Snake medicine people are very rare. Their initiation involves experiencing and living through multiple snake bites, which allows them to transmute all poisons, be they mental, physical, spiritual, or emotional. The power of snake medicine is the power of creation, for it embodies sexuality, psychic energy, alchemy, reproduction, and ascension (or immortality).
The transmutation of the life-death-rebirth cycle is exemplified by the shedding of the Snake’s skin. It 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, and those things which might be experienced as poison can be eaten, ingested, integrated, and transmuted if one has the proper state of mind. Thoth, the Atlantean who later returned as Hermes and was the father of alchemy, used the symbology of the two snakes intertwining around a sword to represent healing. Complete understanding and acceptance of the male and female within each organism creates a melding of the two into one, thereby producing divine energy.
This medicine teaches you on a personal level that your a universal being. Through accepting all aspects of your life, you can bring about transmutation of the fire medicine. This fire energy, when functioning on the material plane, creates passion, desire, procreation, and physical vitality. On the emotional plane, it becomes ambition, creation, resolution, and dreams. On the mental plane, it becomes intellect, power, charisma, and leadership. When this Snake energy reaches the spiritual plane, it becomes wisdom, understanding, wholeness, and connection to the Great Spirit. If you have chosen this symbol, there is a need within you to transmute some thought, action, or desire, so that wholeness may be achieved. This is heavy magic, but remember, magic is no more than a change in consciousness. Become the magician or the enchantress: transmute the energy and accept the power of fire.
–Medicine Cards
This is a time of great transition, within and without. With the autumn coming near an end and winter beginning, this is the time when we start to ask ourselves the bigger questions. Reflecting on how we have gotten here and what we would like to do with teachings we have received. The shadow aspects of ourselves tend to show up around the holiday season when we spend time with our extended family. Old patterns/habits also tend to surface. Questioning who we are as individuals and what is our role in our communities, both global and local.
I found this card especially apropos after the US election next week. Life as we know it here in North America is changing. The question is what do we want to do with the poison?
As this card suggests, we can become the magicians and take this fire being given to us and transform it into medicine. The key is we must be vigilant, we must stay present through the whole experience. There must be a willingness to change: our thought pattern, our roles, the way we think the world should work, and our affect on the world.
