Shedding Skin with Adam C. Hall

I would never thought that the snake holds valuable wisdom. However, when the snake sheds its skin all at once it shares a little secret about life. Each year the snake sheds its entire  skin enabling it to release the old and stretch into the new.The epidermis,the skin, is the largest living aspect of the human body.Its function and value are beyond the scope of this blog. However, the skin of the snake metaphorically represents the amalgamation of pain, suffering,woundings, strife, and toxicity of  the human existence  (collectively negative energies). Imagine if you had the ability to once a year release these energies?

Several years ago when I began to heal my life I recognized the power of the snake. The skin was like a coat of armor. It ensheathed life times of negative energies. They were like paricites clinging to me, feeding on life.Unlike the fish in the sea that act as “cleaners” for other fish to remove pericites, I had no such partner. The symbiosis found in nature demonstrates how working together benefits all (see blog on Symbiosis).  With out a cleaning buddy what was I to do?  My skin had become dry and scaly just like a snake. I began to pick away at the old wounds. It was a painful slow process. Quite simply, there was far too many wounds to pick at it one by one. At this rate I would be at it for lifetimes.! There must be another way?

Native American traditions embrace the snake for a multitude of reasons: passion, vitality, desire, instinct, intimacy, purification, and wellness. The double helix symbol (intertwining of two snakes) of a medical doctor reflects the power of the snake. Further, the helix holds the power of “as above, so below” , “so within so with out”. By any measure the snake is a powerful symbol of how each of us has the ability to transform our life from illness to wellness. Most illness’ that occur in the body manifest, not at the level of the body, but at the level of the phyco-spiritual and mythical.

Treating our body at the level of the body, while important, is like picking at our skin. Treating illness that is occurring in the body is treating the “effect”. When we treat the root cause than we redirect the course of potential illness often preventing it from occurring at the level of the body. Modern medicine, while remarkable in many ways, often treats the “effect” as if were the cause, ignoring the the fact that the illness is manifesting at another level, the root cause.

When we engage healing on all levels, physical, psychological, soul, and spiritual, we become the snake who can shed  an illness all  at once. While this practice can be very challenging,it can be done. On a personal note, at best, I am a work in progress. These practices take training and dedication. However, I have been able to clean up lifetimes of wounds by shedding my skin all at once. These times are blessed with the fact that  we have not only modern medicine but other  “non-traditional” indigenousness modalities to heal our lives.

What “Non- traditional” method(s) have you used to “shed your skin” and improve your life?

Earth Mantra: I have the power to heal my life.