The Pagan Heart
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August-September 2005 Issue
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Working with Energy: Finding a Guide
By Axiom
Throughout life guides come to us all - some stay for a lifetime, others pass by so quickly it is only later, in retrospect, that we realise who and what they were. This week one of my daughters and I both found guides, and I would like to share the experience. Being there with a child when s/he finds a guide is an intense experience - more so than finding my own I think. Having collected the girls from their day at preschool and unloaded them from the car, I lag behind to help Willow with her artwork - the collection growing in the footwell of the passenger seat is a little overwhelming for me, let alone a three-year old! Each preschool day she adds to it, most of the time not wanting to take it into the house. But periodically she gets the urge to take it all inside in one fell swoop. As we gather up the pages, I hear Saille call out something. Her voice all high-pitched with excitment is blurred by the car, yet something about it catches my attention. Willow in tow, I walk over to find Saille on the footpath that leads through the apartment building - a sort of tunnel - facing me. Lying on the path between us, calm and motionless aside from flickering tongue, is a rattlesnake. Only a youngling, about 1 and 1/2 feet long, but Saille is standing there within a handspan of it, her bare toes sticking out of her Elmo sandals. As I am taking in the scene, calmly telling her to please step back a bit so she doesn't scare the snake, she crouches down and almost touches it, saying, "Look, Mumma. A snake. I think he likes me." The snake just lies there, twisting its head around to watch her, tongue dancing in and out as it tastes her scent. Willow meanwhile is standing almost in my shoes, pressed against my leg as she peers around me to look at the snake. Not afraid so much as wary. In her quiet voice she comments, "We need to be quiet and not scare the snake." Good point, although the snake is not looking very scared. And for some reason I am not either. I have never feared snakes, but seeing my other three-year old crouched down beside a rattler is a little rattling. I convince her to stand and head off - she can circle around the apartment and come up to me. She doesn't want to leave the snake, but I am not exactly comfortable with her stepping over it (it's an alleyway so there is no way around it), and it certainly seems to have no desire to leave. As Saille heads off the snake starts to wind its way over the cement, heading for the bushes. Saille is so fast she has reached Willow and I before it disappears, and it stops, looking back at her. At that point Willow mutters something about it looking like a twig and I remember. Four years ago I went for a walk. At the time I was trying to get pregnant, but having difficulties. As I hiked through the woods something made me stop. There, an inch in front of my shoe, lay a tiny rattlesnake - maybe five inches long. The way it lay there I could almost hear this little voice crying "I'm a twig. I'm a twig". Now here I was again, with an older snake. And I realised that in all likelihood this was a message. The spirit of Rattlesnake showed itself to me as a small, barely hatched snake when I was preparing to carry my daughter. If only I had known the significance - so much of the nature of those who walk with Rattlesnake is evident in Saille. Maybe it would have eased our path somewhat! Or maybe not. But now, as she is leaping into life, exploring everything with great vigour, and showing increasing strength as a warrior who is also a healer and empath, Rattlesnake has formally chosen her. Her first guide has appeared. I sat and thought it over that night, reread about snake-guides and read up on Rattlesnake in particular. It's not an easy path Saille walks - but I have always known this. Yet there is great joy in her, an incredible insatiable thirst for life and laughter. Together with her sister she offers me challenges that at times leave me stunned. How do I raise children who at barely two are working out strategies to drive a spirit from their room - a spirit the cat had seen. A spirit who'd tried to choke a visitor. How do I guide children who can draw a full-blown migraine from their father with a brief caress when they aren't even three? What do I say when my daughter senses the death of a family member across the ocean? Or talks to the spirit of my dead brother, naming him consistently and accurately even though she's never heard of the name or him? The following morning as we headed out for a swim, Willow and Saille danced about talking of all manner of things. How the sun was sad because he felt cold. How the earth was sleeping. As I listened, I wondered for a moment what I was in for and whether I could do them justice. At that moment I felt a wave of heat across my shoulders, and the sensation of being watched from behind. I swung around to see the silhouette of a bird rising against the sun. Black against gold, all I could determine was shape and size. An eagle, wings barely skimming the roof of the apartment behind me, circled three times and then soared away followed by one of the ever present ravens. I think I will do my children justice. I think I will find the strength, wisdom, and patience. What else can I do if Eagle is watching over me?
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Primary article for August-September - How to Become a Healer Without Harming Yourself III
Secondary article for August-September - Tools in Pagan Ritual: Vessels - not just for large bodies of water!
Secondary article for August-September - Empty Handed
Return to the Index of articles for Tools of the Trade
