The Symbolism of the Giraffe and the Constellation Camelopardus
Introduction
The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal
belonging to the genus Giraffa.
It is the tallest living terrestrial animal
and the largest ruminant on Earth.
The giraffe's chief distinguishing characteristics
are its extremely long neck and legs,
and its spotted coat pattern ...
Giraffes usually inhabit savannahs and woodlands.
Their food source is leaves, fruits, and flowers
of woody plants - primarily acacia species,
which they browse at heights most other herbivores cannot reach.
The giraffe has intrigued various ancient and modern cultures
for its peculiar appearance,
and has often been featured in paintings, books, and cartoons.
And symbolically the giraffe has represented
Sociability, and friendliness.
Femininity - especially because of those huge eyes and long lashes.
Fragility - because its legs and neck look so thin and vulnerable.
And Grace, beauty and elegance.
But which of these is accurate, if any?
The Burning Giraffe
Many thousands of years ago giraffe were common
vast herds roamed throughout the whole of Africa,
and in Southern Europe and India.
Today desertification, the increase in global population
and appalling levels of hunting for "sport"
have reduced their range to national parks
in east and southern Africa.
As a consequence, the giraffe is classified
by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
as vulnerable to extinction.
Estimates as of 2016 indicate there are only around
97,500 members of Giraffa in the wild.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare's
more recent figures say 68,000.
Salvador Dalí
depicted them with burning manes in a great number
of his surrealist paintings, drawings and lithographs.
Dali's giraffes were clearly symbolic, but of what?
Often appearing in desertified landscapes
- they were a premonition of global warming and extinction.
And he even explained the very thing that was destroying them,
although few, even today, understand this
a "masculine cosmic apocalyptic monster" - man.
Why camelopardalis?
The giraffe's species name is camelopardalis (or camelopard).
Its name is derived from its early Roman/Greek names
where it was thought of as a composite creature,
"a camel marked like a leopard".
The word Giraffe, however, is from the Arabic zarafa -
The giraffe, however, is actually a two toed ruminant
and thus shares its physiology with cows,
deer and camels [but not leopards].
Its strange appearance, however, has always caused great interest.
In 1414, a giraffe from Malindi was taken to China
by explorer Zheng He
and placed in a Ming dynasty zoo,
where it was a source of fascination.
The Medici giraffe was a giraffe presented
to Lorenzo de' Medici in 1486,
and it caused a great stir on its arrival in Florence.
And in 1827 the first giraffe ever seen in France,
became an instant celebrity in Paris.
Michael Allin - Zarafa:
"Zarafamania gripped Paris and crowds rioted around her
as she was paraded through the city and presented to the king.
Women imitated her with their hair styles high, a la Girafe,
and the men wore fashionably giraffique hats and ties ..."
As such its exotic nature added to its mystique,
and its reputation for reaching for the sky,
to reach the top most branches
linked it to the spiritual path and the tree of life.
Hallucinogen
The Humur are a subgroup of the Baggara ethnic group,
native to Kordofan in east Sudan,
Ian Cunnison [shown in the centre of the front row]
was an anthropologist who studied the Humur people.
The Humur, he found, consume a drink called Umm Nyolokh,
which is prepared from the liver and bone marrow of freshly killed
giraffes. He reported that
"After drinking it, dreams of giraffes are commonly reported.
Waking hallucinations experienced
under the influence of the drink also typically involve giraffes."
Giraffes eat acacia and some acacia contain DMT.
Richard Rudgley thus hypothesised
that Umm Nyolokh might contain DMT
[an hallucinogen] as a consequence.
Despite the fact the Humur, being Mahdists,
are strict abstainers and never drink liquor or beer.
Cunnison reported that "it is said that
a person, once he has drunk umm nyolokh,
will return to giraffe again and again."
The watchtower
A giraffe, the tallest animal, "oversees" a local vicinity
on the African plains or Savannah.
Other animals on the savanna (such as
zebras, ostriches, and antelopes) stay close to giraffes and
use them as watchtowers or observation posts for predators.
Giraffes have good eyesight meaning their height and eyes
enable them to see miles. In essence they are "far seeing" -
and someone who is symbolically "far seeing", is called "a seer".
The giraffe's symbolism is reinforced via its hornlike "ossicones",
[see our video the Symbolism of Horns] its "aerial".
It is worth noting that although Lions, leopards,
spotted hyenas, and African wild dogs may all prey upon giraffes,
a giraffe can kill a lion with a brutal kick.
So it may be a seer symbolically,
but it is neither fragile nor passive when attacked.
But the overall symbolism is beginning to emerge very clearly
- an animal that reaches to the highest heavens,
a courageous and brave seer, willing to defend her group.
Indeed a sort of High Priestess of the animal world.
And this is the High Priestess card from the Thoth Tarot,
which we will come back to shortly.
An animal with a remarkable heart
People could not understand how the giraffe, "nature's skyscraper",
could lower its head to drink and not suffer from dizziness.
Why doesn't the high pressure of the blood gushing 6 foot to its head
followed by the low pressure when it raises it way back up again,
make the animal dizzy or faint?
And then they discovered the extraordinary design
of the jugular blood vessels in its neck
where a series of one-way check valves hold back the blood
from flowing to the brain when it lowers its head and vice versa
stop it running away when it raises its head.
Equally marvellous is the fact the blood does not pool in the legs,
and a giraffe does not bleed profusely if cut on the leg.
The secret here lies in an extremely tough skin and an inner fascia
that prevents blood pooling.
Furthermore, a giraffe has an enormous heart, one of the largest hearts
in the animal kingdom, to enable it to do these things.
So she has been designed to be a miracle of engineering
- the High Priestess of the animal world,
but a High Priestess with a huge heart,
- sadly the same cannot be said for her killers.
The Constellation Camelopardalis
Camelopardalis is a large but faint constellation of the northern sky.
The Flemish clergyman, astronomer and cartographer, Petrus Plancius,
when employed by the Dutch East Indies company,
introduced the constellation in 1613.
And so it has remained, recognized by the International
Astronomical Union to this day.
The picture of this constellation,
has a long neck extending to the north pole.
Its head is very close to the Pole Star.
Johann Elert Bode showed some of the constellations bordering
Camelopardalus - Auriga, Lynx, Telescopium, Herschelii, and Perseus.
Whilst Johannes Hevelius
showed the other constellations - Draco
Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor
- if you follow Ursa Minor's tail, its tip is the Pole Star.
In Summary
Both the Giraffe and its constellation symbol
represent the High Priestess,
and this is the card from The Thoth Tarot again,
a deck painted by Lady Frieda Harris
according to instructions from Aleister Crowley.
[We have a video on the symbolism of the High Priestess in the Tarot]
The High Priestess [and giraffe] is a seer of great courage
and bravery and one who protects her group.
Reaching for the very centre of the Cosmic Egg
- the Pole Star - her head almost touches it.
And then there is the link with the Acacia tree
- an African tree of life.
And the pattern? Does this have any symbolic significance?
Celestially, the Giraffe's head
looks out over nearly every northern constellation.
And what does it see?
A pattern, just like its own.