present themselves, and this was a next step I guess. I still live in an area that is 80% religious and they are trying to lure my children in, which don't get me wrong I don't feel that it's a dangerous religion, just lacking in the whole truth. As my children try to find their way I am trying to allow, yet protect at the same time. The oxen were similar to the relation of their use in Solomons Temple. So I was kind of looking for what Solomon's symbolism meant.

 

[Brooke]

Thank you Brooke. I haven't seen them in dreams or anything. I'm trying to understand the underlying symbolism that is forced upon a people by a religion.
It's a complicated unraveling for me. I was raised in a very indoctrinated religion with a lot of symbolism and slowly I'm peeling back the layers as they present themselves, and this was a next step I guess. I still live in an area that is 80% religious and they are trying to lure my children in, which don't get me wrong I don't feel that it's a dangerous religion, just lacking in the whole truth. As my children try to find their way I am trying to allow, yet protect at the same time. The oxen were similar to the relation of their use in Solomons Temple. So I was kind of looking for what Solomon's symbolism meant.

Omg it still didn't show me you had replied! I'm so sorry!! I'm not actually sure about the Solomons Temple reference but I am positive I have seen it mentioned quite a lot recently (which is strange!). If I find those posts (or who was sharing them) I will see if they have any more info for you

 

[Laron]

Sorry @Mandy! I don't know why but I haven't been getting notified of activity on this board. I will try to fix that ASAP.

 

[Laron]

Omg it still didn't show me you had replied!

 

[Laron]

 

[Laron]

Sorry @Mandy! I don't know why but I haven't been getting notified

Omg it still didn't show me you had replied!

 

[Brooke]

Haha thanks Laron! I couldn't understand why it didn't happen automatically like the other threads I had commented on! Will fix it now

*edited to add that I checked & those were all already done! Perhaps I fixed it after last time though, as I did receive a notification about those posts from you? Weird. Lol

 

[Snowmelt]

Can anyone enlighten me on the symbolism for oxen. I've Googled it but nothing really resonates. I feel a pull to understand something hidden in the symbolism and I'll know when I find it. Thank you.

Here is a small picture I embroidered of an ox. I did it in the Year of the Ox, (26th Jan 2009 - 14th Feb 2010). My daughter had to do a project at school, and I did this one along side her, for her inspiration.

My inspiration was from an image of Lao Tzu riding his Ox.

From: http://www.penninetaichi.co.uk/index_files/Page339.htm
The traditional stories say that he lived around the 6th Century B.C. After being in his mother’s womb for many years, he was finally born with a beard and looking like an old man. In fact the name Lao Tzu is a nickname meaning ‘Old Master’. Some stories claim that he was born laughing. During his lifetime, he worked at the Imperial Palace as a Custodian of the Imperial Archives and observed the ways of men, the way of nature and the way of the stars.

Upon retiring, he decided to leave the Middle Kingdom and headed to the mountains riding an ox. As he reached the Han-Ku pass, the gatekeeper or border-guard, Yin-Hsi urged him, (some say refused to let him pass), until he left some evidence of his teachings, so that those remaining and future generations could benefit from it. Lao Tzu consented and wrote the 81 short chapters of his ‘Simple Way’, which we know as the Tao Te Ching. He then left to head West, never to be seen again.

......The meeting at the pass also has multi-layered meaning. To head to the west is a universal symbol of going to where the sun sets or to death. (Chinese Mythology calls this the Western Paradise – The Isles of the Blessed. In European Mythology King Arthur was carried westwards to the Isle of Avalon). This image is further emphasised by the customs officer or gatekeeper who takes the role of the Ferryman transporting souls to the other side or alternatively the Gatekeeper to the afterlife of the otherworld.

The ox is a universal symbol of strength, benevolence, patience, submissiveness and steady toil. As the power that drove the ancient plough, it was sometimes used as a costly sacrifice in rituals connected with agricultural fertility.

In Chinese legend the ox was the second animal to arrive when the Buddha invited all the animals of creation to come to him and in recognition of this, a year was dedicated to it in the Chinese zodiac.

In China, the four cardinal points of the compass each have a ‘Celestial Animal’ and an element related to them. The centre is held by the fifth element of Earth, which often has the ‘Terrestrial Animal’ of the Ox associated with it.

Oxen are respected and venerated throughout Asia. Their untamed animal nature means that they are considered dangerous when undisciplined but powerfully useful when tamed. Consequently they have come to represent the attributes of the sage and contemplative learning.

The Taoist and Ch’an / Zen Buddhist series of ‘10 Ox Herding Pictures’ exemplify this analogy of training the mind and the pictures trace the stages within the awakening of awareness. In some versions the ox / bull starts off wholly black and as the pictures progress it gradually transforms to white before disappearing completely. In essence the pictures represent the sequential steps in the realisation of one’s true nature and the journey to enlightenment.

Similarly, the image of Lao Tzu riding an ox is a symbol of his being at one with his own true nature (and it suggests his transcendence and return to the source).

In other words, the inspiration for the artwork was the journey of him riding the Ox (some say water buffalo) up to the mystical mountains of China and downloading his wisdom in short stanzas of intense power and timeless wisdom. I thought this was worth commemorating with something tangible.

 

[Mandy]

Here is a small picture I embroidered of an ox. I did it in the Year of the Ox, (26th Jan 2009 - 14th Feb 2010). My daughter had to do a project at school, and I did this one along side her, for her inspiration.

My inspiration was from an image of Lao Tzu riding his Ox.

From: http://www.penninetaichi.co.uk/index_files/Page339.htm
The traditional stories say that he lived around the 6th Century B.C. After being in his mother’s womb for many years, he was finally born with a beard and looking like an old man. In fact the name Lao Tzu is a nickname meaning ‘Old Master’. Some stories claim that he was born laughing. During his lifetime, he worked at the Imperial Palace as a Custodian of the Imperial Archives and observed the ways of men, the way of nature and the way of the stars.

Upon retiring, he decided to leave the Middle Kingdom and headed to the mountains riding an ox. As he reached the Han-Ku pass, the gatekeeper or border-guard, Yin-Hsi urged him, (some say refused to let him pass), until he left some evidence of his teachings, so that those remaining and future generations could benefit from it. Lao Tzu consented and wrote the 81 short chapters of his ‘Simple Way’, which we know as the Tao Te Ching. He then left to head West, never to be seen again.

......The meeting at the pass also has multi-layered meaning. To head to the west is a universal symbol of going to where the sun sets or to death. (Chinese Mythology calls this the Western Paradise – The Isles of the Blessed. In European Mythology King Arthur was carried westwards to the Isle of Avalon). This image is further emphasised by the customs officer or gatekeeper who takes the role of the Ferryman transporting souls to the other side or alternatively the Gatekeeper to the afterlife of the otherworld.

The ox is a universal symbol of strength, benevolence, patience, submissiveness and steady toil. As the power that drove the ancient plough, it was sometimes used as a costly sacrifice in rituals connected with agricultural fertility.

In Chinese legend the ox was the second animal to arrive when the Buddha invited all the animals of creation to come to him and in recognition of this, a year was dedicated to it in the Chinese zodiac.

In China, the four cardinal points of the compass each have a ‘Celestial Animal’ and an element related to them. The centre is held by the fifth element of Earth, which often has the ‘Terrestrial Animal’ of the Ox associated with it.

Oxen are respected and venerated throughout Asia. Their untamed animal nature means that they are considered dangerous when undisciplined but powerfully useful when tamed. Consequently they have come to represent the attributes of the sage and contemplative learning.

The Taoist and Ch’an / Zen Buddhist series of ‘10 Ox Herding Pictures’ exemplify this analogy of training the mind and the pictures trace the stages within the awakening of awareness. In some versions the ox / bull starts off wholly black and as the pictures progress it gradually transforms to white before disappearing completely. In essence the pictures represent the sequential steps in the realisation of one’s true nature and the journey to enlightenment.

Similarly, the image of Lao Tzu riding an ox is a symbol of his being at one with his own true nature (and it suggests his transcendence and return to the source).

In other words, the inspiration for the artwork was the journey of him riding the Ox (some say water buffalo) up to the mystical mountains of China and downloading his wisdom in short stanzas of intense power and timeless wisdom. I thought this was worth commemorating with something tangible.

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Thank you so much Hailstones Melt for your reply. That was a very enlightening read and some things in there really resonate.