.:|:. Dove Love’s .:. Points and Passions .:|:.

By Dove, www.TarotwithLove.com   The Rattlesnake totem came to me the other day — the mention of it in a conversation in front of my desk here at work, and a few days before that a co-worker said my “hollow cake” (MS Paint pic I recently did) looked like a rattlesnake’s tail.  Then I very unusually remembered a dream last night (it’s rare that I remember my dreams these days).  It was about a rattlesnake.  And if all that wasn’t enough, when I first clicked onto WordPress this morning, on the homepage under “hawt posts,” was a blog title that included “Rattler’s Tale.”  Geez, that’s a lot of synchronicity, don’t ya’ think? :) 

I don’t remember all of the dream…  But there was a rattlesnake in a glass box/cage and apparently it was mine, I had brought it to this place.  Then I think I did something to anger the snake and it started to climb out of its box.  It got out.  I was horrified that it was out and was thinking of nothing but getting it back into its box.  I knew I was responsible for it, so I chased it — I was so worried others would be hurt by it.  

The rattlesnake went to the back of the house.  (I realized here that this house was my greatgrandmother’s house, where I lived for quite a while as a kid…because my mother had been institutionalized for a time for a nervous breakdown, after my father divorced her.)  The snake hurried toward the back door.  I was so frightened it would get out there and we’d never find it — and then someone would surely go back there and be harmed by it.  Without thinking of anything but that, I grabbed its tail and pulled it back in (it had just darted out the door and half its body was outside).  Its head wildly flew around right up toward my face, as I expected, and I grabbed and pulled it back before it could strike me.  I was obviously horribly frightened, but I remember thinking I’d get someone to cut/kill it while I held it.  I woke up at that point, heart pounding. 

I was reading this morning how the “rattler” can represent healing.  I’ve been getting a lot of totems lately that seem to be pointing to my healing…creativity, and the transformation that the healing will bring.  It’s interesting that the snake went to the back of the house, the back door… the past.  Supposedly that’s where I’ll find healing.  It just overwhelms me, the thought of “going back.”  I don’t know where to start — so much, um, “stuff” back there.  Maybe I think … I “would surely go back there and be harmed by it.”  I don’t know, but I know I’ve made progress in my healing recently, and that began most significantly when I began to see the patterns spurred from the past, realizing the anger I feel now in relationships is tied to something, so much, in the past …  

The message I received in January about “pain, resurrection, peace” comes to mind.  It seems perhaps that I need to feel the pain of the past so as to “resurrect.”  Resurrection is among the snake totem interpretations.  Hmmm, and this brings to mind the Jesus energy that has been around me recently as well.

Update: Hey, here’s yet another mention of “resurrection,” the “444″ that I’d been getting … I’d forgotten about this one, it was back in February.  I only noticed ’cause so many people were reading it — ain’t synchronicity amazin’ (heh)  :)

I know this was a powerful dream.   The snake is a powerful totem.  I’ve had dreams of snakes in the past (and they were often touching me or I was touching them), even some interesting snake encounters in this reality – and they invariably were followed by major changes in my life… 

Here are some excerpts from some sites I just came upon about the snake and rattlesnake totem.

Peace,
Dove

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Snake Totem

“Although the snake is feared and loathed throughout every culture around the planet where reptiles appear, it is among the most universally respected and sought-after of all animal totems. In ancient Egypt, the snake was regarded as a symbol of both immortality and death, and the pharaoh wore a snake emblem on his head-dress as a mark of royalty and divinity. Apep was the Egyptian and Greek name for the Great Serpent of the Underworld. Ouroboros was the Greek name for the gigantic serpent coiled in the earth’s womb.

Apollo, the Greek god of healing and medicine, was originally invoked and worshipped as a snake. In later times, Aesculapius, and other deity associated with medicine, is said to have assumed serpentine form. His crest remains today as a symbol of the medical profession.

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To the ancient people of Asia Minor, Ophion was the father of all humankind, the divine, serpent who lived in the Tree of Life in the primal garden.

In ancient Mexico, Ciuacoatl, the Great Mother of men and gods, is represented as a serpent woman. Quetza-coatl, the great culture bearer, is depicted as a winged serpent. Among many African tribes, it is Aido Hwendo, the Rainbow Serpent, that supports the earth.

Father Charlevoit, an early French missionary to the eastern tribes of North America, remarked in his journals that there was no image that the Native American tribes marked upon their faces and other parts of their bodies more than that of the snake. Furthermore, according to the priest’s observations, the Shamans had the secret of charming snakes, of benumbing them, “so that they take them alive, handle them, and put them in their bosom without receiving any hurt.”

The rattlesnake was considered the chief of all serpents; and some tribes believed that in addition to delivering death via the strike of its deadly fangs, the “chief” could transmit diseases with but a glance of its beady eyes.

If a coiled rattlesnake should appear in the path of a warrior, he would freeze in his tracks, speak beseechingly to it, and offer it whatever gifts he had on his person that he hoped might propitiate the angry chief of snakes.

The Medicine Priests who walked unharmed among the rattlesnakes knew that the powerful essence of the Great Mystery moved through them. Those who had received the snake as a totem animal during the vision quest felt especially blessed. The Pueblo, Hopi, and Zuni tribes revered Horned Serpent and Horned Water Serpent as largely benevolent guardian spirits and prized snakes as totem animals and spirit helpers.

Shamans revered the snake for its great wisdom, and many believed that the serpent spoke a secret language of its own that no other animal was permitted to comprehend. According to many tribal legends, in the beginning time, humans and snakes could converse freely Therefore, if one were powerfully attuned on the spirit level, he or she could still communicate with a snake on the telepathic level. If one could achieve this mind linkup, the serpent would reveal secrets of the future and other aspects of arcane knowledge.

The skin of the rattlesnake was used by nearly all Medicine Priests in some aspect of their rituals, and their rattles were often carried in the priests’ sacred pouches.

Those born in the Year of the Snake in the Chinese zodiac are characterized as wise and intense, with a tendency to be vain about their physical beauty. The sign of the Snake in the Native American zodiac (October 23 to November 21) identifies a person who is charismatic, but difficult to comprehend.

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When you enter the Silence with Snake as your ally, you are certain to go deep within and draw forth ancient wisdom teachings that will immediately be able to change your life for the better.”

Totem Information by Wolfhawk.

Source: www.ravenmoonlight.com

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Adder and Rattlesnake Totems

Generally, Snake represents wisdom, rebirth, initiation and resurrection. Both the Celts and Native Americans believed Snake symbolizes transmutation, the ability to alter appearance, nature, and form, particularly to higher ones.

To the Celts, Adder symbolized transmutation, life’s energy and healing. He signifies getting rid of the old for the better new, reincarnation, wisdom and cunning.

The English believed the skin had magickal properties. It could draw thorns from the body, hung on the chimney attracted luck and hung on the rafters, prevented fires. To see Adder near the front door was a death omen.

Native Americans also believed that snake symbolized transmutation. It is the rattlesnake that appears on the Snake card in The Medicine Cards, Jamie Sams & David Carson, (Bear & Company, 1988)

Snake totem is the power of creation and embodies immortality and psychic energy. He has fire energy which, emotionally, are charisma, power and the intellect; spiritually, connection with Spirit, wisdom, wholeness and understanding. On the physical level, they are vitality and passion.

Source:  http://paganismwicca.suite101.com/article.cfm/snake_pagan_symbol_transmutation

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