The Path From Blind Springs to the House

It has taken me quite a while to make my way from Blind Springs to my quarters at the House of the Serpent. I recoil at the mere thought of a snake. Hearing their subtle noises from my resting spot by the spring brought visions of their slithering nature, sending chills down my spine. I often dove into the spring to "wash away" the slimy, scaly feeling and to make enough noise with my splashes to drown out their sounds.

"I'm above all of this," I thought many times. I wouldn't be invited into this House of Serpents if the snakes were not welcoming. I told myself again and again that I had nothing to fear. My ideas of snakes were only illusions based on a lack of education and experience. Yet I still felt fear burn in the pit of my stomach pushing at me to skip this stop on the journey. It's not necessary. What do I have to "prove" and who do I have to prove it to by going into this house of snakes? "Nothing and no one," was always the response. I would still be "me" without this visitation.

Just one thing nagged at me...the offer of a gift of wisdom. The Enchantress said a gift of wisdom may be offered to me by the host at the House of Serpents. My life career is as a collector of wisdom. What if this house holds a piece of wisdom I can gain in no other way?

Wisdom...that reminded me of my visits with Wisdom. She told me that if I ever needed her assistance along the way I could conjure the image of the Wisdom Lounge in my mind and listen for her voice.

With a deep sigh, I settled into a calming float on the surface of Blind Springs. I held tight to the ivory piece I found etched with Wisdom's image. I closed my eyes and visualized Wisdom Lounge with it's glowing, radiant light. I felt myself walking on the cool, cave floor, crossing the bridge to the wisdom circle, and taking the seat I had sat in once before. Wow! It feels like months ago that I was there, but I know it has been just a handful of days. I felt a cool, damp breeze just before I heard Wisdom speak.

"Hello, my daughter. I see you have had an amazing journey and learned many important lessons so far. I sensed you might be paying me a visit before entering the House of Serpents. But you tell me, what is it that is troubling you?"

"It's a battle of illusions, Wisdom."

"Congratulate yourself, dear one. Most would not recognize it as such. They would see it only on the surface as a fear of snakes and a lack of need to conquer that fear. What is your battle?"

"I know that my head has one image of snakes....snakes as dangerous, as untrusting, as evil. I know this image has been formed by metaphor -- the snake in the Garden of Eden -- and of negative portrayal in film. There's no "truth" to this limited vision. My experiences of snakes have been positive. My brothers had snakes as pets. Only one ever bit and that was because she was being handled less than carefully just before she was to give birth.

"My head knows I would not be invited into this House of Serpents if the snakes who live there were not interested in having human guests. I know others have come before me, made their visit, and left unharmed. But the synapse in my brain connects "snake" with "bad." I feel a sudden urge to protect myself and run in the opposite direction. I've been working for days on countering that instinct, but it's still there, burning in the pit of my stomach asking me why I haven't left this location by now."

"You have met up with quite a strong illusion. I have seen you chipping away at it over the past few days. You have the key -- replace negative images with positive ones. There are two roadblocks to your path. First is that you have very few positive images. You didn't get to hold the snakes your brothers had. You could only watch them safely from the other side of the glass. With limited experience, it is very difficult to conquer an illusion as strong as yours. Your other roadblock is simply time. Your traveling companions and the celebration await. You don't have the time it would take to break your brain's connection of "snake" to "bad" and rebuild a positive connection."

"So, what should I do, Wisdom. Should I pass this stop on the journey and revisit it another time?"

"No, I think you will find great benefit in attending the celebration at the House of Serpents. I will help you with this illusion. There is one very powerful, positive image you haven't thought of. Remember the story of Moses? The Israelites were sick in the dessert. Yah told Moses to hold up a stick with a snake at the end of it. Those who looked at the snake and believed were made well. Those who didn't believe or didn't look, died. The image of a snake, something the Israelites, too, would have had negative connotations for, brought healing as long as the people believed. This was a tough illusion to break for the Israelites, but breaking the illusion meant life. Breaking the illusion required faith."

"Thank you, Wisdom. I had forgotten that positive story of snake."

"Do you not have a stick, much like Moses?"

"Yes."

"This is what you will do. Start out on the path from Blind Springs to the House of Serpents. Along the way you will meet one, small snake. He will be waiting for you. He will remind you of the snakes your brothers kept. He's a harmless, garden snake. How does this feel so far?"

"I feel no fear, Wisdom. I can handle one, small snake. It's the visions of multiple snakes and snakes upon snakes that set off my fear."

"This is another reason why your attempts at breaking your illusion didn't work. You kept visioning large colonies of snakes and tried to convert the feeling from positive to negative. You must start small when dealing with a fear of this magnitude. Next time, start with something that doesn't bring fear. Then gradually add to it. You'll begin to see that many are no different from the one you befriended. And that's exactly what you will do, but with a real snake, rather than an image. Befriend the one snake you meet on the path. Talk to it. Pet it. Bond with it. Then ask it to ride on your walking stick. Place the top of your walking stick on the ground about a foot away from the snake. He will climb aboard. Then you, like Moses, can walk into the House of Serpants with a snake on your walking stick. Hold it high in the air so that the other snakes will see it. Upon this sight, the snakes will surely know that you are a friend and will not harm you. Do you think you can do this?"

"I will try. I can see it in my mind's eye. I can feel the illusion breaking down with the idea of befriending one snake. I think I have the faith to believe that once I befriend one snake, the rest will not harm me."

"I know you can do it, dear one! You have what you need. Now, get dried off and start your journey. The celebration awaits!"

I was suddenly aware of my body floating in Blind Springs. It caught me off guard and I sputtered and splashed about. I recovered my balance and walked to shore. I dried myself and gathered my traveling bag. I placed the ivory carving of Wisdom in my pocket. I felt the Wisdom carving on my walking stick and took strength from the image of Mother Nature.

Taking my stick, I started on the path and, as Wisdom foretold, I met a single, small, garden snake. He actually looked kind of cute. He almost glowed a bright green as grass after a heavy rain. I knew he wouldn't hurt me. I bent down and said, "Hello, dear snake." I petted him gently and he wiggled with glee. I couldn't imagine being afraid ofsomething so gentle natured.

I asked the little snake if he would like to ride on my walking stick. He immediately moved towards the stick as I lowered it to the ground. He climbed aboard and wrapped himself around the very top so I had plenty of room to hold the stick in the sweet spot where it fit my hand. I heard the wind whisper, "Jake" to me as I stood eye-to-eye with the little snake. "So, Jake it is! Thank you, Jake, for being here for me and helping me break my illusion. And now I will honor you with a ride to the House of Serpants. I will hold you high above all the other snakes. They will know of my deep respect for you."

Getting into the House of Serpents was a piece of cake with Jake on my walking stick. I didn't fear the piles upon piles of snakes I saw slithering here and there. Their numbers increased the closer I got to the house, but my fear did not return. I kept my eye on Jake, the cute little bugger. I swear I could see him smile and his eyes just gleamed with joy.

I giggled as I made my way up the stairs to the entrance. I couldn't believe how easy this was and how scary I had made it out to be. I was greeted by the Enchantress who congratulated me on winning the battle with my illusion, but, nonetheless, asked me to hurry along for the celebration was almost over and she didn't want me to miss it.

Off I go to the gala party. It will be a celebration on many levels for me. No matter what happens tonight, I will be celebrating my success of breaking my illusion and hardwiring a new synapse of positive energy to snakes. I couldn't have done it without you, Wisdom. I kiss her etched image then make my way to the party with Wisdom in my pocket and Jake still riding high on the top of my walking stick.