Animal Images

Origins

Many African stories hold that long ago people and animals could communicate and that individuals in some cultures were able to become one with specific animals. Over time, this ability was lost to most people except for select specialists such as hunters, healers, shaman, priests, or priestesses. Although communication was no longer possible, reverence remained.

Animals, because of their complex human-like activities, were early teachers of humans, in the sense that humans learned from watching animal behavior. By observing their behavior, Africans were able to discover in-depth information about themselves and their world. These animals then became symbols, and their images were used to convey important information. People of the Nile Valley have a deity of language and writing called Djehuty who is represented as a baboon. Baboons have a language consisting of clicking sounds. Perhaps these early inhabitants made the association of language with baboons based on this observation.

Another early example of the use of animal images is among the San of South Africa. A painting of a dying eland, with zigzag lines emanating from it, depicts the potency of eland, which the San believe to be a source of their shamanistic power. Another image shows the emptying of an eland's bowels, perhaps a crucial indicator that it is the energy release at the point of death, not just death itself that releases this power. The images are painted with a mixture containing the blood of an eland. Other images depict a combination of an eland and human, or a bird or lion and a human. These therianthropes appeared in rock shelters scattered throughout southern Africa and often overlapped, making it difficult to distinguish scenes. These “theaters” were vital to the life of the San people because they were the places at which the shaman could gather and communicate information obtained from their experiences with and as animals in the spiritual world.

Some Examples

Ancient Kemetan culture makes extensive use of both animal images and related therianthropes. The written language, Mdw Ntr, contains dozens of images of animals and birds that act as letters in their writing system. Sometimes they are read phonetically, sometimes they are read ideographi-cally. Egyptian deities appear as both animal images and therianthropes. The sun deity, or neter, Ra is shown as a falcon or wings, just as the neter Horus. The falcon is a bird of strength and aggressiveness that soars high, like the sun and with the sun. The falcon would also be drawn with kings to reinforce their god-like powers and attributes. The neter Hathor is a cow or, in earlier times, a hippopotamus or water cow, both ancient maternal symbols of strength. Sobek is imaged as a crocodile.

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