A Serpent's Tale
22/05/2020 09:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaSnailish old Izzie is always six months behind the curve when it comes to replying to memes and quizzes
There are so many fascinating books and reading memes out there but I could not resist the one about mythical creatures and spirit animals
1. What or who is your Spirit Animal?
A serpent. Not any old slithering critter but a cuddly boa constrictor or a gorgeous green tree python
2. Do you believe in such a thing/person?
Well. That is a long story. I had long suppressed any inner creatures in a sad attempt to emulate so called normal people. Spirit Animals, Angels and the like was just a pile of silly but fun New Age stuff with no relevance whatsoever to a wannabee Vulcan librarian
Even when I started reading the Potter books, choosing a Hogwarts House was just another interesting hypothetical.
While identifying with the values of Ravenclaw, the sorts of animals I had been drawn to in the past most definitely did not lead in that general direction
Snails, turtles, armadillos and hedgehogs in spite of being shy solitary creatures most definitely have an aura of Hufflepuff about them
So far so good. That was before encountering the creepy scenes in the graveyard, the Dementors and the Green Lightseses. That is what changed everything
Around the same time as I started reading the Potters, I was also reading a rather obscure book “e - the story of a number” I knew from dealing with Goblin business that this number appears a lot (mainly in relation to compound interest) but then all the stuff about mysticism, shells and spirals started popping up and it got positively spooky.
Because apart from snails and nautilus shells, there was one other animal that constantly appeared wherever spirals were mentioned. The same creature that I had always used in mind maps to represent wisdom, intuition and the subconscious.
And then one day while lurking and squiggling in the garden of a former lunatic asylum, it suddenly dawned on me that the previous 3 weeks of nightmares that started after reading the graveyard scenes in a certain Potter book were connected to an incident in the past when I was working as a house elf for an evil bitch boss who I called Heil Hilde. For the last 12 months I had been working for a boss who bore an uncanny resemblance to her in both looks, mannerisms and plain old nastiness
My subconscious mind had been screaming the warning signs at me the whole year while I stubbornly insisted on ignoring it but it was the sneaky subliminal symbolism hiding in the Potter books that finally enabled me to join the dots and decode the endless stream of warnings
Once I could logically process these messages, I could see that while the pair of bosses could well be evil twins,, my circumstances were completely different. I had my own house and a second job so the subconscious fear of annihilation which was very real way back in 1990 was now no longer valid
I had been fighting paper tigers for 12 months. Knowing that meant seeing the world with new eyes and not wasting any more time and energy on mere illusions.
It also meant learning not to ignore and dismiss the cryptic messages of intuition and the subconscious
So when it came to the other favorite question from the Potterverse - what form does your Patronus take, this time I took it a bit more seriously
So the inner serpent made her presence known and become my official spirit animal
3. If so, try- what/who is your Spirit Predator?
Lions and ignorant intolerant humans especially the awful lawful evil sorts like Dolores Umbridge, Cardinal Pell and Bill Barr (trump's personal attorney general)
4. What/who is your Spirit Prey?
Rats, Goblins, trumPETS and TURDS
Rats are the staple diet of lazy serpents. Goblins and the others require a whole lot more work. Goblins are excessively utilitarian, soulless and rational and ruin life for the rest of us. So gobbling them up is a form of pest control. TrumPETS and TURDs are so ignorant, irrational and illogical and so contagious with their stupidity. Creatures who campaign for the legal recognition of four sided triangles are just too sparkly to be ignored
5. Is your Spirit Animal tame or wild?
My spirit animal spends most of her time either slinking in trees trying to tempt stupid humans with rotten fruit or curled up snoozing after a tasty feast of trumPETs or rats. Preferably rats because they are just so much easier to catch and less likely to give her food poisoning
6. Is your Spirit Animal a warrior or a peacemaker?
She is too busy either snoozing or chasing her tail to bother with fighting. After all, time spend fighting is time that could be better spent snoozing or slinking in Cyberia. But bitter experience has taught us both that nice creatures end up as dinner so it’s best to keep hissing even if we have no intention of ever biting
One thing I always find amusing is the assumption that the serpent is such an aggressive and very masculine symbolic animal
I never see serpents as slinking in a straight line trying to look larger and longer than everyone else but always curled up in a spiral or circle which is as far from phallic as you can get.
7. What is the opposite of your Spirit Animal?
The Lion. Big, brash and showy. All sizzle and no steak. He does all the strutting and preening but it is actually the lioness who goes out and catches the dinner
Also because even as a kid, I found Aslan from the Narnia series to be an annoying and insufferable martyr
Serpents prefer to remain quiet and invisible on the sidelines with the odd hiss now and again for those who get too close for comfort
There are so many fascinating books and reading memes out there but I could not resist the one about mythical creatures and spirit animals
1. What or who is your Spirit Animal?
A serpent. Not any old slithering critter but a cuddly boa constrictor or a gorgeous green tree python
2. Do you believe in such a thing/person?
Well. That is a long story. I had long suppressed any inner creatures in a sad attempt to emulate so called normal people. Spirit Animals, Angels and the like was just a pile of silly but fun New Age stuff with no relevance whatsoever to a wannabee Vulcan librarian
Even when I started reading the Potter books, choosing a Hogwarts House was just another interesting hypothetical.
While identifying with the values of Ravenclaw, the sorts of animals I had been drawn to in the past most definitely did not lead in that general direction
Snails, turtles, armadillos and hedgehogs in spite of being shy solitary creatures most definitely have an aura of Hufflepuff about them
So far so good. That was before encountering the creepy scenes in the graveyard, the Dementors and the Green Lightseses. That is what changed everything
Around the same time as I started reading the Potters, I was also reading a rather obscure book “e - the story of a number” I knew from dealing with Goblin business that this number appears a lot (mainly in relation to compound interest) but then all the stuff about mysticism, shells and spirals started popping up and it got positively spooky.
Because apart from snails and nautilus shells, there was one other animal that constantly appeared wherever spirals were mentioned. The same creature that I had always used in mind maps to represent wisdom, intuition and the subconscious.
And then one day while lurking and squiggling in the garden of a former lunatic asylum, it suddenly dawned on me that the previous 3 weeks of nightmares that started after reading the graveyard scenes in a certain Potter book were connected to an incident in the past when I was working as a house elf for an evil bitch boss who I called Heil Hilde. For the last 12 months I had been working for a boss who bore an uncanny resemblance to her in both looks, mannerisms and plain old nastiness
My subconscious mind had been screaming the warning signs at me the whole year while I stubbornly insisted on ignoring it but it was the sneaky subliminal symbolism hiding in the Potter books that finally enabled me to join the dots and decode the endless stream of warnings
Once I could logically process these messages, I could see that while the pair of bosses could well be evil twins,, my circumstances were completely different. I had my own house and a second job so the subconscious fear of annihilation which was very real way back in 1990 was now no longer valid
I had been fighting paper tigers for 12 months. Knowing that meant seeing the world with new eyes and not wasting any more time and energy on mere illusions.
It also meant learning not to ignore and dismiss the cryptic messages of intuition and the subconscious
So when it came to the other favorite question from the Potterverse - what form does your Patronus take, this time I took it a bit more seriously
So the inner serpent made her presence known and become my official spirit animal
3. If so, try- what/who is your Spirit Predator?
Lions and ignorant intolerant humans especially the awful lawful evil sorts like Dolores Umbridge, Cardinal Pell and Bill Barr (trump's personal attorney general)
4. What/who is your Spirit Prey?
Rats, Goblins, trumPETS and TURDS
Rats are the staple diet of lazy serpents. Goblins and the others require a whole lot more work. Goblins are excessively utilitarian, soulless and rational and ruin life for the rest of us. So gobbling them up is a form of pest control. TrumPETS and TURDs are so ignorant, irrational and illogical and so contagious with their stupidity. Creatures who campaign for the legal recognition of four sided triangles are just too sparkly to be ignored
5. Is your Spirit Animal tame or wild?
My spirit animal spends most of her time either slinking in trees trying to tempt stupid humans with rotten fruit or curled up snoozing after a tasty feast of trumPETs or rats. Preferably rats because they are just so much easier to catch and less likely to give her food poisoning
6. Is your Spirit Animal a warrior or a peacemaker?
She is too busy either snoozing or chasing her tail to bother with fighting. After all, time spend fighting is time that could be better spent snoozing or slinking in Cyberia. But bitter experience has taught us both that nice creatures end up as dinner so it’s best to keep hissing even if we have no intention of ever biting
One thing I always find amusing is the assumption that the serpent is such an aggressive and very masculine symbolic animal
I never see serpents as slinking in a straight line trying to look larger and longer than everyone else but always curled up in a spiral or circle which is as far from phallic as you can get.
7. What is the opposite of your Spirit Animal?
The Lion. Big, brash and showy. All sizzle and no steak. He does all the strutting and preening but it is actually the lioness who goes out and catches the dinner
Also because even as a kid, I found Aslan from the Narnia series to be an annoying and insufferable martyr
Serpents prefer to remain quiet and invisible on the sidelines with the odd hiss now and again for those who get too close for comfort
no subject
Date: 2020-05-23 09:57 am (UTC)From my rare visits to Twitter zoo, it appears that the serpent always has plenty of prey, and has been feeding very well :)
Hmm, thanks to the most popular fairy tale, a serpent is firmly associated with Satan, who is traditionally masculine. I just thought it's very unimaginative that both of this mythology's main characters are male. It would've been much more exciting and fitting to make Satan a female. With all this talk of temptation, which women are supposed to excel at, not to mention evil... It would make such a proper reason for patriarchy and gender discrimination, as well as for the virtue of following the Lord's ways, because what self-respecting man would want to be controlled by a female Satan? ;)
Slinking in Cyberia
Date: 2020-05-24 01:05 pm (UTC)Recently I got my scales on a copy of Chamber of Secrets where all the edges of the pages were green and there is a gorgeous Slytherin crest on the cover
I don't think it's merely a lack of imagination that all the main characters in that other mythology are male. Firstly, men always insist on being the centre of attention and secondly, how could they burn all those witches at the stake for collusion and cohorting with the devil if Satan was a she-devil? Because there is only one thing worse than an evil temptress and that is a lesbian witch who is completely uninterested in luring those poor innocent chaste males into her evil Lair
Apparently, the Devil always left his mark after sleeping with his adoring witchy worshippers and the Witch Hunters got their rocks off searching for the evidence. That way they could indulge their perversions AND claim to be doing the work of the Lord
I think Tiamat was an excellent role model for a dark satanic monster. I'm sure this particular tentacled terror was a she.
Then there is the Cheshire Cat who I am sure must somehow be the inspiration behind the Joker in the Batman universe.