"Serpentini"

 

Melina Snaking Along...Photo by Najmat.



Serpentini - a Musing on The Lunar New Year  
Welcoming the Year of the Snake!
Snake medicine: Resilience - wisdom - intelligence - determination - focus - transformation.

With all its sinuous and undulatory movement, belly dance has long been called the dance of the serpent. When you allow your body to move along snakey pathways, the dance can be a catalyst, an agent and a medicine of change, helping people move and evolve through challenging times.

As you sip on the following snake-inspired movement cocktail idea, which I am playfully calling a Serpentini, you will generate more passion and healing power within yourself. 

 The body desires to move freely in this instinctive way, instead of being repressed and bound. 


The snake is a fertility symbol representing the renewal of nature.  It is connected to the energy of the umbilical cord - joining all humans to Mother Earth, the source of our nourishment.


The dance of the serpent has roots as an ancient fertility dance connected to matriarchy and the Mother Goddess, to whom the Snake is sacred.  



The snake is associated with the rod of Asclepius, a serpent wrapped around a staff. Asklepius was a deity in Greek mythology associated with healing and medicine. The daughters of Aklepius were also associated with healing, like Hygeia, or Igeia, which means health in Greek.




In Indigenous, First Nation cultures, snake animal medicine is very powerful alchemy connected to transmutation and assisting with changes in consciousness.  “Feel Snake’s rhythm and you will dance freely, incorporating those transmuting forces of the universe as part of your sensual dance of power.” (Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals by


The spine, viewed from the side, looks and moves like a snake.  It symbolises everything within our bodies and mind that moves under the surface, hidden from the light of consciousness.  But when we bring awareness and undulatory movement to the spine, kundalini energy can rise, a greater flow of energy pulses through.  This nourishes all aspects of your system and can help keep your health in harmony and balance.


Serpentini is like a martini - except maybe better, as you will wake up the next morning feeling renewed and refreshed, full of shakti power


Love,
Melina