12 Tribes of Israel Emblem Symmetry - Issacar and Naphtali, part 2

There is a natural balance in the cosmos - day/night, up/down, positive/negative, etc. Almost any concept or natural phenomena can be cut into two complementary parts. Ancient Eastern mystics from China called this phenomena as the imprint of Yin and Yang. Likewise the Twelve Tribes of Israel can be cut into compliments via their emblems.

Part II - The Tribe of Issac and Naphtali

The popular emblems of Naphtali and Issacar make a fine pair - a donkey and a deer. Note that nearly every tribal totem has two forms, but the totems for Naphtali and Issacar are farily consistent.* Both tribes feature four legged, hoofed herbivores of similar body types. You can think of a donkey as being a deer without antlers, or rather a deer is donkey with antlers.

A sharp dichotomy presented by these emblems is the separation between wild and domesticated. It is also a reflection of our own domestic and wild natures.

Some people easily fit into the 'square' domestic establishment. Some individuals have a knack to do the work of a banker, bureaucrat, and navigate the paper-cubical forest of business with ease and efficiency. Examples of the domestic heavy book and brain load bearer with the "Issacar Trait" are Alan Greenspan and Henry Kissinger.



On the other hand, there are people who have difficultly fitting into the regular 'square' rules of society. Rather their instinct is to let loose and run free in the forest of feelings, music, and art. They dance, mock and run counter to the dominant business-professional way of life. They don't want to carry the heavy burdens of society, not necessarily because they don't want but rather they don't know how or are incapable. Excellent examples include Howard Stern and Bob Dylan. These men exhibit the free bird wild essence of the "Naphtali Trait."

But like Yin and Yang, it is important to not preclude one as being absolutely wild or domestic. Meaning that believe it or not, Greenspan and Kissinger have wild nutty sides, just as Stern and Dylan have conformist square pro-establishment elements.

link to part 1 (it's raining like cat and dogs)
link to part 3 (army vs navy, sort of)
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*The vast majority of emblems of Issachar show a donkey carrying a large burden of supplies. But in 1955 the modern state of Israel issued a stamp series with the Tribe of Issac with the totem of the sun with stars. Which one is correct? It all depends on your point of view, but in a sense they are both are correct. However the association of Issacar with donkey stems from Genesis, star and sun does not.

Photo Credits
Donkey: March 20, 2010 by Marie-France Durieux : http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfdudu/4457254652/
Antelope-Deer: by Sean Gibbon at here