The Multidimensional Nature of Vahanas

In myths and stories, the vahana takes the form of an animal that mirrors its own nature and function. The carrier of the mind, for instance, is a timid and restless doe; the carrier of our energy, a tireless and impulsive ram. For the purposes of storytelling, these correspondences work beautifully—they are vivid, immediate, and easy for the imagination to inhabit. Picture a beautiful woman astride an elegant white horse, and you will find that the image does much of the work on its own, stirring in you precisely those feelings that belong to the conscious agent of a higher…