Snake in the Yoni
Nag Panchami
Welcome to Nag Panchami. Originally the idea was to also make this a prelude to a discussion of Moksha, but “i”’ll save that till later. Let’s cut to the chase. What is Nag Panchami and why am “i” choosing to celebrate and share it?
The What What
Nag Panchami is a day celebrated in the Indian subcontinent where they revere The Snake! This is done both imaginatively, symbolically, and manifestly. It’s typically celebrated at the beginning of August in the Gregorian calendar. There are many myths surrounding Nag Panchami, the reason for such a holiday. Some think the choice of the timing of this celebration has to do with the height of the monsoon season in India. I’ll elaborate on that a little when “i” explain why “i” want to start celebrating it.
There are plenty of articles explaining what to do for Nag Panchami. Here is one such article. However, “i” will condense the ideas for us and make them relevant to where you are, if you feel inspired to celebrate.
Traditional
Shower and bless your home.
Make a Snake or Naga altar within the home or outside.
Dakshina (donations) or offerings to the altar:
Offer milk (of any kind) and sweets to the altar which represents your intention to connect to all Serpentine kind in this dimension and others. (Nagas are from another Loka aka dimension).
Tumeric and rice
Give flowers (but maybe ask the flowers first if they want to be part of this particular sacrifice).
Do not disturb the soil this day: no Earthwork, no digging. Snakes live in the soil. Today is a day to protect them and their homes. Honor them with a respectful day of rest.
If you see a “real” snake, do not give it milk or sweets. They like mice…
Jivana’s suggestions
Dress up - have anything snakey? Wear it. Nothing? Well, belly dancers are in touch with serpentine movement; tap into their type of attire.
Still nothing? No problem. Get serpentini* in your body. Set aside a few minutes of movement meditation and snake your arms or shimmy Kundalini up your spine. Don’t know how to do that? Imagine moving like a snake. What is that like for you?
Imagery medicine. If you can’t get out of the house, look up and take in - BEHOLD! - the imagery of snakes and snake lovers, like Shiva ;)
Imagery can also be outside. Nature is our greatest. teacher. Perhaps go look at other ways Nature gets snakey. Vines are snakey. Go outside and see for yourself.
Sit to meditate. Visualize a snake, snakes, a snake god, or contemplate snakes and send them gratitude and blessings with your thoughts or words aloud.
*Serpentini, yes my own word ;)
The Why am “i” celebrating?
Why would “i” want to celebrate this day? I’m a teacher of Tantra -Yoga and these spiritual paths and knowledge from the East are sometimes referred to as Snake Wisdom. Patanjali, who compiled the Yoga Sutras (read that as what people consider the Yoga Bible), is depicted as a Naga. Half man, half snake!
This is the first year “i”’m celebrating and it is a bit more personal than a simple “i”’m a yoga teacher” answer.
I have recently had encounters with snakes. By recent “i” mean within the last several weeks. Snakes are stealthy. You don’t often see them. In the past at least “i” had not. About 2 weeks ago, “i” went to tend my Yoni garden. As “i” walked through the center of the Yoni, a snake slithered away (hence the inspiration for the title of this work). “That could not have been more perfect!”, I thought, to have a real snake inside my giant Yoni ;) Jaja.
A couple of weeks prior to this happening, “i” had spotted a snakeskin hanging from the top of my yoga shala. It dangled like a mistletoe that promised the moksha of the Snake Wisdom path. With both occurrences happening in a short amount of time, “i” decided to tell one of my best friends who lives in Goa, India. “Auspicious, J!”, is what she said (again, as this was not the first time “i” had found a snakeskin on the rooftop of my shala). She continued by informing me of this sacred and upcoming day of Nag Panchami. I knew “i” had to participate.
So here we are. Yesterday morning “i” woke up and thought it was Nag Panchami already. So “i” prepared myself for an endeavored day of offerings. Walking around my property “i” got a clear, in-your-face kind of message “i” will attribute to the Snakes (symbolic of heightened intuitive wisdom), as “i” continuously ran into spider webs head first. Some residual web strings even got into my eyes. If you’re wondering if “i” felt bad for the spiders, yes “i” did. (I’ll have to do a special day of celebrating Spider kind some other time.) Back to the message “i” received. It was this,
“Life is an endless interconnected web of existence.” This applies to both the Seen and Unseen (Loka) realms.
Now, let’s return to the meaning of this holiday, as “i” had mentioned “i” would delve into earlier. One theory is that August in India is not just a super holy month (dedicated to Shiva who wears a snake) but also the height of monsoon season.
With rains comes flooding of underground lairs. Snakes sometimes become temporarily homeless and thus they may be more present in rural areas especially, and offer themselves as a present in someone’s home! To have a holiday that encourages revering snakes, at this time when they are on the move, may have been a way to help protect Snakekind from people who might otherwise indiscriminately kill them. Some people might be savvier and wouldn’t want to kill the snakes yet might still react with a freakout. This holiday of Nag Panchami offers an alternative. “Be curious” or “Yes, they could bite you but protect them anyway”. What we individually (or sometimes collectively) consider dangerous beings don’t always need annihilation or to be feared. They provide an opportunity to practice compassion and respect.
Aside from the fact that snakes are part of the interconnected web of life, symbolically they have been revered for: their subtle powers of perception which could translate to discernment, their connection to the chthonic (primordial and unseen) realms, the idea that they represent the idea of energy (kundalini in the Indian system and Sekhem in the Egyptian) manifest in various dimensions, patience, humility, representations of the Earth. It is thought that patience is required on the spiritual path when practicing with the intention of Enlightenment.
What “i” did to celebrate
Yesterday “i” prepared offerings for all the sites “i” had ever seen a snake. The offerings were blessed with intention and sound from our crystal bowls. Yesterday the offering was medicinal carao in hazelnut milk. After recently returning from Greece, “i” had two statuettes. One of Medusa (a Naga), and the other of Athena who is protected by a snake. These two idols were placed at the sites of the most recent sitings.
Today “i” had remembered another siting spot to leave an offering and also knew “i” needed to leave one at the place where one of our workers saw a snake yesterday, the chicken coop! (The girls were all fine, btw). Today, on the real Nag Panchami, “i” offered hazelnut milk mixed with a little bit of “tantric milk”). Honey was then offered into the milk and sandalwood essential oil drops were added to dried leaves outside of the milk offering. A butterfly paid a visit to my first offering site where Medusa currently reigns. I don’t yet know what it meant but i“i” saw two agoudi’s yesterday when typically we only see one.
What “i” do know is that “i” felt super high yesterday after my preliminary offering session, and “i” would know (ha!). Psychedelic goopy-soup spun-up in the web of mystical madness and reverence. When we are on the spiritual path, it is said we don’t strive for the mystical happenings to happen and definitely not for them to duplicate themselves. So “i” will not hope “i” feel that way again but it definitely felt incentivizing. Hooked! Count me doing something for Nag Panchami yearly. It’s going on the Jivana Tantra calendar for sure.
Why do “i” use uncapitalized i’s? You can read my article “The issue with I”