Do you mean to say “shrugging” (movement of shoulders)…OR…
“shuddering” (as in shivering)???

*shrudding*

Another thing that was mentioned by a Pagan friend of mine when I referred this post to him…if you think about it, no matter how big or how complex the design, a spiral will always remain a spiral as long as you continue to follow the original path.

This is why the spiral and its continuity has been used for thousands of years as a symbol of the Earth Mother…and of that cyclic nature of life.

By the same token, because snakes are often seen coiled in a spiral, in many cultures they have in fact been adopted as a symbol or representative icon of that concept of the ongoing cycle of life, death, and rebirth. In addition, there is the fact that since they crawl along the ground, they are in constant contact with the Earth Mother.

Because it sheds its skin, the snake has long been a symbol of death and rebirth, and in the few days before the shedding, it often takes on a deathly appearance where its eyes begin to cloud over and and its skin becomes dull. In many cultures, this indicates the snake’s ability to move between the realms of the living and the dead, of crossing over from life to death and then back to life again.

I’ve always been fascinated by snakes and have even considered owning one. I once had to hop out of the tub to remove a snake from my bathroom, but that’s going off on a whole other tangent…

And so one starts to obsess about the past. Starts to dwell on it, and forgets to live in the moment. This in turn creates a separation from reality, a dissociation of sorts…. then it gets depressing.

But to understand that everything happens in one moment and is lost forever, helps to let it go, especially knowing that it happened then, and is not happening now.

The biorhythm of life occurs in cycles.. the essence of life flows through us in cycles.. as a bio, organic being, our bodies are alive as the trees are and so we are all connected to each and everything.. life flows through us all.

So without the bad, we can’t appreciate the good. And without the good, how can we understand the lessons of the bad?

Buddhists aim to achieve Nirvana in their meditation so that they can stop being reincarnated. Christians aim to go to Heaven… then our bodies decompose and feeds the Earth, heading back home because the elements of the Earth are what built our bodies in the first place..

Everything moves in cycles. Everything.

The Yoruba path basically refers to those religions which have their roots in the beliefs and practices of the Yoruba tribe, a group of indigenous peoples who originated (and are still predominately found) in the region of Africa that is now modern-day Nigeria. In a time when much of Africa is becoming more and more modernized, the Yoruba are known for maintaining many of the ancient tribal beliefs and practices which have been passed from generation to generation for centuries.

Many of the Yoruba were brought over to the new world as part of the slave tribe, and they brought these beliefs and practices with them, which then merged with the Christian (predominately Catholic) beliefs of the plantation owners. This resulted in a number of religious paths (which are generally grouped together under the name of “Yoruba”), most of which are found in South America (particularly Brazil) and the Caribbean.

Although these various religions have their differences, one common aspect is their belief in the orishas, who are the deities of these religions. One such deity is Oshun, who is believed to be the patroness of rivers, and is honored as the goddess of love and sensuality. I’m not sure exactly what her relationship to the ouroboros is supposed to be… I’m not all that knowledgeable about the Yoruba path. I do know that snakes play an important role in the Yoruba path, as they do in many indigenous cultures.