04 Oct Spirit Animal for Transformation—Snake
“Watch out, there’s a snake on the path,” the man warned.
My eyes fell to the 3-foot black and brownish tan snake ten yards in front of me moving slowly across the dirt path towards Batsto Lake, located in Batsto Village, New Jersey. From this distance it looked like a stick, since it practically blended into the dirt, so I appreciated the ‘heads up.’
For many people, seeing a snake would set off a fearful reaction. But I was instantly curious instead. I haven’t seen a snake in the wild all year. I like snakes, but I do have a healthy respect for them. I certainly wouldn’t want to run into a thirty-foot anaconda any time soon.
I walked up to it but kept a respectful distance. It looked like a northern water snake. They can be aggressive, but they are not poisonous. It could’ve also been an eastern pine snake.
Snake medicine is powerful, and the timing of seeing this Spirit Animal was impeccable. The Universe never misses an opportunity to communicate with us if we have the awareness to know when they are calling. Besides Spirit Animal signs, I also look for messages in a variety of places, especially dreams, but also objects, number sequences, music, or anything people say or do.
The Spirit Animal, Snake, has been a powerful symbol throughout history. In Greece, the snake was the symbol of alchemy and healing. And in India, they have gods and goddesses connected with snakes, such as, Nagas and Naginia, who are often depicted as half cobra and half deity. In the Harry Potter series, Voldemort has a snake, Nagini, named similarly. She was one of his last remaining Horcruxes, and first appears in The Goblet of Fire.
To the Native Americans, the snake is a symbol of transformation and healing. Snake ceremonies involve participants learning how to transmute poisons in their bodies, after being bitten several times. If they survived, they’d be able to transmute all toxins in the body, mind and spirit—they would become powerful healers.
The snake has long been a symbol of sexuality and the creative life force, as well as the kundalini fire that lies coiled like a snake at the base of the spine. And because the snake sheds its skin, it has also been a symbol of death and rebirth. This ties in with the ancient alchemy of turning lead into gold, or ignorance into wisdom.
When I saw the snake on the path, I knew that I had to release the negative thoughts and emotions that had festered inside of me all morning. I have a long-standing problem with a family member, and something triggered my buried feelings of hurt, rejection, and betrayal. They climbed out of the pit and sunk their sharp little teeth into my flesh and wouldn’t let go.
I had to lighten up, have a good laugh, or do anything to shake myself out of my gloomy thoughts and feelings. Thoughts are things, and they create our individual experiences, and together, 
with our collective thoughts and beliefs, we create ‘reality.’
So after an hour or two, I left the park feeling better, but not quite there. That was about to change.
On the way home I noticed a flat bed truck lumbering with a heavy load in the opposite lane of traffic; it was transporting 8 porta johns. What caught my attention were the many streamers of white toilet paper trailing 20 feet behind it, blowing in the wind. The driver seemed oblivious, but I couldn’t stop laughing!
With a big smile on my face, I thanked snake for its medicine; I was cured.
Reconnect to the Incredible Power of Spirit Animals!
Learn how to meet your own Spirit Animal in Discover Your Spirit Animal by Shelley Shayner
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