First of all this is not a story of any of my fear related experiences with snakes. Why I had the fear and what happened as a result of that fear is not near as powerful as a fear confronted. I had a particular fear of holding and touching a snake.
Recognizing “Fear is the mind killer.” Frank Herbert, Dune. Feeling the true power and limitations of that statement, I have worked hard to remove various fears that I have had. This time- one of my more severe fears that of snakes is what I tackled. This is particularly a good thing for me as I work with snakes in the spirit world and it seems just plain wrong to fear your helping spirits in any realm.
Two years ago I touched a snake for the first time at forty-one. It wasn’t so bad- nothing like I imagined. It was soft, kind of leathery feeling but soft yet “kinky” maybe but in a smooth sort of way. I only cautiously briefly touched it at this time. Yet this was not enough to help the fear go away. I needed to hold a snake, and yet I wasn’t over my fear. I knew this was something I really needed to do.
My friend, Laura came to the rescue in helping me with this. You could say in a way she is the resident snake catcher as she doesn’t have a fear of snakes at all. The neighbor ladies had called Laura to get snake out of their chicken coop. So, she had her husband Al who also is not fond of snakes drive her up to get it so she could bring it by for me to hold. Bless Al’s heart for even with his own fear he drove her here holding the snake. Al come to the door and woke me up and told me if I wanted to hold a snake Laura was outside waiting with one for me.
I get out of bed throw clothing on and head outside. I didn’t hold the entire snake and still would like to do so to further connect, Laura held onto the head as it was a bit agitated about being caught and taken from its food source. It was a non-poisonous snake but a little unhappy, it was a bull snake.
I was surprised at how cold it was on this hot day. It was an odd feeling. It kind of wrapped around my arm and it was a really nice experience truthfully. Not near as scary as what the fear in my mind created. Yes there’s still a lower- level fear but not a life limiting one and one I am certain I will fully overcome as on some level I was not only intrigued but really liked the snake.
Whatever, the reasons for my fear. Likely, influenced greatly by culture- our culture has done a good job of making nature something to fear. When in fact, its nothing like we’ve been imagining due to the stories we heard. Some fears run deeper in us for one reason or another. Yet as we move to conquer our fears we empower ourselves and remove the chains that bind us and find out it wasn’t as bad as we thought and might even be something we actually like and we were depriving ourselves of as we allowed that fear to limit (kill) the mind.