Using the Landscape : Intuition in Pagan Practice

  Recently my wife and I made a trip to the sacred Serpent Mound one of the great effigy mounds in the midwest. Neither of us had been before and were really excited to tread on such important ground.

 I brought with me a muskrat tobacco pouch in the style of 18th and 19th century Native American tobacco pouches. My Pawnee friend had told me that one great thing to do to honor sacred sites here in America is to leave tobacco offerings. So in that spirit, I brought it along. 

    We arrived and went into the gift shop/museum and paid for the parking and then began the walk along the edges of the serpent. Beginning with the swirling tail and ending with the head that overlooks a beautiful valley, with an eagle nest not far away from the point. Down below the Ohio Brush Creek runs alongside. We really enjoyed the walk and felt the importance of this place. Unfortunately not much is known about what the site was used for. Burial mounds not far away from the serpent make suggestions but nothing concrete. The alignment also points to some significance with the solstice's, but again, who's to say? We have oral stories about snakes in the traditions of the local Ohio tribes that once called this place home. The serpent is associated with the underworld and many tribes in the United States have horned serpents in their stories. 

    The horned serpent makes appearances in Europe as well, with this depiction of Cernunnos holding two ram horned serpents in this relief. 

 

In Norse stories, the world tree has a great dragon or serpent at its base who gnaws at the base.

A hall I saw,

far from the sun,

On Nastrond it stands,

and the doors face north,

Venom drops

through the smoke-vent down,

For around the walls

do serpents wind.

I there saw wading

through rivers wild

treacherous men

and murderers too,

And workers of ill

with the wives of men;

There Nithhogg sucked

the blood of the slain,

And the wolf tore men;

would you know yet more?

   All of these symbols are great cross cultural contact points for us in the modern world trying to reclaim a sense of our past and our relationship to the land and to nature. While the meaning of the serpent mound remains ambiguous for us in terms of its original use or purpose, we can apply new meanings based on our cultural folklore from all around the globe. So to an American Indo-European descended person, I can recall the stories and folklore around the serpents and dragons that my ancestors would have known while also venerating and honoring the local stories as well that have been told by the tribes that dwelled near and around these ancient sites. Basically, use your intuition. 

    The landscape is begging to be used again, but not used in the modern sense of taking resources and destroying eco systems. But used for the purpose of communing. As we walked along the paths that go down below the serpent mound we looked up and saw a shallow cave. I immediately saw a vulva, not because I have a dirty mind because there is nothing "dirty" about it. The vulva is a symbol of life, fertility and great pleasure and so I immediately thought, "I should leave an offering inside of it for a fertility blessing." And this is what I mean by intuition. Look around and see what the land may offer you and then offer something in return. When we begin to venerate the land again, I think then we will see such a change in our societal values. 

 May the gods keep you and bless you! 

-Jacob