The Dance of the Serpents

I dance with a serpent in my dreams.
When the veils are thin
between now
and the hidden parts of my mind.
He is my teacher,
my guide,
a messenger from my ancestors
bidding me forth
into unknown realms.

He wraps his warm body around me,
coil by coil,
stacking up
so only my head peeks above.
My insides want to panic
in the fear
of being squeezed to death.
So tight
that even those things
I hold
protected
in my depths
spill out with my guts.

Instead,
I ask,
"What does this mean?"
And, yes,
breathe
and relax
into the release
of shedding my layers
my protections
that no longer serve.
Now, as I enter into
stillness,
the rough outer skins
loosen
and melt away
crumbling into dust.
Blowing
on the winds
of forgotten dreams I leave behind.

My serpent guide slithers ahead,
gleaming with new
patterns
and colors
glistening in the faint light
of evening.

I follow,
each step,
the veils parting one by one
and layers of my being
are left behind.
One by one,
the masks are shed,
so all that remains is
my open self
ready to receive
the wisdom
that lies ahead.

Across the barren landscape,
a martian land,
somehow familiar.
The large dark sky above, where
Mother Moon looks down
upon me with her fullness of knowing
my path
better than I.
Billions of stars,
each an ancestor,
in perfect alignment portending
the ceremony
to come.

And I,
the child,
with so many questions,
follow my slithering guide
afraid of what's
to come
while at peace with the journey ahead.

Ahead,
in the distance
a glow.
A flickering halo
around the
dark silhouette
of  a still, sitting figure.
Without seeing,
I know her.
Then, suddenly,
I am face to face,
knee to knee
with this Sage woman,
the faint flickering flame
between us.

Her face seems to change.
Is she old?
Is she young?
I don't know
except,
she is the
Grandmother.
Shape-shifter.
Teacher.
Healer.
Priestess.
Here to answer the seeking
longingly pouring
from my heart.

In her hands,
a bowl.
Filled with
a dark substance.
An offering to the fire
A sacrifice.
A release.
A cleanse.
And I,
I must partake of this,
which came from my own
body,
let go without a second
thought.
It must now be taken
back in.

I know my answer
now,
in this sacred moment.
That I must take in
ALL parts
of who I am.
To dance with the serpents
in my waking dreams.

(Serpent Dream Shamanic Journey - NJ many years ago re-inspired now)