“The Dance of Opposites”
The Thunderbird and Lightning Snakes
In ancient Indigenous and historical teachings, there is a constant reminder in art and other cultural depictions of the symbol of the “Lightning Snakes and the Thunderbird” or Thunder being. It has been prevalent in Egyptian, South American and North American cultures as well as in old Gypsy lore and is still represented in the healing symbol of the Caudeseus only with a sword in the centre. It is seen in science in the DNA and RNA molecular double helix only there is no visual of what it spirals around. In Egyptian cultures it is usually an orb or the sun, Ra, with the serpents on either side. In Mexico, it is woven into their blankets with a ruler or chief in a headdress in the centre. In Western Indigenous cultures, it is the Thunderbird holding the serpents in its talons.
The Nuu Chah Nulth have a Thunderbird Dance where two dancers come from opposite sides, one in black and one in red, wearing Thunderbird headdresses, great masks carved in wood with plumes on top. Whatever is at the centre of these two serpents is the balance keeper. It is said that when the serpents face each other, truth is revealed and becomes obvious….when facing away from each other, it is hidden. The Ojibwediva or Anishinabe People have many fascinating stories about the Thunderbird and Serpents as well as place names commemorating battles and nests or sites where they reside. I have heard West Coast stories of the Thunderbird, with its nest on top of the mountains or in caves up in the saddles of mountains with bones strewn about the entrance. It comes sweeping through in clouds and winds Some people claim to have seen it or parts of it and once a young healer called Adam said he was led to it in the forest of the coast and got a picture of it. It looked like an enormous eagle only all black.
Within our reality and perception, there is this dance of opposites. When it becomes out of balance, there is a force that works to correct that, whether it is within us, in the world around us or in the cosmos.
Our Cosmic Balance Holders…Sun and Moon
Within us as well, there are the left brain and right brain acting in concert with the right and left parts of our bodies. If one can imagine our arms and legs as the holders and keepers of balance like the serpents, it is a simile that shows us how to balance our being in the world. As conscious beings, we are the Thunderbeings holding personal balance in ourselves and in that way, affecting the world around us. Our aura is a swirl of energy manifesting in that way.
When things are out of balance, forces work to bring that into place. Magnetism works that way. It is fascinating to fathom the workings of life, reality, solids, elements, disease, the environment, the stars, moons and planets. It is a dance of life for sure and if you watch how this Earth moves with its opposite hemispheres, the seasons and how the winds and currents work in their great spirals, it starts to become apparent that there is an unexplainable force working from the center of these opposites, keeping the dance in motion and alive. For what is life but movement? A heartbeat, a feeling, an inspiration, a wave, an attraction, desire…..love, the dance. And how does one explain that?.. well that’s the great mystery that we are part of and contributing to. It is a balancing act of awakening the Thunderbeing.
Love Coming Into Balance