Spirit Animal – Crocodile

“A bask of crocodiles” – picture from Wikipedia

 

In ancient Egypt, part of the testing of the faith of students studying for the priesthood and as part of the process for these priests or priestesses to receive the knowledge of MAGICK, was to have the students dive into a pool of water and find a gate at the bottom of the pool, and swim through it to come up, spiritually improved, on the other side.  The big challenge was that crocodiles guarded the gate.  One must avoid being killed and eaten as part of the test of faith.

Crocodile, then, is often associated with faith, and the belief in Magick and the afterlife.  This makes sense because Crocodile lives in the mud, lays her eggs and releases her children in the mud, and kills her food in the mud.  The mud is the in between place of water and land.  It is very much like the shadow world between life and death. Even though she is fierce, Crocodile is a great mother.  She guards her eggs for almost two months, and listens for the sound of hatching.  When the babies break free, rather than letting them suffocate in the mud, she carries them in her jaws of steel and places them gently in the water, and then teaches them how to be Crocodile.

Crocodile’s message is about opposites – about being a cold blooded creature who must lie in the sun to get warm and be mobile, and yet being loving and kind as a Mother.  She is about creation from mud, where scientists believe man kind came from, and the importance of the SUN in our life cycle.  Translated, we need to get more sunlight to help us digest life, our food, and to fill us with energy. In fact, plants too depend on the Sun to survive.  Crocodile is about the number one reason for life – water, light, and oxygen.  She reminds you that all the manufacturing and controlling of food, money, and shelter cannot change the fact that man needs only those three items to guarantee life.

Crocodile says to you, to take care of yourself and your creative abilities; to nurture the things in your life that are important to you and not to be distracted by the unimportant.  She reminds you to nurture your self.  Self care that turns into neglect by fear allows you to be more easily controlled and manipulated.  Be gentle to the things you love and be ferocious when protecting them or your self from harm.  That is the way of Crocodile