As shamanic practitioner, psychic medium, and avid hiker I am especially
sensitive to the spirits of nature all around. Whenever I spend time in nature,
magical things happen: Owls suddenly fly out of the bushes next to the trail I
am hiking on. Bald eagles dive into the Potomac to catch a fishy snack. Black
bears invariably cross my path, even in the dead of winter when they are
supposed to be hibernating. And ravens somehow manage to show up even in
urban settings where one would not normally encounter them.
A few weeks ago I went on an extra-long hike on the Tuscarora-Overall
Run Trail in Shenandoah National Park. I was hiking with my son, who had just
come home from college. We were just a few miles from the parking lot near the
end of our hike, when he nearly stepped on a rattlesnake. The snake
powerfully barred our path and there was no way around it. It had just struck a
chipmunk and was waiting for it to die so it could consume its meal. In the
many years that I have hiked in Shenandoah, I had never encountered a poisonous
snake, let alone one that was about to have a meal.
For days after the encounter, I had nightmares about rattlesnakes. My
empathic heart felt deeply and profoundly for the poor little chipmunk. Both
Dylan and I wished there was something we could have done to help it. The snake
repulsed me, and it kicked our adrenaline into high gear. Yet I knew that both
creatures had shown up as spirit teachers with a message.
A week later, I finally took a shamanic divination journey to ask my
spirit helpers about the meaning of the rattlesnake encounter. I thought that I
my regular spirit helpers would elucidate the encounter. Instead, I encountered
Rattlesnake. She spoke of profound spiritual changes in my life and how I am
now being incorporated into something larger, more purposeful and meaningful.
Indeed, these changes seem to pertain not just to the spiritual realm,
but also to other aspects of my life. For example, for seven years I used the
website builder of a large web-hosting company. Finally, circumstances
beyond my control forces me into switching to new website builder with a
different company. It is not a change I would have made willingly and I
bellyached plenty. However, the changes really were for the better, because the
new company gives me additional opportunities such as being able to incorporate
a blog into my website.
The rattlesnake encounter drives home that there are no "good"
and no "bad" animals. We humans often want to categorize animals
into desirable and undesirable. We think that outdoor cats are horrific,
because they decimate the bird population. None of us want to encounter coyotes
or rattlesnakes, yet cats, snakes, and other predators provide balance in
nature.
All the animals we encounter in nature can come to us as powerful
spirit teachers offering important insight, guidance, messages and
understanding for our lives. The next time you encounter a snake in the woods,
a skunk on your stroll across campus, a yellow jacket nest outside your bedroom
window or sizable spider in your bathroom, let it pique your curiosity.
Use Wikipedia to learn more about the creature and its habits to give
you some insight into what the message might be. Sit down in meditation or
quiet contemplation and ask your spirit helpers about the message behind your
animal encounter. You don't need to know who your spirit helpers are. Just send
your query into the universe, and be patient. You will receive the answer. And
finally, be watchful and mindful of what unfolds in your life. Review your life
events in light of your encounters in nature and let it inform your decisions
and emotional responses to life situations.
