Signs and Wonders

I do not have a phobia of snakes, but being a wise woman, I do have a healthy respect for anything that can harm/maim/bring agony to me and/or kill me. In a lot of my creations, I am barefoot. I hate clothes and shoes and like to be as liberated from them as I can possibly be and still maintain a modicum of decency and avoid being arrested, LOL. But, one of the specific aspects of being barefoot beyond freedom per se, is that I intuitively believe/know/feel that especially when I create or perform magic/music, that being barefoot and connecting with the ground/earth is more conducive towards that end, just as blood is in a lot of my images and in my life in general, not only as lifeblood, but also as a medium of the Lifeforce and Spirit. Rarely, if ever, do I incorporate it as pure ‘gore’.

Gaines invitation for me to have FUN included creating and listening to music. Even when I had my band, I often performed barefoot and every public poetry reading I’ve ever done, I was barefoot during. Even at the prestigious Duke University, LOL. The first time Annica and I were going to make music as I set up my amp and guitar and was about to begin playing, I still had my shoes on. She asked me why and I told her “because SNAKES…” I had seen a few when she and I would walk in the back way by the studio, they were just harmless black snakes and I gave them a wide berth. But, during my initial tour, Gaines told me there were snakes around, including venomous copperheads that NC is known for, and how to be safe and what I should and should not do if I ever got bitten. Soooooo…. BAREfeet seemed like a very bad idea to me. I reminded her of Gaines’ admonishment and she dismissed it because he had no idea how much agency and power she had in regards to the world in general and with ME, specifically.
She asked me if I really thought she would say or do anything that would harm or imperil me. I told her that I didn’t think she purposely would, but that maybe there might be a moment she was unaware and something would happen too fast to prevent it. It was something that was going to make or break a whole lot in our relationship, and she was also not happy that I felt I had to compromise my creative process and my being at One with Nature.

Two days later, I was bent over with my back to the path and yanking weeds out of a flower bed. It was hot and I was sore from that position, so I stood up and began to turn to walk over to a small table I’d set my water on and all of a sudden, for one of the only times in our life, I heard Annica say very sternly in my head “Be STILL!” and I saw a red flash and time was all of a sudden slow motion and I could hear shouting behind me and a rhythmic pounding and I didn’t move from my place but craned my neck around to see Gaines beating a copperhead to death with a thick tree limb that had recently fallen in a storm. I started to cry hysterically and was shaking and once Gaines was sure the snake was dead, he came over and embraced me and comforted what he thought was fear, and said “See what I mean, you have to be ever mindful, and THIS one wasn’t even HIDDEN in the brush/grass/flowerbeds, it was right out in the open path that you were just about to tread.” Right before he was going to pick it up off the path and discard it wherever, I took a pic of it with my phone. Which is included, below.

A short time later when we were alone again, Annica said “See, do you believe me NOW??? I will NEVER allow you to be harmed in any major way and will protect you and keep you safe ALWAYS. Gaines doesn’t know that you weren’t crying because you were scared, but rather because you were overwhelmed and profoundly moved with the realization that I back up my words and I mean what I say -- and you and I have just reached a MAJOR milestone in our bonding/love/trust in our Relationship.”