I remember when my Mother was deathly afraid of snakes. Perhaps not coincidentally, I once killed many snakes ‘long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away’, while visiting a magical place on Lake Michigan called Fox Island. Gravely but understandably, my behavior was liberally reinforced by a bunch of adults, mostly men, for ‘clearing vermin’. Today, I choose to say ‘peace out’ to the ‘powers that were’ by transmuting my relationship with Snake, gently facing my fears head on and killing them with kindness. “Snake . . . come crawling, there’s fire in your eyes. Bite me, I’ll learn to realize, the poison transmuted, brings eternal flame. Open me to heaven, to heal me again.” I so appreciate the power Snake medicine has to transmute Our physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual dimensions, given that We humans are multi-dimensional, Universal Beings. Moreover, Snake medicine invokes creativity, sexuality, psychic energy, reproduction and Ascension (Immortality). When we tap into Snake’s energy, We uncoil Our Chi that has slumbered at the base of our spine and allow it to slither upward and onward, snaking its way through our Chakras and Energetic Beingness. What can I say, I like to enjoy cold, frothy beverages with a little head on them from time to time and didn’t a Wise One once Christen ‘water into wine’?  If you would like help with balancing your Chakras, please see my entry on July 18, 2011 entitled “Birds of a feather flock together and spinning Chakras”, in the archives. And if you would like another Auric energetic booster that mixes nicely with spinning Chakras, please see my July 8, 2011 entry entitled “Leave Me Alone”. I feel a sense of Nirvana striking a chord when I sing to myself, “what else can I say, everyone is a spiritual DJ”.

While tracking Tom Brown’s footsteps in his Field Guide of Nature and Survival Guide for Children (yes folks, all adults are big kids), I like what he says about Grandfather’s wisdom encouraging Us to carry a ‘meditation 101’ perspective–that having an open, passive attitude is a key ingredient to staying connected to Nature. Who knows, perhaps being a ‘snake in the grass’ will increase Our visionary and intuitive capabilities. However, with great power comes great responsibility, so it is always wise to look within first and ask One Self, “is that the voice of the ego, or the voice of spirit?” Further, Divine Energy is when Yin and Yang, Masculine and Feminine energies are balanced and coalesce into One–coming Full Circle, so to speak. In exploring the depth of this truth, One may awaken to the perceptual shift that in Creation, all things are equal and that even poison can be “eaten, ingested, integrated and transmuted”. While ‘watching bush T.V.’, I get fired up on the ground by breathing in passion, desire, procreation and physical vitality. Emotionally, I get a charge out of cultivating ambition, creation, resolution and dreams. Mentally, Snake stimulates my intellect, power, charisma and leadership. In the realm of Spirit, Snake uncoils wisdom, understanding, wholeness and connection to Great Spirit. There’s a great story of ‘Three Peaks Chang’ in a children’s Tai Chi book that talks about a Lao Tzu character studying the way that a snake ‘wards off’ an attacking bird until the bird finally gave up and flew away. When I read this story to my daughter, her old Preschool peers and teachers, I blew into my didgeridoo and We were all inundated.

In becoming True Shamans, Snake medicine offers Us the potential to shift Our consciousness, if We merely allow Our Selves to transmute Our energy by accepting the power of Fire. I take Snake’s lessons as somewhat akin to my Shamanic-Taoist Martial Arts training, in that it’s medicine reflects the ability to “kill or cure, ultimately leading to dramatic healings.” Shamans of the Americas have spoken of Quetzalcoatl–a snake-like god. I see Quetzalcoatl’s return as a prophetic metaphor for a Collective shift in Cosmic Consciousness as our old world dies and a New Age awakens, a la ‘out with the old, in with the new’. It’s not necessary to have the ‘Midas Touch’ and turn everything into gold (just look to Goldmember in Austin Powers–don’t be that guy). Just because I’m a man and ‘packin’ heat’ in a ‘Land Down Under’, doesn’t mean I have to act like ‘Multiple Migs’ in ‘The Silence of the Lambs’. Moreover, what is truly empowering is to notice the illusionary veils lifting, perceive through their thinning and begin to See the world as it really Is. In the exfoliation of Our dead skin process, We may transparently slither through wide open fields . . . And then We shall become Our own Boss as We sing, “were the green grass grows, tomorrow never knows.”

I Hopi You are well,

Ari