​So many traditions offer such beautiful expressions of the season and the holidays we celebrate – no matter the culture.  Some of the most popular among these traditional celebrations include Autumn Harvest festivals, festivals for Nature Spirits (especially to appease the more harsh or “trickier” ones), days to honor the dead, and days to honor the Ancestors or other Spiritual guardians & guides (like Saints).  Various fruits and flowers that may be in season are common symbols of these traditions or festivals, used for both food, offerings, and decoration according to location and if you’re running spring or autumn.  Here in the northern hemisphere, we’re in the midst of autumn and getting ready to celebrate the Ancestor’s Night – also known as Halloween – followed by such honorable days in the Christian calendar as All Saints Day and All Souls Day.

​Snake Medicine is all about transforming energy through connection to the Earth.  It really speaks to the dynamic processes of Life and manifestation.  It’s not just physical life and manifestations though, but also spiritual energy which is transformed.  Snake Medicine also speaks very potently to Consciousness development and use of Intuition, as well as healing processes. Transmutation is the process by which energy is taken and changed into something entirely different, mutated and transformed if you will.  

With Snake Medicine, transmutation often refers to how poisons, or venoms, are processed.  Therefore, with everything that comes from the Earth and the Elements – even if it has been altered or changed before encountering us – part of our healing is to take only what we need and discard the rest, not as it was received but as something changed and already processed.  When discarded in this fashion, it leaves the Earth and other Elements to further process the energies present in whatever form and dissolve and distribute them back as raw material to the Aether.  Awareness of this process, use of intuition, understanding transmutation and manifestation, and Consciousness development are a where the wisdom of Snake Medicine can be found in healers of all forms, shapes, and sizes.
 
In everyday life and throughout seasons of change and growth (like one birthday to the next), we find that we engage this process regularly – from digesting our foods, to processing our emotions, to expanding our knowledge and skills, to gardening and cultivating and composting.  The important thing to realize is that we must learn to slow down and cool down so that we can be more aware of the energies around us and within us.  In that frame of mind, we can actually have the freedom-of-will to choose which energy we want to interact with, which experiences we want to grow with, and which unknowns we can accept as challenges to improvement and growth.  Further, Snake Medicine teaches us, not just how to heal and transmute “poisons” but also, how to become aware of manifestation and how to release and let-go so we a more free to create. 

All of the manifestations in yourself, your body, certain parts of your emotions and mind (like memories and learned knowledge), in your experiences of the world around you (people, society, animals, plants, land features, weather, cities, farms, politics, health, stores, theaters, sports, etc.) – all of these manifestations of our modern earthly reality – have already been done.  They are already created and here.  There is no destroying something you don’t like or fear because energy cannot be created or destroyed.  There is only changing, processing, transforming, transmuting your own experience of it and growing from that, and further becoming aware of how to create the future from where you are.  Yesterday’s breath is already gone on the wind to travel the atmosphere.  This breath is right in front of you.  Tomorrow’s breath will be here on the breeze that hasn’t arrived yet but is still traveling.

Thus, the wisdom and awareness that comes with Snake Medicine – the healing, intuitive-awareness, processing and transmutation, and connection to all the Elements – teaches us that to freely create our lives and experiences, we are advised to understand the movement of energy within and around us and work with our own energy to influence our experiences of life. 

The processes of transmutation and the lessons of Snake Medicine are foundational principles of dynamic alchemy – the alchemy of the soul – and Consciousness development.  It all begins with Aether… Bring it down to Earth and become aware of the other Elements as well… Then rise up gently and steadily in an infinite and graceful process of growth and transformation… Having expanded to infinity as Aether itself…  This seems cyclical, like a linear or chronological process bent over on itself and re-connected or twisted and stretched, but it’s not.  It is an ever-present conscious awareness in the participation of the movement of Aether - true alchemy. 
 
To begin working with Snake Medicine safely, you can get yourself a pendant or other representation of the Ouroboros – the symbolic Snake eating its own tail – or a Serpentine crystal.  Meditate with these items in terms of grounding and stabilizing your energies, paying attention to your Body and how your Body responds to your thoughts and emotions.  Pay attention to the Earth element and how it works with the other elements.  Also, you can simply learn more about snakes – reading articles or books, or visiting a local Nature preserve to learn about snakes in your area. 

Another great way to bring in more understanding of the same lessons Snake Medicine teaches us is to learn more about vibrations.  Whether sound therapies, vibrational medicine, music, or new research in quantum physics, understanding vibration brings us back to a sense of being aware of how energy moves within us and around us – like Snake being so close to the Earth that it can sense every vibration emanating within, through, and around it. 

Finally, you can also look to how you receive, process, and release energy in your own Spirit, Mind, Body system by being more conscientious of what your senses perceive and what you do with it in all your experiences.  Try beginning by choosing one thing: your quiet time (meditation, sleep-wake cycles, dreams, spiritual practice, self-care, etc.), or your interactions with people (work, home, social media, news, going to the store, driving in your car, etc.), or maybe your nutrition (what you eat, when you eat, where it came from, your energy levels and health). 

Many blessings on your journeys of self-discovery and the wisdom and grace of your Spirit-Mind-Body system! 

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.  Comment on the article below or send me an email at cynthia@cassadaga.com. 

​Thank you for the opportunity to share with you.  Peace & blessings!

​Nocturnal creatures seem to evoke eerie & frightful sensations in popular imagination.  There’s something creepy about the dark unknown that gives us over to our fears.  Throughout the ages, stories & mythologies conjure frightening or so-called “evil" images from the dark nighttime hours & the creatures who hunt & scavenge during those times.  In many cultures, for example, Owls & Bats have been known as death-omens or harbingers of evil-will directed against us.

Moving through Autumn, we recall what has happened this year, we tend to evaluate where we're at, look ahead to where we are going, and begin to make some adjustments to our course – hopefully to keep ourselves more on-target, even if it still seems so far away. As we walk into our holiday seasons of gratitude & sharing & compassion, we also prepare to withdraw & take more time for home & family & self. In today's industrialized societies & modern conveniences, we still have work & school, less of a tangible food harvest & not as much for weaving that new blanket this winter and spring clothes… But, we reap our harvest rewards in different ways. We spend holiday & new-year “vacation" times differently. We share generously with communities, groups, family, or friends in different ways.

​The Wheel turns and causes that which is connected to move.  There are many philosophies the world over that describe the experience of ups-and-downs and cyclical movements.  We use it to describe seasons and time, growth and experiences, our place and direction in this vast universe.

​Totem Animals are Spirit Helpers to us.  Once the connection is recognized, they will travel with you throughout life.  I say it this way because the connection is already there but, depending on our perspective, we may not recognize that we have a connection to Nature, Animals, or Spirit.  

A Power Animal may be a very close guide along our journey.  We recognize a kinship, deep respect, or inspiring awe with a particular animal or kinds of animals.  But, as we grow and change and our lives change, we may not always feel the same strong connection or affinity.  Therefore, a Power Animal may be seen as a guide who could stay-or-go as we journey in life, unlike Totem Animals which are Spirit Helpers so deeply connected to us that they often remain in that role throughout our journey.