When working with the symbology of animals and their meanings it is important to know there is Animal Messengers and then there is Animal Totems.
Totem Animals refer to those animals who play a huge part in our lives, they keep coming back as messengers during key moments and on a regular basis.
They can provide comfort, warnings, set you on your path, encourage you or just fill you with the deep knowing that you are not alone. They are there to guide you.
An Animal Messenger is usually just coming in to give you a one-off message and work with you temporarily before they leave and you don’t see them for a long time.
You can also have an animal work with you without you seeing it in person. What happens is people start talking about an animal, you might get random photos all from different people, you turn on the television and there is that animal.
You can see them on Facebook and then walk past people talking about that animal in the supermarket. You can dream of them.
If an Animal Messenger is trying to share its medicine with you, there is no hiding, it becomes really obvious.
Scott Alexander King’s amazing book, Animal Messengers explains that snakes represent transmutation… the literal shedding of skin; the complete change from something old into something new.
Snake Medicine can firstly be a warning just before you are about to go on an archetypal journey in the underworld, or secondly it can mean you are just coming out of the underworld.
If you are seeing or experiencing Snake Messengers and your life is going great or okay… then it usually means that some shadow work is coming.
The snake is here to warn you.
You are about to descend into your psyche, face old wounds or patterns needing healing. We do this when our soul is ready for change or an upgrade.
Often, we activate this shadow journey into the underworld when we want to manifest something, or wished we were different. Sometimes we say, “I would do anything to stop feeling this way,” etc.
The snake is letting you know that you are about to get your wish and a complete change of self is coming.
The second way to see or experience Snake Messengers is when you have been going through a lot of change and transformation. You have been in your psyche, healing and wrestling with your old programs.
Everyone reading this will know what it’s like to completely let go of an old version of yourself. You often feel out of control, deeply lost, uncomfortable and like the universe has slapped you across the face.
When you start to come out of the shadow work and understand the lessons learned, that is when the Snake Messenger will appear.
The snake is telling you, prepare yourself because you are not the same person.
You have completely shed that old pattern, program, limiting belief, habit or core belief about yourself and the world.
To consciously work with Snake Medicine you have to understand more about the snakes themselves. So, you get a full understanding of their medicine.
The incredible Jill Zimmerman of Wild Spirit Snakes on the Gold Coast taught me something fascinating about snakes.
When a snake sheds its skin, it can do it in two different ways… the easy way or the hard.
If a snake looks after itself and has a good feed and then hydrates itself before shedding, it starts to secrete a white milk-like substance between the old and new skin.
Even the lens of the eye is shed, so during this phase the snake can look almost blind.
The more the snake is able to look after itself, the more lubrication it makes and when it sheds, the skin comes off incredibly easy and often fast.
However, if a snake is not able to find food and water to nurture itself before the shed, then the skin peels slowly off in patches. It is difficult with bits of skin and scales left all over the place.
If Snake Medicine is here for you, then you must do your best to nurture yourself so your transmutation from the old you into the new you is easy.
Do all the things which you know help you. Eat healthier, meditate more, go get a massage, book yourself in for healing, do things that bring you comfort.
You also surrender to the Snake Medicine with gratitude.
You say affirmations and prayers, you tell the snake and the universe that you are willing to surrender and let go of the old versions of yourself.
Just like the snake is nearly blind with milk-like substance – it is vulnerable. Just like you need to be when willing to step into the new you.
You have to be willing to let go of old habits, frequencies and codes and step blindly into the upgraded new reality and version of you.
Remember the snake even shed its eyelid, so how you see yourself and the world can often go through a radical change when Snake Medicine is working with you.
If you do not stop and allow yourself to be gentle and nurturing to yourself, then you are going to shed your skin slowly. Inch by inch and scale by scale, with discomfort and much grumpiness.
This is what the snake is trying to warn you about.
If you are starting to see Snake Messengers after a rough dark time of it, I want you to prepare yourself for radical change.
Your life might seem the same but you are different, you have shed your skin and the old lens of yourself.
It is times like this that you start businesses, move, travel, activate new gifts or enhance current ones.
It can even be like you have changed timelines completely and you are a whole new person on every level.
So, if you are seeing lots of snakes, don’t be afraid. Embrace them for the incredible healers they are. There is a reason doctors have them on the Caduceus and they are respected and revered in so many cultures.
