Ganesha and the Elephants of Gonarezhou
I’ve been studying Tantra for fifteen years, and I’ve learned that its deepest teachings don’t just live in books — they live in experience. They speak through the body, the Earth, and the beings who remember what we’ve forgotten.
In India, one of the most beloved gods is Ganesha, the elephant-headed guardian of thresholds and remover of obstacles. His lesson is that what seems to block us is often the very gate we must pass through to awaken.
The Call to Africa
Several years ago, I was called — in ways I can only describe as mystical — to Africa. A series of dreams, synchronicities, and inner messages began to appear, all connected to the legendary White Lions of Timbavati, South Africa.
In the first dream, a white lion pressed its forehead to mine and whispered, “It’s time to remember.” I sensed these beings were summoning me to receive a teaching about my true purpose, consciousness, and humanity’s sacred relationship with the Earth — a message that feels even more urgent now, as our world trembles under the weight of division and forgetfulness.
That call became a pilgrimage known as The March of the Matriarchs — a journey created for ten women by a man who lived in Australia. I traveled to Africa alone, joining nine other women from around the world, each answering her own quiet calling. We were led by two extraordinary women guides, one from Australia, the other a dutch woman that was living in Zimbabwe, who carried a deep reverence for the land and its ancient wisdom.
The call to MOM(The March of the Matriarchs) was both outer journey and inner initiation. It would eventually bring me to the White Lions of Timbavati, but first, I was led to Gonarezhou, Zimbabwe — “The Place of Elephants.” Only later did I understand why: before I could receive the lions’ message of light and truth, I needed to stand upon the earth of memory.
The elephants would become the bridge — grounding me in myself and in the body of the Earth so I could receive the cosmic frequencies of the lions’ wisdom without being shattered by their intensity.
Given my study of Tantra and the teachings of Ganesha, this made perfect sense — and still ripples through my body with truth.
The Death Before the Birth
Before arriving in Gonarezhou, I descended from the top of The Great Zimbabwe Monument, an ancient stone citadel pulsing with ancestral memory. I was utterly spent — physically, emotionally, spiritually — stripped bare of all that I thought I knew.
That night, I sat with one of Africa’s great water shamans, Baba Mandaaza, a man whose presence felt like both river and fire.
Overwhelmed, I finally asked the question pressing at the edges of my heart:
“I feel like I’m dying. Is that why I’m here? Was I called here to die?”
He looked at me with compassion, smiled softly, and patted my face.
“Maybe,” he said. “But perhaps you are dying in a way you haven’t considered. Maybe what’s dying are the things that block your life flow — the parts that no longer serve you. They are eliminating.”
Something inside me broke open. I realized I wasn’t dying; I was shedding. The beliefs and structures that had kept me small were falling away. That conversation planted the seed that would grow into The Elimination Code — a practice for clearing what no longer serves so that our divine essence can flow freely.
The Bones That Speak
Gonarezhou is a place of ancient elephant trails that have been walked for centuries. It sits against a backdrop of breathtaking grandeur — the Chilojo Cliffs, red-and-white sandstone towers unlike anything else in Zimbabwe. Beneath their silent majesty, the elephants move like rivers of memory across the land.
It was there, deep in the bush, that we came upon the bones of a young elephant and, beside them, the bones of its mother.
The calf had become ill and could no longer walk. The mother refused to leave her child’s side. For days, she cried out — long, trembling calls that echoed through the plains, carrying across the heat and dust. Her grief shook the land.
Then something extraordinary happened. The herd — called a Memory — returned to her. For days before the calf’s death, they gathered in quiet solidarity. They touched the mother and child with their trunks, rumbling deep tones that seemed to vibrate love through the earth itself.
When the calf finally passed, the herd lingered. They nudged the mother gently, urging her to rise, to rejoin them, to live. But she would not go. Her love had become stillness; her grief, devotion.
What happened afterward was even more astonishing.
When the mother and calf died, the herd — their Memory — returned. They surrounded the bodies, touching them gently with their trunks, rumbling in low, grief-filled tones. They stood watch for days, honoring them first as individuals, then as part of the collective whole.
It was ritual, not reaction — a ceremony of love and belonging that transcended death itself.
I stood there in tears, understanding that I was witnessing a sacred truth:
Life and death are not opposites — they are companions.
And love, real love, never leaves. It transforms.
Even now, when that same herd passes the place where they died, they pause. Each elephant reaches out to touch the bones with its trunk, sometimes trumpeting, sometimes silent. It is a ritual of remembrance — a way of keeping love alive in the land.
The Lions and the Teaching of Pride
When I finally reached Timbavati, I met the beings who had called me — the White Lions. Their presence was radiant, sovereign, and deeply connected.
Each morning, before the sun rose, we would set out into lion territory — to find the prides, to witness them, and to sit in silence and reverence. One morning, we came upon two lionesses — mother and daughter — Zihra and Nebu.
Our guide, Linda Tucker — author of The Mystery of the White Lions and now known around the world as The Lion Queen of Africa for her tireless dedication to protecting these sacred beings — instructed us to bow our heads in respect and avoid direct eye contact, which lions can perceive as a challenge.
Linda has devoted her life to saving the White Lions and to preserving their deeper message: a call to help save humanity from itself.
We sat together in stillness. Then something remarkable unfolded. Zihra, the mother, began to chuff and tone — a low, rhythmic sound that seemed to vibrate straight through our hearts. She lifted her head, inviting us to respond.
What followed was a back-and-forth toning — a kind of call and response between human and lioness. As we toned, it almost seemed as if a hazy mist surrounded us. The air shimmered with presence. We could feel not only the energy of these two lionesses, but also that of the Pride — and beyond that, the essence of all the White Lions that had ever lived, those who were there now, and those yet to come.
Time felt suspended; it was as if we were singing across lifetimes, woven into the same sacred breath.
When the toning ceased, silence filled the air — thick, holy, alive.
Zihra stood, majestic and proud, and shook her whole body as though releasing the energy. She nudged her daughter’s forehead, then turned and walked away, Nebu following close behind.
I knew in that moment that what had happened was a transmission — a gift — the foundation of what had called me there.
Living the Teaching
That message has become the foundation of my life and work. For many years, I struggled with pride — not only because culture teaches us to fear it, but also because of my long personal journey with my body and weight.
For so long, I found it hard to be proud of a body I was constantly working to change. Because of that, I didn’t believe I had wisdom to offer. I thought I had to wait — or weight — to share my teachings until I had “figured out” this part of my life.
Now I see how false that was. All of us are still doing our inner and outer work. What I once perceived as my failure with weight loss was actually a journey I’ve become proud of — one of self-compassion, perseverance, and truth.
Instead of waiting to be worthy, I began weighting with love.
The lions taught me that true pride is not arrogance — it is reverence. It is sacred self-respect. It is the courage to honor where you’ve been, what you’ve survived, and who you are still becoming.
Though it was the Lions who called me to Africa, it was the Elephants who prepared me to receive their message. The elephants rooted me in myself and reconnected me to the body of the Earth — in memory, joy, fear, grief, pleasure and devotion — so that I could hold and pass on the frequency of the lions’ higher teaching.
Together, they gave me the full circle: the Elephants taught me how to hold; the Lions taught me how to lead. And from their shared teaching came the seed of my life’s work — The Elimination Code — a practice of remembrance, release, and radiant pride in being fully human.
And yet, I can see now that it all began long before Africa — with my study of Tantra and the teaching of Ganesha, the guardian and remover of obstacles and perhaps even before that when I birthed into this life. He was with me from the beginning, quietly guiding each step, clearing the path not of external barriers but of the ones I built within myself.
Ganesha had been preparing me all along — teaching me that every true awakening begins with elimination: the clearing of illusion, resistance, and fear so that truth can flow freely.
Healing isn’t about erasing yourself; it’s about reclaiming yourself.
It’s also the heart of the Four White Lion Wisdoms that now guide my work:
Clarity. Focus. Purpose. Divine Action.
The Bridge Between Earth and Light
The elephants anchored me in the body of the Earth.
The lions lifted me into the truth of who I am.
Together, they built the bridge between grief and purpose, between devotion and sovereignty.
When I returned home, I could feel both energies alive within me — the grounded compassion of the elephants and the radiant leadership of the lions. From that union came The Elimination Code — a living practice of clearing what blocks the flow and returning to the truth of who we are.
As Ganesha reminds us, every ending is only a gate —
back to life,
back to purpose, back to ourselves,
back to love.
About the Author
Jennifer Mark is the creator of The Elimination Code — a living practice that unites Tantra, lionhearted leadership, and the wisdom of the natural world. Her teachings and workshops, including The Five Levels of Pleasure, guide others to reconnect with purpose, clarity, and divine action.