Snake Animal Medicine/Totem
By Janét Bowerman
Ever since I have moved into this house I have encountered numerous snakes. My front flowerbed seems to be a very likable place for them to nest and hibernate. Everyone who knows me, knows I simply just do not care for snakes. It really doesn’t matter whether they’re non-poisonous or poisonous ones.
As a nature lover, I don’t want to cause harm to any living thing. I’ve been on a quest to find anything I can to place in my yard and flowerbeds to keep them away. Many say “moth balls” are a deterrent and will keep them away but I cannot find anything on the internet to support this, although I have read it seems to work for some people. I decided to purchase some anyway. I also purchased a snake repellent called “Snake B Gon” at the local hardware store. It is comprised of essential oils and safe for pets. Specifically, cinnamon oil, castor oil, peppermint oil, clove oil and geraniol. Geraniol is a monoterpenoid and an alcohol. It is the primary part of rose oil, palmarosa oil, and citronella oil. It also occurs in small quantities in geranium, lemon, and many other essential oils. These oils are mixed with sawdust, cornstarch and sodium sulfate (Sodium sulfate is the sodium salt of sulfuric acid from the mineral thenardite) to give them solidity. A 2 quart container suggest it is good for 1,440 square feet and will withstand its strength even throughout rain and lawn watering.
While I have been very busy searching ways to eradicate snakes, my guides reminded me I should look at what the Snake animal totem/medicine had for me. Yes, perhaps there is a lesson here after all. Something to glean from this intrusion.
Snake animal totem – Snake is the symbol for Wisdom, Healing, and Initiation. The symbol of eternity. This a powerful totem — it is the symbol of transformation and healing.
The Snake is wisdom expressed through healing. It is a protector and guardian totem, along with its sister totems, the Dragon and the Serpent. If a snake totem has come into your life, your creative forces are awakening. Your intuition will sharpen and be more accurate.
Snake energy is the energy of wholeness, cosmic consciousness, and the ability to experience anything willingly and without resistance. It is the knowledge that all things are equal in creation.
It also signals a transition in your life. New opportunities and/or changes.
Snake is fire medicine, the medicine of transmutation.
On a material level, it is vitality; on an emotional level, it is ambition and dreams; on a mental level, it is intellect and power; on a spiritual level (the highest level), it is wisdom, understanding and wholeness.
If animals are living symbols of the cosmic design, snake, with its exclamation point body, is the very image of a symbol. She is a gliding hieroglyph speaking volumes to the psyche about our most primal abilities to heal and renew. Her energy is the cosmic declaration of, ‘Yes, I will survive!’ and it is for this reason she is the symbol presiding over all the healing arts.
Where all animal spirit medicines speak of healing, the Snake totem is the medicine of medicine itself. Her lessons are a private journey into releasing the personal and opening to the universal. Life, to be lived, requires a body to do so. This is so obvious a statement that the full value of its significance is often overlooked.
Snake medicine speaks of transcending personal pain, gaining a sense of security in the midst of instability, and learning how to renew without having to replace. The teachings of this animal urge us to not give up on or throw out that which may still be quite useful. When snake medicine glides into your life, it is time to schluff off the old pattern so that the new design can pulse with the most current energy. It is time to listen to your body’s discomfort and locate the real source of the pain.
Snake, unlike dragonfly or butterfly, does not transform herself into a completely new shape. She molts; a process of gliding through old dead cells to emerge improved and renewed with its original design intact. This molting process, when applied to healing, can range from mildly irritating to debilitating contractions of violent pain depending on the lessons being presented. What do we do with pain? How can we end it? Snake says, don’t run from it. Turn around and move into it. Snake unlocks her jaws and swallows life whole. Confronting pain is the only way to completely dissolve it. Snake teaches us that the basic function of pain is to teach us of the true reality of life outside delusional social conventions. That reality is a silent experience beyond words. It is in this silence that healing occurs.
Surviving the trials of snakes’ poisoned bite transmutes the soul beyond our body, reminding us that we are not just skin and bone. We are that which quickens the skin and bone. We are conviction itself and that energy is eternal. Conviction is a cosmic force that moves planets and burns stars.
Snakes cannot survive without direct daily contact with the sun. Her inability to generate her own body heat makes her dependent on her external environment. But this seemingly external dependence is ultimately an internal process indicating that both the internal and external are one. They are not the same, but they are one together and inextricable. Likewise, to live well we, too, must make sure our outside environment is providing the fuel we need to generate our own conviction. Snake medicine finds the balance between what we can accomplish alone and what we need help with from the outside world. This balance between the inner and outer relationship with life also teaches us about our relationship to the art of receiving assistance, particularly in regards to the medical arts.
The act of healing comes from within our own body, so that the most vital requirement for all healing is a willingness to heal. But ‘willingness’ is not a mental high jump we can just fling ourselves over into. We cannot will ourselves to be willing. We cannot order our minds to be receptive to healing. The old philosophy of ‘mind over matter’ is misguided. Eventually that matter will mind back in the form of back pain, headaches, knee pain, etc. To address an ailment, we must start from where we are, tensions, limitations and all.
If our thoughts are fraught with doubts, unreasonable expectations, anger, or fear, the first order of business in the healing process is to address our mental state of mind and guide it towards greater receptivity. Assistance with this mental journey is certainly available with friends, therapists and care givers, but snake reminds us that ultimately the journey is a singular one which only you can motivate from within.
Your ability to locate your own inner conviction to heal will propel you forward into life. But that healing process may involve dying to the old physical structure. During the molting process a snakes eyes glaze over, indicating that she is dwelling between life and death. Her body dies as her life energy reemerges. The life within your body is an eternal continuum of energy. Snake knows that death of the body is only a molting of spirit into the next expression of life. The connection you make with that spirit within you is something you take with you at the time of death. It is the one and only thing you take with you into the beyond. When money, status, house, career, and family must all be left behind, consciousness is never lost. Seeking greater conscious awareness is the most sensible investment of time you could make in your life and it is the most important thing you need to do every day before all other goals.
Snake medicine first urges you to find ways to avoid the medical system all together by seeking a solid education in preventative medicine and live a lifestyle that does not court illness. Don’t wait for symptoms to occur to change bad habits. Prevent ill health with healthy foods and exercise. Going for a walk every day is profound preventative medicine.
Snake teaches that not everything has to be difficult or complex to be credible. Simple solutions are often overlooked in exchange for the complex and unnecessary. Where there are many extraordinary discoveries in the pharmaceutical world that have helped us battle a variety of topical discomforts ranging from skin afflictions to respiratory problems, the best doctors will only suggest complex pills or chemical prescriptions as a very last resort and will urge you to seek education about the nature of your discomfort before numbing the pain.
Your body is a healing body by its very nature. The ability to heal is inherent in your design. Snake knows that behind every physical pain there is a spiritual conflict seeking resolution. This spiritual conflict is able to be transmuted emotionally if you are willing to let life get a little weird. One glance at snake’s chilling gaze is enough to confirm that life is ‘most wondrously strange’ and to heal, we may just have to drop our social conventions and join that strangeness, transmuting our old cell patterns to emerge renewed.
Snake medicine also speaks of the powers of hypnosis and trance states as a way to explore the limitless frontiers of our minds. Partaking in any activity that puts you in ‘the zone’ is good snake medicine. If this medicine has emerged in your life it may be time to zone out and molt the brain’s old thoughts. Get a massage and take care of your skin, it’s the only skin you’ve got.
In matters of love, Snake medicine asks that we find ways to renew the chemistry of old relationships rather than break them to find ‘new’ love. All new love will eventually become old and will ultimately ask you to deepen your understanding of what Love really is. Dropping the mental history we have developed with a loved-one and seeing the person for the first time again and again every day is the hearts transmutation process that snake teaches; renewal without replacement.
The person you think you know is not who you think they are. People are not ‘knowable’ in the sense that we can have someone all summed up and figured out. The way you treat someone determines how you will experience them. If you treat them like something you’ve seen a million times before, that is what they will become. If you are able to awaken in yourself the ability to see all people always new, your conversations will be surprising and engaging. Every relationship, whether between blood ties or romantic, is about friendship. Friendship is the ability to hold ground as two people undulate between harmony and discord.
Snake, as the ancient symbol of Kundalini, can be daunting if the illusions of sexuality are not broken. There are two aspects to sexuality. The seductive lure and then the security that follows from the success of that lure. If all we sought was the experience of the seduction, jumping from night club to night club, body to body, the whole meaning and motivation behind the act of sexuality is lost. We dance and lure to ultimately form a lasting bond with a trusted friend who will help us as we navigate the mysteries of life. When snake medicine is out of balance she is asking that you legalize your right to feel safe with another person and learn how to make another person feel safe with you by remaining loyal to your intimacy. When passions die between you and your loved one, transmute your old conclusions about that person and allow your perspective of them to renew itself.
Every person on Earth is infinitely creative and willing to change if addressed with loyalty. If a dynamic has truly reached an impasse and it is time to move on, snake teaches also that the process of healing all pain, including a broken heart, is undulating in nature. Sadness and grief will grip us, hold us tight in its agony, and then let us go, only to grip us again moments later. We must flow with this painful wave of energy, and allow ourselves to be consumed by the grip until eventually the tide lowers and the pain fades. To deny this process, to numb it with drugs or avoid it with social distractions will only delay its ultimate return. The grief will coil and wait for you, snake-like, in the base of your spine only to unwind when you seek the next adventure.
Shake out your shoes before you put them on. Find the snakes in the grass before they find you. Learn to move through the pain as snake moves through her skin. When in the full grips of healing, the only thing there is to do is be with the undulating tides of your inner life. All other plans and activities must be postponed. Lie in bed, in the grass, the sand, the mud, and do no more things.
Yes, I am a survivor and, like many of you, have gone through many challenges in recent times. It is time for me to accept and embrace change and look for the new opportunities life has to offer. My creative forces are indeed (re)awakening and my intuition and gifts are stronger than ever. My inner child is healing and coming into her own. Thank you, snake, for the reminder!!
About the Author:
An empath since early childhood, Janét Bowerman uses her ability and style when reading for others. At times, she uses the Tarot to provide additional insight into her readings. She’s a certified Reiki Practitioner and natural healer with the ability to send healing energy to those in need. She specializes in life coaching, self-growth and love relationships. Find more information at her website, www.braveheartbutterfly.com .
