The Power
Its Indian name is yaguara, ‘he who kills with a leap’. This animal in fact does not chase its prey, but waits in ambush and at the most opportune moment pounces on it, biting its head off at both temporal lobes. When the jaguar hits the ground, the prey is already dead with its skull cracked open. If it fails the blow, however, it will not try again a second time.
Element: Earth and Fire.
Plant World: Ayahuasca. Corn.
Expansive phases: All year round(?). Night. Eclipses of the sun and moon.
Body parts: Head. Eyes, eyesight. Cheeks. Beard and moustache. Temporal lobe. Jaws. 6th chakra. Limbs and joints.
Powers: Ambush. Attack. Aggressiveness, ferocity. Timing, sprinting, sense of opportunity. Confidentiality, silence. Prudence, caution, mistrust. Strength, power. Mastery, versatility. Solitude, individualism, self-sufficiency. Impatience. Clairvoyance, vision of other realities. Journey through space, time and worlds. Shamanic journey. Lord of mountains and echo. Lord of the underworld, psychopomp. Sound and power of the drum. Guardian of Fire.
More massive than the leopard, it is smaller than the lion and the tiger, but fiercer even than the latter.
A mysterious and solitary animal, it is very difficult to see and very little is known about its habits.
Jaguars inhabit a territory that can stretch up to 300 miles. They only meet during heat, but are so solitary that they even irritate each other during sex.
Their power is both strong and versatile.
The jaguar can hunt in the prairie as well as in the forest and swamps; it prefers the proximity of water, with which, unlike most felines, it is comfortable; it can fish with its paws in the manner of bears; it is an excellent swimmer and also hunts small alligators or caimans. On the other hand, jaguars have been seen up to 3800 metres altitude.
It is no coincidence that Indians say they can fly over mountain peaks and that there are water jaguars that inhabit the depths of rivers. In Central and South America it is the Lord of the Animals and the main ally of many shamans.
Not just an ally, the Jaguar is indeed the shaman among animals.
Shaman and Jaguar are not merely equivalent, but each is at the same time the other.
Shamans roam the mountains and spy on or kill their enemies in the form of jaguars, and jaguars take possession of the souls of men, turning them into shamans. Many shamans upon death become jaguars for good.
Shaman-animal and Traveller between Worlds, it is through his travelling in this and other realities that he has acquired his many powers. And he has the archaic wisdom (perhaps out of fashion today, no wonder he risks extinction) of keeping his knowledge secret.
It seems, however, that his origin is chthonic, from the Underworld to which he often accompanies the souls of the dead, in the role of psychopomp (guide of souls). He is also the lord of the mountains, the echo and the drum. His roar is the voice of the Drum and the Thunder.
One must be respectful of the Jaguar. Only shamans can master its spirit, in ordinary men it can give rise to phenomena of severe possession: in South America, ‘were-jaguars’, similar to European werewolves, are known.
Jaguars are often lunar animals, because they are shy and predominantly nocturnal. But above all, the Jaguar is the embodiment of the Earth, which devours the sun at sunset and becomes the power of the sun during its nocturnal run.
It is therefore the Sun that shines in the underworld. It is also told of a blue jaguar, who lives in the Celestial World. It has two heads to devour the Sun and the Moon (eclipse) and the Tupinamba Indians say that at the end of time it will descend to earth to prey on men.
Vegetal World
In the Amazon, like the shamans of that land, he eats the bark of Ayahuasca, the powerful psychotropic plant used to have visions. The Indians say he does it ‘to leap into the other reality’.
No white person has directly seen him do it, although they have found traces of it. But in experiments on cats, they have seen them, after eating ayhuasca, make backward jumps: jumps ‘in reverse’, to the Other World.
It is also the protector of maize. The Indians say that since its origins four jaguars have stood guard at the four corners of the maize fields.
Element: A chthonic animal, he comes from the depths of the Earth. But like man after him, he has acquired the power to dominate all the elements. He is also guardian of Fire. He brought him with him the power of Thunder and the Subterranean Sun.
He belongs to the West, the direction of the Underworld, the Land of the Dead and Thunder.
Expansive phases
It is mainly active at night. But to some extent also during the day, especially at dusk and dawn, and this is no coincidence: these in fact are the ‘in-between’ hours, when gaps between realities open up, gaps that the Jaguar-shamans cross, often devouring ayahuasca.
It mates, it seems, at all times of the year.
Body Parts
As a jumping animal, it has powerful limbs and joints. But its mastery of ambush requires great power in its eyes and sense of smell. Its jaws and teeth are then incredibly strong, among the few capable of breaking even the strongest turtle shell. The unusual killing technique, which does not break the victim’s neck but the bones of the temples, tells us that the jaguar strikes at the head and the evolved areas of the brain and that it feeds on these powers: head, 6th chakra.
The Jaguar as messenger
If you hear a Jaguar roar, it is possible that the spirit of a dead person is coming to speak to you.
Or perhaps a Thunderstorm is about to shake your life: you can either suffer it in terror or make the power of Thunder your own, which charges you with electricity and awakens nature (even in the city!).
If a Jaguar comes to visit you, you may be experiencing or will experience an eclipse, but the Jaguar reveals to you that the Black Sun is none other than the Sun that shines underground and illuminates a hidden world and powers you did not suspect.
You can treasure these powers, but know that you will have to do everything yourself and keep your intentions secret.
The Jaguar as an animal of power
It is difficult to master this powerful totem. In other cultures they would say that only those called to become shamans can, the others are possessed by it. We moderns, so complex, are more seldom victims of true possessions; on the other hand, we are very good at defending ourselves from powerful spirits by ‘weakening’ them. Therefore often those who have a Jaguar or other too ‘strong’ spirits (such as the Eagle) as their power animal are perhaps not possessed, but are very weak.
The Jaguar in fact brings us powers that are very challenging to manage, such as strength and versatility together, talent in many different fields, but also loneliness, the power to manage these talents alone, without the help of others.
Jaguar-men, if they take their power into their own hands, know how to express themselves in very different terrains, explorers of vast and untouched territories in both the literal and spiritual sense.
They are masters of ambush and biding their time, and when they attack they are relentless.
It is difficult to master the jaguar’s aggressiveness and they can, when the time comes, be possessed by it: they absolutely must train themselves to keep their ally in check on this level.
They have the ability to throw light into the underworld and illuminate places that most others would not want to see
They must develop their plans alone and keep their intentions secret otherwise they will lose power and eventually be weak and defeated. Everything they achieve will be due only to their own efforts.
They are charming but arouse fear and distrust. Shy but also aggressive and sometimes ruthless.
They manage to live in situations where others would not survive and find sustenance in unexpected ways and in all fields. That is why it is not surprising that they can become other people’s guides and masters, while remaining ultimately alone (as do traditional shamans).
They will have a keen sense of smell and sight, especially at night, or they will sharpen them by strengthening their bond with the Jaguar. So too will their teeth and jaws. They can see in the dark and therefore have clairvoyant abilities, often from childhood.
If, however, they cannot handle or refuse the challenge of mastering their power, they will have problems with their eyesight and teeth, fail to express aggression and the Jaguar will become aggressive against them. Or they will be dominated by the animal occasionally without being able to really harness its power.
They are active at night and during the day, but more so at night. Their powers, especially shamanic ones, will be greatest at dusk and dawn.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
