This blog post is about the seventh mask, Violet Crown Snake created for the Prismic Vision NYE event hosted by the Body Earth Collective in Longmont. Read the previous posts in this series about Rabbit, Skunk, Swan. Antelope, Bat, & Hawk and other posts about the beginnings of the process as a whole and the success of the actual event. This is the final post in this series. Be sure to Follow my blog to catch all the updates. It has been so wonderful writing and reflecting on the process of this project.
Violet Crown Snake Mask by Khiri Lee
The Beginnings
This was the mask that I was chosen to wear in the Opening Procession, and the medicine of the snake and the vibration of the color violet have been a constant influence on my life so far this year since activating them so intentionally on New Year’s Eve.
The Salvaged Pieces for the Snake Mask
Once all the animals were summoned through the Oracle, Rachel and I presented them to the vision team for the event. Since I was creating them I felt strongly about being in the Opening Procession they were being created for, and many other people were excited to participate in the procession as well. Many of the animals were chosen before I had a chance to speak up, which was fine, because once it landed I felt very good about working with the Snake, the Crown, and the Color Violet.
Work in Progress for the Snake Mask
Since I knew I was going to be the one wearing the Snake Mask it was one of the final masks I completed. I was still painting details of eyes and scales onto the mask the morning of New Year’s Eve! The base of this mask was created using the remnants of a Papier-mache globe, which burst during the drying process. I was at first very upset, but then found the organic shapes came together to almost perfectly create the open mouth of a snake. And it also, for me, mirrored the magic ability of the snake shedding it’s own skin. A transformational and alchemical process. So to have that sense of disintegration and then innovation woven into the very base of the Snake Mask felt powerfully symbolic.
Working with Snake Medicine and the Energy of Violet Crown
The Crown is the transcendent space from the top of the head to edges of the auric body. It is the direct connection to source and heaven. In traditional imagery the Crown is symbolized by the evolved human, Buddha or Kwan Yin or Jesus or Mother Theresa. The mantra of the Crown Chakra is I Am Divine.
Violet Snake – Crown Altar Sketch
Snake was the first Oracle card we drew from the animal deck, and it resonated powerfully with the image of the evolved higher self through it’s power to constantly shed and grow. Activating our inner divinity was an important goal for the event. Tag lines for the event included “Conjure your most magical self to greet the new decade” and “Imprint your super-consciousness with a clear vision of the future you are inviting in 2020.” At the Altar the Snake evolved into it’s magical spirit form of the Dragon, which was another supportive energy present throughout the evening.
Violet is a bright and mystical shade of Purple that vibrates at the top of the light spectrum, the final color in the visible spectrum before the transition into Ultra-Violet. This color stands at the threshold of the seen and unseen. It is the color of dreams, imagination, and spirit.
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The Mask in the Space
The Violet Crown Snake Altar was hidden inside a participatory Dream Fort. Participants were invited to slither or crawl their way into the sequestered space, having the opportunity to create new pathways in their brains through approaching the world through a completely different orientation. The floor of the Dream Fort had vibrational pads, and the invitation on the Crown Altar was to place your head next to the vibrational center and literally rest your Crown in vibration.
The Altar for the Violet Snake Crown was made from a piece of the Healing Helix that was first installed at Arise Festival last summer. I loved the idea of supporting the event by capping the energies of the event, in addition to the crystal grid that was set up around the building, with the Wish Altar in the Crown and the Grief Altar in the Root. Wishing and Manifestation is a powerful way to connect to spirit, so infusing the space with the intentions carried through from the Summer was exceptionally fun.
Me in my Violet Dress, Photo Credit: Darius Demetriou
For the Opening Procession I had the honor of activating the Avatar of the Snake. The original choreography for the ceremony included a Grid Dance to shift into the dimensional space of the spirit. However, such a large press of people had gathered to witness the sacred art we were pouring into the space that after the flocking of the Hawk we no longer had room to Grid. So we released that piece of the performance and instead transitioned straight into the symbolic shedding of all of the Ancestral Secrets. I stood as sentinel for all the Ancestors Stories, held in the skin of the snake, and the other Animal Avatars energetically pulled the secrets away, running their hands across my skin and dress. It was incredibly powerful, and I think I am still integrating. Once this aspect of the Procession was complete we returned each mask with gratitude to it’s Altar were it remained for the rest of the evening. It was deeply powerful to hold space for such an intense transmutation, and snake medicine continues to inform my life.
After we had passed midnight into 2020 my journey with Snake continued. For the past several years I have drawn a card from the Shapeshifter Tarot to find a totem to guide my year. I felt no surprise when I drew the Serpent from the deck, which calls attention to the moment of blind vulnerability Snake experiences as he goes through the process of shedding his skin.
The tree roots, the woman’s hair, and the snake all weave together in a serpentine pattern, symbolizing the serpent lines of energy crisscrossing the Earth and the Oneness of all things. The serpent represents the Great Mother Goddess and the polarities in life such as life and death (rebirth), as well as being a powerful ancient symbol of healing. (Shapeshifter Tarot, pg. 110)
The words on the Altar were as follows:
Violet – Crown – Snake
Clarity of the Soul.
Shedding Old Memories & Past Life to Awaken.
Dragons will Breathe the Breath of Fire Here.
The power of snake medicine is the power of creation, for it embodies sexuality, psychic energy, alchemy, reproduction, and ascension.
The transmutation of the life-death-rebirth cycle is exemplified by the shedding of Snake’s skin. It is the knowledge that all things are equal in creation, and that those things which might be experienced as poison can be eaten, ingested, integrated, and transmuted if one has the proper state of mind. – Excerpt from “Medicine Cards” by Jamie Sams & David Carson
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