The serpent represents change, renewal, transformation and despite my aversion to snakes (BIG TIME!) the Goddess made Herself known to me through what I can only refer to as ‘snake energy’.
In early 2009, about four or five months after the dissolution of my thirty-year marriage, a friend gifted me a treatment with Andrea Brock. I accepted the gift, assuming I was going to receive a therapeutic massage.
Upon my arrival at Andrea’s healing sanctuary, I was led to a room with a massage table and felt warmly welcomed by Andrea. I was completely at ease because playing softly in the background were the sounds of Tibetan singing bowls, recorded by none other than my friend Ben Iobst, with whom I had collaborated on numerous occasions including the illustrious Water Ceremony back in 2002. I knew I was in the right place but what I didn’t know is that I was not about to get a physical massage treatment.
Andrea invited me to lay down on the massage table, covered me with a blanket and on top of the blanket she placed a macramé covering. She burned sage and asked me to close my eyes and relax as she guided me on a healing journey. I did not know what all would take place but I felt I was in a secure place in capable hands and that I could trust the process.
We did not converse. The only sounds were coming from the singing bowl recording and Andrea’s soft steps around the table. During the session she utilized Reiki, a Japanese form of energy healing, a hands-on healing through which a “universal energy” is said to be transferred through the palms of the practitioner to the patient in order to encourage emotional or physical healing. At one point, I felt a shock somewhere in the middle of my spine; it jolted me, but only slightly. Nevertheless, I wondered what had just happened and made a mental note to inquire with Andrea at the end of the session.
At the conclusion of this therapeutic session I felt relaxed, renewed and ready to face the next chapter in my life… in fact, I felt incredibly relieved of the emotional sadness and stress that had pent up due to the abrupt end to my marriage and a lifestyle to which I had become accustomed. I felt confident I could navigate these new waters with grace and ease, assured by the support Andrea had provided during this session not to mention the support lent by the friend who had gifted me this session.
As the session concluded, Andrea asked me if I had any question/s, to which I immediately replied that I did indeed. I described the sensation of what felt like a sharp prick in the middle of my back during the session, to which she affirmingly nodded and proceeded to tell me that about half-way through our session, she “saw” a snake come up from the earth winding its way to my mid-back and then “bite” me. WOA! That was shocking to hear; however, I couldn’t deny that I felt a “prick” sensation.
Now I must tell you that Andrea did not know that for the previous 12+ months I had been immersed in the inspiration to re-emerge an ancient Egyptian ceremonial instrument and ritual implement which had been buried by the sands of time for nearly two millennia. I had been researching its herstory, developing a design for the 21st Century Systrum™ and looking for a manufacturer. And thank Goodness because without this inspired distraction, I think the transition into single adulthood after being one half of a married couple for so long would have been a LOT more difficult to navigate! I digress…
Researching the use of the handheld percussion instrument know as the sistrum aka systrum, I found it was primarily played in the worship of the Goddess Hathor. Furthermore, this prevalent beloved goddess in the Ancient Egyptian pantheon was associated with the snake ~ that is, the energy of rebirth and renewal ~ so despite the shock of that “prick” sensation and being startled by Andrea telling me I had received a “snake bite” during our session, I couldn’t help but feel this was a kind of initiation by the Goddess!
Alison Roberts authored the fascinating book Hathor Rising and says it is a book “about the power of the serpent goddess in royal cults of ancient Egypt, especially in her manifestation of Hathor… The power of Hathor is so ubiquitous, and so identified with serpent energy, that it is impossible to understand the core of Egyptian religion without going more deeply into Her nature.”(1)
Interpretations of ancient Egyptian art reveal the portrayal of energy vibration as a snake moving on the ground or in water as creating the waveform or ‘sine (sign) wave’ which came to symbolize the cosmological basis of all philosophical and artistic expressions, including music, which in Egypt is personified by the Goddess Hathor.
“The serpent is an ancient symbol of wisdom, enlightenment, immortality, healing, and renewal….Asklepios, the Greek god of healing, has a totemic serpent entwined on a staff. Hermes, the Greek god of learning and magic, carries a caduceus wand entwined by two serpents. Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, has a serpent on her shield. … In yoga, the kundalini, the energy of enlightenment, is likened to a coiled serpent that sleeps at the base of the spine and rises to the crown of the head when awakened by spiritual study and discipline. …In mythology, serpents are powerful, magical, and mystical creatures. They are universal symbols of renewal and rebirth because of their unique ability to shed their old skin for new. …The serpent also is a universal companion to goddesses and thus can symbolize the feminine, the anima, the womb, the dark, intuition, emotion, and all the aspects of the Great Mother…. and in Dream Symbolism, to be bitten by a serpent in a dream can represent an initiation or an infusion of wisdom—being “bitten” by a new awareness…, some kind of healing or new spiritual awareness… and finally, Carl G. Jung considered the serpent to represent a potent archetype of psychic energy, power, dynamism, instinctual drive, and the entire process of psychic and spiritual transformation. When serpents appear, they may indicate a transformative process that already is under way, or they call attention to the need to move to a new level of consciousness.”(2)
Things that make go hmmmm…..
(1) Hathor Rising – Written by Alison Roberts – Copyright © 1995 published by Inner Traditions International.
(2) The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology – Written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley – Copyright © 2009 published by Visionary Living, Inc. (discovered ala occult-world.com/serpent/)
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Final note: before constructing this website complete with current blog posts, I maintained a blog at another url and until I get all those posts migrated to this platform, I invite you read my memoirs of travel to Egypt et al my Egypt Beckoned blog.