Understanding the Bushmaster

In my dream the other night, I was bitten by a pet Bushmaster that I apparently owned and allowed free reign of my apartment.  Something, that in the real world, I cannot even begin to describe just how insanely SUICIDAL that would be.  Of all the venomous snakes I've toyed with the idea of possibly owning in the future (once I had proper training, licensing, and safe housing in place), these guys have a very nasty, nasty bite.  And because the dream prompted my science nerd side to research what a bite from what of those gorgeous animals does to a human...I've resolutely crossed that venomous snake off my list.  I'll admire it from afar from now on...and hopefully always with some good shielding between us as well.  ::laughs::

Anyway, back to the dream itself.  I tried looking up the specific totem qualities of the Bushmaster snake, but couldn't find anything specific.  There's a ton on the Snake as a totem, but none specifically for the Bushmaster, which made me a bit sad. After all, a boa is going to have a totally different meaning than a cobra, so it only makes sense that the Bushmaster does have specific energies/medicine/lessons all of its own.  Hopefully, sometime this weekend, I can do some Shamanic Journeying (think Guided Meditation), and I can meet up with a Bushmaster on the spiritual level and see what he/she has to say.

So for now, I'm leaving the totem qualities alone on this snake, until I can speak with one.  Instead, I focused on where I was being bitten/attacked -- my left foot, ankle, and leg.  Traditionally, the left side is considered the feminine side. 

For me though, the left side is The Left Side....the shadow side, the darker side, the nocturnal, lunar side.  And the fact that my feet and ankles were the locale of the attack/bite, draws my attention to those areas.

My gut instinct practically shouts at me that this is a symbol of me NOT being grounded in my Left Handed Side.  I've only begun to scratch the surface there and thus, have no roots to it at all.  It calls to me, a siren's sweet lullaby.  But the Right Hand Side, the brain, the logic, the Light, the rational, the mundane, draws me away by reminding me of all the "responsibilities" I "have" to do...right now.

The Bushmaster, while an EXTREMELY deadly snake (believed to have whooping 80% mortality rate from its bite), isn't considered all that dangerous....because it avoids humans so much.  It prefers to haunt the untouched rainforests, far from humans.

And I think that may be why it was a Bushmaster that attacked me in my dream.  I have been playing in the Light for far too long.  I've grounded myself so much in the Light and the mundane.  I've forgotten how to be a Wolf.  I've forgotten the simply JOY of running free until the light of a pale, silver Moon.  I've forgotten how to follow the calling of my heart.  I've spent too much time in the rational world of man. 

The Forest is calling.  The Wolf is calling.  The Moon is calling. 

And the Bushmaster has warned that it is a slow infecting paralysis to resist Their calls.

No wonder the doctors and nurses wouldn't help me.  They've long forgotten their own Wild Heart and were trying to make me over into their own image.

It's like the image my husband pointed out when I was telling him about the dream and what the reality of a bite from a Bushmaster entails.  I told him it basically rots your limb completely off -- that the photos made it look like someone had cut the limb off a rotting cadaver and attached it to a living human.  He paused and said, "So a bite from a Bushmaster basically makes you a Zombie."  I didn't realize how well he hit the nail on the head there.