Snake's Gift

I walked out my front door the other day to find Snake had left a gift on my rather small concrete stoop. Although it was a simple garden-variety snake, I was awe-struck seeing the skin sitting there. In the 20+ years I've lived in this house, this has never occurred before.

Snake is about transformation and transmutation ~ life, death, rebirth. All in all, it's about change. The coming year promises to be one of change, of letting go of old ways, of rebirth.

Snake sloughs off it skin as it grows. It sheds and leaves behind what no longer serves, what no longer fits, what has become limiting.

Finding Snake's skin reminds me to let go of what no longer serves my soul's purpose. It's not about berating myself for having the skin to shed in the first place. Sometimes what I've come to rely on, to take for granted, to expect, is fitting too tightly. I need to be willing to shed and to leave behind what I find myself clinging to with the most rigid force. The skin is going to split, I'm outgrowing what it is holding in. Like Snake, I need to trust the instinct that leads me forward to the place where I have room to grow into the transformed and transmutated person I am becoming.

What animal has left gifts for you recently? What do you need to give up, pass on, let go? What other gifts come to you from what the animal world? How do you find the time and energy to work out those gifts?

Seeing Snakes

Often lately, while I'm walking around the neighborhood ~ or more precisely, the newly-being-built part of the neighborhood ~ I'll see one of these little garter snakes. Although I am fully aware that they are not harmful, their rapid movement across my field of vision startles me. I'm certain they're startled by all the activity happening in what used to be their home territory.

On my last walk, the snake was simply stretched across the road directly in front of me. I easily walked around it. Before doing so, I paused to acknowledge Snake in my life and in my path. It stretched, head up, looking in the direction it was traveling, yet, at the moment, motionless. I thought, 'How fitting! I am fully aware of this tiny creature yet it seems unconcerned about my huge presence right next to it.'

How often do I do that? Stop in my forward motion, perhaps because something seems odd or off in that motion, yet without truly seeing what the cause of that sensation may be. Recently, that seems to happen less. I'm growing more aware, more awake, more conscious. For that I am grateful.

In Pocket Guide to Spirit Animals, Dr. Steven Farmer says:

You're about to go through some significant personal changes, so intense and dramatic that an old self will metaphorically die as a new self emerges.
You're going to feel a surge of energy that will sharpen your senses, alert your mental faculties, and open up new channels of awareness.

From http://www.linsdomain.com/totems/pages/snake.htm:

The Snake is wisdom expressed through healing. It is a protector and guardian totem, along with its sister totems, the Dragon and the Serpent.
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.
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, it is wisdom, understanding and wholeness.

 I'm looking forward to increasing my awareness ~ my healing senses ~ my connection to fire! I feel my resistance to intense changes... this may be a wild ride Spring!

What creature has shown up in your life? What is it teaching you? What are you willing to learn? How do you express your gratitude for the lessons?