Snakes. They’re following me around everywhere. It’s uncomfortable. They’re in my dreams. They’re in my visions. A huge one was in my yard near the path to get into my house. And now wondering around through some of my old blog posts I came across a journal entry where I was firmly met and firmly decided to sit with the imagery of the serpent. Why are snakes so ubiquitous for me? I get the sense that serpent is an important part of my journey. I’m gonna ramble a bit here and then below I’ve included that journal entry for your reading pleasure 🙂

I’ve had an uptick in snake dreams lately. And a few visions of snakes. It still doesn’t fail that my initial emotion upon seeing a serpent is one of discomfort. I’ve found that the first thing I wonder about when I see a snake is question if I’m healthy. It’s like a default emotion. I’m as determined as ever to work through this because I feel there are major implications for my perception of this ancient symbol. This archetype. Yesterday morning I had a vivid dream. In this dream I was interacting with my family in my energetic form. I had passed on. I saw the potential scenario of my death and my instructions and impressions to my cousin about how I wanted things handled after my death. It wasn’t until I woke up that I realized that in my dream I was in fact in spirit form and not earthly form. As I rolled over in the warm softness of my blanket I went into a vision. I was sitting on my porch and a snake had crawled up my chair and bit me on my left wrist. It latched hard. I’m telling you its gums were pressed onto my skin. It had gone deep. Of course I jerked my arm and was startled but perhaps not as much as I would have been in real life. The expression on my face conveyed I experienced more of a playful “ouch” than a potentially life-threatening venom injection. The vision was brief as they usually are. It bothered me. I had the nagging question, “why do I keep dreaming about and seeing snakes??” in the back of my mind all day long. It colored everything I did. Why do I keep being brought back to this specific symbol? I finally decided to get still and allow my subconscious to project what it wanted to into my stream of active thoughts. The word, “healer” came into my thoughts. After this, a cascade of new understanding began to inundate me. I could feel these thoughts in different parts of my own body. Those sensations were further confirmation to me of the message of the snake. Shall we go back to Moses? Yes. And since I am the one taking you back to him I’m going to introduce you to some new titles for him that you may not have thought of or be comfortable with. Especially if you share my context as a person in the Bible belt of the United States.

Moses. Shaman to the Hebrews. Medicine man of mysterium. Desert father. Seer. Alchemist. Social justice warrior. Progressive. Empath. Mystic. Oracle. Nomad. I’m going to dive into all of these titles at some point. But for now I want to explore Moses the Shaman to the Hebrews.

In the Bible, Numbers 21:6-9, “Then YHWH sent fiery (burning) serpents among the people; and they bit the people, and many Israelites died. So the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against YHWH and against you; pray to YHWH, so that He will remove the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then YHWH said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent [of bronze] and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten will live when he looks at it.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on the pole, and it happened that if a serpent had bitten any man, when looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.”

Here are my takeaways from this passage. Moses’ method of healing was very much shamanistic in that he interacted with YHWH (essentially Spirit) and brought back information from that realm in to the physical in order to heal people. And, in true shaman form, Moses’ presented a method of healing that would force anyone who wanted to survive to look upon the very thing that had made them sick and threatened their lives. Talk about shadow work!!

My call is to look upon the threats and alchemize them to the healing opportunity they offer. To behold them and not to look away or be subject to knee-jerk reactions or act as though I have some obligation to fear them by virtue of what they are.

Here is my journal entry from January 6th 2020: (I have made much progress and that feels so good right now).

This evening in my meditation I found myself gently rolling my head.  Clockwise, then counter clockwise.  My mind was clear.  The movement felt good for my tense neck and shoulders.  There were a few moments that as I moved, my movements reminded me of a snake.  In fact, when it first occurred to me, the word, “serpent” popped into my head.  Creepy right??  But, what if it’s not creepy at all?

I began to journal.  Honestly, I wanted to push the notion of identification with a serpent out of my head and focus on other things.  I’ve been thinking lately about the concept of dualistic thinking.  This box so many of us operate in.  It’s a framework that says life is “us vs them” with comfort coming from feeling like one is a part of an inner circle.  Once that is sensed their is a deceptive reassurance that one’s thoughts are all correct and that person feels justified and vindicated in thinking those outside are wrong.

My context: I am a white, middle-aged, southeastern American woman born in a small town and into a southern American Christian world.  So, the value I ascribe to certain symbols are different than say a middle-eastern man or south African woman.  If you share my context you will likely have already picked up on and experienced a sense of discomfort or unease or morbid curiosity when you saw the title of this blog and the reference of identifying with a serpent.  Why?  Because in my culture that is colored by the Christian Bible and the fact that we claim a savior who was Jewish our minds immediately refer to the negative connotations of the serpent in the Bible.  From Genesis to Revelation the snake is given a bad rap.  Really bad.  In fact its image often represents Satan.  The ultimate adversary of God and tormentor of humankind.   In Genesis there is a prophecy that the offspring of Eve will bruise or crush the head of the serpent.  We understand that offspring to be Jesus Christ and the serpent the devil.  Only twice in scripture is the serpent presented in positive light.  In Genesis the serpent is called, “more crafty, intelligent, cunning than any beast” and again while the children of Israel were wandering in the desert looking for the promised land there is an instance where “fiery serpents” entered the camps and killed and made sick many people.  In order for them to be healed from this attack they were instructed to look upon the image of a serpent that had been crafted from brass.  Needless to say I grabbed onto the positive symbology.  More importantly…I allowed my mind to explore the biological characteristics of snakes.  I’m very blessed to have done so and here’s why:

Growth-when it comes to growth in humans or animals the visual of that is so subtle you really can’t see it happening.  Except when it comes snakes.  The growth of a snake involves shedding it’s skin and that is something everyone can see.  Can you imagine your skin coming off every time you have a revelation, make a good choice, learn something new or celebrate another birthday?  Awkward.  Scary looking. Startling.  Right?  Additionally, it puts the snake in a very vulnerable position.  But growth spurts do that to us too right?  It usually isn’t pretty when we shed old ideals, behaviors, patterns, etc.

Right before the serpent enters it’s first scene in the Bible where it is cursed for cajoling the woman into eating forbidden fruit that her eyes may be opened to the reality of evil as well as good, it receives a rave review.  It is said to be the most crafty and intelligent and cunning animal elevating it’s intelligence above all other beasts.  To me this is very moving.  My childhood and adolescence held a running theme where my intelligence was constantly questioned.  When I got in trouble the first words I heard from my grandfather was, “stupid, silly damn thing.”  My grandmother’s words were a little less harsh.  She would immediately say something to the effect of, “well you should have KNOWN better.”  Because all kids come automatically knowing right?  And finally during the times when my mother orbited my life and we fought she would always say, “you’re not even old enough to have an opinion.  You have no idea.”  Now as an adult I find myself in a pursuit to be one of the greatest minds in history.  Yeah, I know.  My ability to “correctly” perceive and righteously act has hijacked the relaxation and fun and ignorant bliss I could have experienced thus far.  I developed this obsessive umpire in my mind.  Every moment of everyday I have discovered that I am judging each moment as either good or bad and I’ve robbed myself of simply being.

Had I never known this context I have found myself in, a white, southern Christian woman, I may have been conditioned and introduced to the imagery of the snake as the epitome of wisdom, a master of growth, a symbol of success, a representation of healthy sexuality, an expert hunter.

As I allowed my mind to open to these truths and additional meanings I began to feel a sense of pride rather than unease.  I am…wise.  I am one who is always growing and requiring more of myself and determined to stretch.  I aspire to be a symbol of success, one with healthy sexuality and an expert hunter or provider for myself.  I am serpent-like.  My nimble movement inspires.

As a psychology student, an empathic person and aspiring professional counselor it is important to me to be relatable.  I want people to feel open to me.  And, I feel like one of the greatest medicines or gifts I can offer to myself…is healing my symbology.  I want to take all the disowned and shamed symbols and revive them.  I want to give them new meaning and the place of honor they deserve.  On a practical level I want to not immediately have a negative connotation of someone who perhaps loves snakes or brings up dreams about morphing into a snake in their dreams during a counseling session.  Healing my “seeing” better ensures my ability to be an agent of healing in the lives of others.

This year I have plans of shedding life-long patterns.  And, I’m going to be honest and warn you.  If you know me well, if you follow me on social media there are going to be times my shedding is visible.  And, that may look weird or make you uncomfortable.  But, I am determined to stretch.  I am determined to enjoy the feel of a new skin.  One that is more pliable and more suited to the joys of experiencing growth.

So, starting off 2020 I’ve healed at least one symbol and made new room in my mind and heart to better understand the world around me.

I am serpent.  And, I’m healing my symbology.