the symbolism of wolves🌙

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 The negative side of the wolf haunted many ancient cultures. The famous European tale of Little Red Riding Hood leaves us with the legacy of fearing the "big bad wolf," making us believe from childhood that there is no wolf but the bad one.

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Hades, the lord of the underworld, wears a wolfskin cape. The Etruscan god of death is depicted with wolf ears. While wizards and witches transformed themselves into wolves to attend the Sabbaths, in Spain the wolf was known as the mount of sorcerers.

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For Muslims, the wolf is one of the obstacles on their path to Mecca, and can assume the monstrous form of the beast of the apocalypse. In Western legends and folklore, the wolf is a malignant plague that destroys herds. We cannot fail to mention the curse of men who transform into wolves during the full moon – werewolves.

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In Egyptian mythology, Anubis is called Impu, "he who has the form of a wild dog." It is also one of the forms given to Zeus (Lycaios), to whom human beings were sacrificed in times when agricultural magic reigned, to put an end to droughts and natural disasters of all kinds: Zeus then poured rain, fertilized the fields, and directed the winds.

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Wolves have been painted with a black brush in fairy tales and still frighten defenseless girls today. But the wolf's symbolism is vast and doesn't just represent its negative side. They weren't always seen as terrifying and violent creatures. For many cultures, it represents our connection with nature and magic. It also represents the line between the known and the unknown, life and death, the physical and the spiritual.

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The wolf possesses ferocity when it protects. That's why it's so feared... It can truly be a murderous beast if what it guards is threatened. In Japan, it is invoked to guard places. The symbolism of protection also appears in the she-wolf of Romulus and Remus, which also refers to fertility. In Siberia, Turkey, and Anatolia, the wolf is invoked to grant fertility to women. In ancient Greece and Rome, the animal was the consort of Artemis, the huntress, and lovingly nursed heroes.

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At the same time, it represents the sense of unity. Wolves hunt in packs and, like dogs, enjoy playing. They are faithful, with a partner for life. They howl to mark territory, mourn a loss, ask for help, or just for fun. Ancient wisdom tells us that it was the wolf who taught us how to create community on Earth, for wolves have an intuitive knowledge of order amidst chaos and the ability to survive change intact.

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For Native Americans, the wolf is a powerful spiritual symbol. They are considered teachers and "trailfinders." The wolf star was red, a cherished color associated with the wolf by all tribes. Also known as Sirius, it is the brightest star in the northern sky. The Milky Way was the wolf's path—the route to paradise. "I am the lone wolf, I roam in many countries," says a war song of the North American prairie Indians.

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Indians respect the wolf's bravery as a hunter, its determination, and the way it moves silently across the landscape. They are moved by its howl, which they consider a conversation with the spirit world. In fact, the wolf appears in many legends as a messenger, a long-distance traveler, and a guide for anyone seeking the spiritual world. It brings the omen of new ideas.

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The wolf is the great teacher. It is the wise man who, after many winters on the sacred path, seeking the paths of wisdom, returns to share his knowledge with the tribe. For China, the star Sirius is also the celestial wolf, guardian of the celestial palace (Ursa Major). This polar character is explained by the fact that the wolf is attributed to the North.

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The wolf is also the symbol of the warrior hero, a mythical ancestor. Genghis Khan, the founder of the Chinese and Mongol dynasties, is the sky-blue wolf. His strength and ardor in combat make him an allegory perpetuated by the Turkic peoples even in contemporary history, as Mustapha Kemal, who named himself Ataturk, that is, Father of the Turks, received the nickname "gray wolf" from his supporters.

Jungian analyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés draws a parallel between wolves and women in modern society. By investigating the crushing of the feminine instinctual nature, Clarissa discovered the key to the modern woman's sense of powerlessness. Her book, WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES, spent a year on the bestseller list in the United States.

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Addressing 19 myths, legends, and fairy tales, such as the story of the ugly duckling and Bluebeard, Estés shows how women's instinctual nature was domesticated over time, in a process that punished all those who rebelled. According to the analyst, like virgin forests and wild animals, instincts were devastated and natural feminine cycles were forcibly transformed into artificial rhythms to please others.

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But her vital energy, according to her, can be restored through "psycho-archaeological" excavations in the ruins of the underworld. To the point where, emerging from the thick layers of cultural conditioning, the courageous wolf that lives within every woman appears.