The Year of the Snake

 I avoid all snakes, especially the ones on TV which are alive. No thanks. I find them creepy. When walking in nature, I keep a keen eye out as to where I  step.

But I also learned that other feminists have embraced snake powers...like the Minoan goddess followers (dancers?) who held snakes in their upraised hands wearing a costume of many flounces in their skirts and being completely bare-breasted. The following photo describes these figures as goddesses themselves.

The part of snake-ness that seems important to me, a goddess oriented, eco-feminist combating climate change by being a networker...they can only grow by shedding their outer skins. 

That transformative process must be a regular thing for them as they age.

 I sure can look back on my own life and see some transformations I've undergone which were both scary but growth oriented eventually. When my eldest two sons decided to move back with their father and his new wife...that transformation for my identity as a mother was a huge shock to myself. I needed so much to nurture a child that I became pregnant with my boyfriend who didn't want to be a father. I intended to, and did raise my third son by myself. But I learned a lot about what parenting really meant to me, thus keeping these new relationships with my eldest sons as well as nurturing a new baby as he grew into his own manhood.

I've been very brave and touched several live snakes in my lifetime, in various safe situations like Nature Preserves or zoos. Their scales are dry...not slimy as I and most who fear them think! But they are cold blooded. That's enough to turn me off to them. Fish might be ok as cold blooded creatures. 

So a year of the snake is ours to experience now. I already am dealing with my anxieties over the New Irrational President...so perhaps the qualities of snake will need to be considered.

Let me know if you have insights into this. I'm open to ideas.

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Today's quote:

The goal of life
is to make your heartbeat
match the beat of the universe,
to match your nature with Nature.

The goal of life is to be a vehicle
for something higher.

- Joseph Campbell, 

Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion.  

Selected and Edited by Diane K. Osbon

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Today's art:

By Charles Frizzell

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From a FB friend, 

Snake moves with wisdom, attuned to vibrational truths and trusting its instincts.

Align with snake by leaning into your inner wisdom, staying grounded and moving from a place of personal rhythm, rather than reactivity to what is happening in the world around us.

There is much potential for creative and spiritual rebirth this year. May we move slow and steady, to make greatest progress." Alana Fairchild.

So I'd like to wish us the joy to embrace the Sacred Feminine, the courage to go within, the flexibility to adapt and the agility to thrive in the ever changing environment.