Originally Posted by South Valley Gal
I carry Snake Medicine myself - transmuting poisons (bad experiences, childhood traumas, etc.) into nourishment for the soul, and of course shedding skins along the way. I can't tell you how many times I've said that I felt like I just shed another skin and stepped forward into a new (something - life, attitude, understanding of the world) - even when I was little, that was a powerful metaphor for me, and I used it all the time. I was still surprised, though, when Snake emerged for me as my main guiding and guarding spirit; I had such a close relationship with many of the Winged Nation, I was sure it would be one of them. But no, it was Snake, in all her slithery glory. An interesting bit of info for people interested in this sort of thing (thinking of you, Song), that I learned from a man who raised Snakes: Snakes only shed their skins when they grow larger, and they only grow larger when they eat. Translating that into how a Human "walks with Snake," when you take in something new, some piece of information, or you have an experience that makes you "grow" in some way, then you become a new person, in a sense. You burst out of your old (pre-experience) skin and reveal the new one underneath. I like that, a lot.
And a word about totems in general: I've been a follower of the Native American lifeway for nearly 30 years now, and determining your totem in life - your central, forever, always with you spirit guide - isn't something that happens from reading a book. You don't choose your totem - your totem chooses you, and it's often a surprise, something other than what you expected. Your totem comes to you in dreams and visions, and if you have ready access to a variety of "wildlife," you will have experiences and intersections with them that will tell you they're "yours." There will be no mistaking it. If you're not sure, then you most likely have not yet determined who's with you; doesn't mean they're not there, just means you haven't figured out who they are yet. Our Relations come and spend time with us for a variety of reasons, we have lots of teachers and helpers along the way, and they change out over time, but there will be only one central totem, one central "medicine" that you carry, for your lifetime. The lesson your totem will have for you will often be one that you've found difficult to address in your life; this is not necessarily an easy, happy, let's have lunch kind of relationship, it will be one of teacher and student, of healer and person-in-need-of-healing. It will be challenging - which is "nice-speak" for HARD - and it will ask you to look deeper, go deeper, try harder, and most importantly, to CHANGE. Most of us don't want to do that; most of us want to be told that either it's okay that we're the way we are, or that we can't help being the way we are, but we absolutely don't want to be told that we have to CHANGE, oh my goodness no... but that's what our totem does for us, shows us how to walk the world in a different way and evolve into our highest and best selves.
Every culture that I've ever heard of - and I'm an anthropologist, so I've roamed fairly far in the culture world - assigns specific characteristics to each of our Relations (and it's interesting to note that these characteristics are often the same across wildly different, and widely separated, cultures), and believes in a two-way relationship between the Two Leggeds and the other Beings with whom we share the planet. It's only the modern, "educated" Human who thinks we have nothing to learn from them. THEY don't despoil the planet; THEY don't pollute or rape or kill for sport; THEY don't prey on each other the way we do - we would all do well to stop yammering about what we know all the time and start listening to what the other forms of life on this planet have to teach us. They are willing, if we ask with respect, listen to what they tell us, and then apply that learning in our lives. Like any teacher, however, they can sometimes tire of the insincere or unwilling-to-listen student and leave us to our own devices; a sad prospect.
Mitakuye Oyasin
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