Totems: Cow

The cow is one of the more important animals to western society, giving its meat and milk to nourish many people. A powerful creature, but one that is generally seen as harmless.

Amongst its lessons, one is of motherhood. The cow  tells how it is great to be a mother, to raise a child. It is the cow after all that gives birth and nourishes its child carefully with love. Such questions as “Have you been raising your child well?” where a child doesn’t exactly have to mean a kid you are a parent to, it can be a plant precious to you or a pet.

In the past, cows proved useful for fertilizing the ground due to their droppings. The cow asks if we help the land stay fertile as the very land allows us to eat. Keeping land fertile is important, as if there is no fertility, there’s no food.

The cow tells of sacrifice and how the sacrifices of others are to be appreciated. Sacrifices do happen often, the beef we see is of the sacrifice of the cow, the flesh of ducks and chickens of are sacrifice, so is the meat of many other animals such as fish and goats. There is always a sacrifice.

Some people think of moons when they hear of cows or vice versa. It is the cow that teaches of the power of lunar, or moon, magic and how one can benefit from lunar magic in one’s life.

Offerings to the cow can include grass, hay and silage, but water makes a great offering due to how much cows drink a day.