
Of all creatures moving about on the land, I see that none are closer to the earth than snakes! They do not stomp, walk or shuffle when going from one location to another. Snakes gently caress the land. They slither silently when travelling in and around gardens, searching for prey.
Snakes in Algonquin territory are harmless to human beings. Snakes – lots of Indigenous folks respect them as great messengers! I don’t fear them now but years ago they terrified me. At the sight of a snake on a forest trail or seeing one or two … ugh, crawling along a wall of a shed, my entire chest would tighten up. I felt panic, my heart pounded and I moved quickly away from where the snake lay. I didn’t want anything to do with them. Then one day, only months after my sobriety began, I was in Gatineau Park (Algonquin territory) at a site I had adopted as a healing place I could go to, assisting in keeping me strong in my vow to never allow alcohol to pass my lips again.
It was 5 o’clock in the morning. I had marked out my circle with sacred tobacco and was about to begin my prayers. Somehow, I felt that ‘eyes’ were watching me. “An early morning hiker,” I thought. I searched the landscape, hoping to see who it was. I saw no one and continued with my ceremony. Still, I felt certain that eyes were watching. I looked again to find who was there, this time searching closer to where I stood. I saw her then, a large garter snake. She was in my circle, resting on the root of a cedar tree. And because of it, for the first time in my life, I was not afraid.
“You have never hurt me,” I said to the snake. “You have never bitten me nor wrapped yourself around my neck to choke me. I have no reason to fear you. Today you have entered my circle and I welcome you here. From this day forward, I shall never fear you again.” My ceremony went well and after completed, the snake slowly left the circle.
All this brings me to what is going on in my life today in regards to snakes. I live in a small log house, located in Kitigan Zibi. In the few years I have lived here, snakes have come into my home seven times. I found one in my cupboard last summer, where I keep sacred objects. He was sitting on my rattles. “Oh,” I said upon discovering him there, “a wannabe rattlesnake.” I caught hold of him and gently evicted him from my home. Turned out he was a ‘milk snake’. I had never seen one before (see photo). I have caught three more snakes so far this summer, all in my bedroom. I have nothing against snakes and am not at all ‘rattled’ at them being close to me but just to be clear, I do not want them as bunk mates. Someone asked, “How do they get in?” I told my friend, “Maybe they are like explorers of old and future times (Star Trek LOL). They want to boldly go where no snake has gone before.” To the snakes I say, “Please do so, just don’t show up in my bathtub, especially when I’m in it. There has to be a limit!”
I remember a priest telling children when I was 6 years old, “Snakes are good for a garden, don’t chase them from it.” Yes, I agree! But what about the ‘Garden of Eden’, where according to the Catholic Church a great ‘sin’ was committed? Though I am unafraid of snakes now, I think I might retreat from one the size I saw in a painting depicting a snake wrapped around a big branch of an apple tree where two naked human beings stood. It was a monster! The fear I had of snakes most of my life likely began way back then when, as a kid, I saw that painting. I was traumatized! Adam and Eve didn’t fare very well after their encounter with the snake, did they? Hmmm, I wonder!

Keep the Circle Strong,
South Wind (Albert Dumont)