Journey to the Serpent Mound

 

Title: Journey to the Serpent Mound

Summary: I put some shamanic drumming on, take a close look at a picture of the Serpent Mound, close my eyes and ask to be transported there.  Surrendering to the rhythm I am soon there observing the Mound from close to the Serpent’s head.  I ask the spirits of the place for permission to explore.  They say “Wait!” and turn up the volume so much so that I get an earache in my right ear. “Why so loud?” I ask.  “Because you’re not ready to visit yet. You need the drum music to sustain you.”   Some minutes go by and it feels right to move towards the grassy mounds that stretch along the hill.  As I walk beside the serpent`s body, it seems to rise up out of the earth to be higher than it actually is.  Dragonflies and other insects buzz past.  I move slowly and the drumming comes to an end.  As I am only about a quarter away along the mound and haven’t discovered anything I hear a voice saying “Put the music on again and louder”, so I do.  This time as I am standing beside the mound, I feel that I am rising up.  Looking up I see an eagle in the sky above me magnetically drawing me closer and motioning to me to flap my arms as wings.  I do so and my arms transform into feathered wings, my hands and feet into talons.  We soar way, way up. “You can only really appreciate the snake from here” says the eagle.  It’s true.  The shape is so clear as we fly over it and the colour starts to change to a dark brown and yellow as if it is a huge real live snake.  The eagle tells me to shake my arms hard, then my body, my legs, all my being and we start to descend. As we get close to landing, I suddenly realise that I am no longer an eagle but have become a snake trying to cast off my skin.  I look below me and the snake on the ground is no longer there, simply the dried-up skin left behind as the beast slithers off into the woods. “That is what you have to do” are the eagle’s final words. “Cast off your old skin and become renewed”.  Waking up immediately I think of a line in a song by Joni Mitchell (Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter) It says “The eagle and the serpent are at war in me.  The serpent fighting for blind desire, the eagle for clarity”. I check out the song and its lyrics.  The song is about the duality we contain within us, in a state of struggle.  There is much to chew over in the lyrics and in the way we can try to balance these forces.  I play some other tracks from the album which have native, natural rhythms like Paprika Plains and The Tenth World.  I think about what I need tonshake off and what I would like to renew. Synchronistically, I pour a glass of grapefruit juice and on the surface white shapes form, blend and reform before disappearing. An ode to the ebb and flow of life and creation.   Some of the lyrics include: ......Out on the vast and subtle plains of mystery A split tongued spirit talks Noble as a nickel chief Striking up an old juke box And he says: "Snakes along the railroad tracks." He says, "Eagles in jet trails He says, "Coils around feathers and talons on scales... Gravel under the belly plates..." He says, "Wind in the Wings..." He says, "Big bird dragging its tail in the dust... Snake kite flying on a string." ..... Last night the ghosts of my old ideals Reran on channel five And it howled so spooky for its eagle soul I nearly broke down and cried But the split tongued spirit just laughed at me He said, "Your serpent cannot be denied."   ....... Here in Good-Old-God-Save-America The home of the brave and the free We are all hopelessly oppressed cowards Of some duality Of restless multiplicity (Oh say can you see)   The eagle and the serpent are at war in me The serpent fighting for blind desire The eagle for clarity What strange prizes these battles bring These hectic joys- these weary blues Puffed up and strutting when I think I win Down and shaken when I think I lose. There are rivets up here in this eagle There are box cars down there on your snake And we are twins of spirit No matter which route home we take Or what we forsake We're going to come up to the eyes of clarity And we'll go down to the beads of guile There is danger and education In living out such a reckless life style I touched you on the central plains It was plane to train my twin It was just plane shadow to train shadow But it felt like skin to skin The spirit talks in spectrums He talks mother earth to father sky Self indulgence to self denial Man to woman Scales to feathers You and I Eagles in the sky  You and I Snakes in the grass You and I Crawl and fly You and I Feelings afterwards? Exhilirated, inspired   Connections, associations, then and now. I have been a Joni Mitchell devotee all my life but wasn’t especially thinking of her work lately.  The Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter album has influences of Castaneda but also reflects Joni’s exploration of the indigenous elements of North American life and her interest in Lakota and also Caribbean culture.   Could any of this play out? Metaphorically yes but I have no plans to visit Serpent Mound.   What would I like to know?  Mostly, how I can retain the energy of this dream and use it as a motivation for change.   Input from others     Action plan  Study the lyrics more, play the music and drumming and journey some more with questions set as intentions.     Themes and symbols  Snake, eagle, feathers, talons, casting off a skin, drumming     Bumper sticker Where the earth meets the sky