This summer has been a very interesting one.
I sold a house I thought would be my home for the rest of my life and sold it without knowing where I was going. I rented a condo from someone I barely knew. I spent several months looking for something that felt right, that I could live in for the rest of my life.
The good news is I found something and can’t wait to move in (mid-September). There is no bad news! I have been living out of a suitcase or two and some Container Store plastic storage boxes for two months. The condo is very small, but very nice, close to Whole Foods and my office. What I have discovered is that one really doesn’t need much to be comfortable.
Here is where the snail comes in. Not too long ago, I had a dream. The only thing I remember came at the end, before I woke up. I was with my daughter, I think, and we saw a rather large snail. Not large like in a Japanese Godzilla movie, but large. We decided to feed it. And then I woke up.
I like order in my life. I didn’t enjoy being ‘homeless’, not knowing where I would be and feeling the clock was ticking for me to find something. In my life, everything has a place and everything is in it’s place. Life was disjointed, uncertain. I felt no sense of security. This could have been quite unsettling and emotionally challenging. But it actually had a certain peace about it.
So what is symbolic about the snail? As it turns out, quite a bit.
That disgusting slime is two-fold: one for moving about and another for protection. Slime A allows the snail to move about in a smooth, slick fashion, over challenging surfaces. Slime B insulates a snail’s tender body from harm. It has healing properties as well.
Snails are hermaphrodites, at least some of them are. So this is about balancing female and male energies in elegant, smart ways. (Not sure what this has to do with anything, but it’s kinda’ cool!)
Then there is the shell: a home upon its back. A snail can wander anywhere, and still be home! Not only that, but the snail excretes a substance – calcium carbonate – that actually creates its own shell. The implication symbolically is that anywhere we go or are…that’s home.
My take-away from the dream as it applies to my summer is that home is in the heart. We can create our own comfort from within. Contentment is just being satisfied with who we are from the inside out. Thanks to a dream about a snail, I can see this summer in a whole new light.
Symbolic Snail Meanings: change • fertility • healing • mobility • patience • evolution • sensitivity • androgyny • time/cycles • self-reliance • self-assurance.
